While most people don’t like or appreciate the idea of having a contrarian in their team, I have always loved to have one. In fact I would love to be a contrarian in any group or team that I am part of. A contrarian or a divergent view makes you think and if it comes from a person with experience and/or expertise, you value the contrarian view even more. Sometimes just the fact that someone presented a different view, in itself is very interesting, and very much required.
We have in our advisory board of ShikshaDaan Foundation one such contrarian. We invited the person to join us with the purpose and clarity of his differing views. Almost with one different view in every meeting that we have had in the last six quarterly meetings.
Contrary to what most may think, contrarian views matter. It makes you think. They make a huge difference. Here is an interesting article on the subject: