If you've got a few "funny ducks" in your workforce, you just might want to hang on to them. They could be your greatest competitive advantage.

That's the argument Daniel M. Cable makes in his book, Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce. Cable, a Management Professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, isn't talking about oddballs who make people uncomfortable: he's proselytizing for the kind of workforce that sets a company apart from its competitors in a way that provides value to its customers.

Cable uses the example of Home Depot in its early days, when its aisles were staffed by tradespeople who could offer applicable, valuable advice to shoppers. When its rapid growth diluted that aspect of its workforce, he argues, Home Depot lost an important competitive advantage.