Article by Ira Chaleff published by The Washington Post on April 7, 20021. Bystanders to Derek Chauvin’s brutality on George Floyd did not act passively, yet their doing the right thing in vocally intervening did not prevent the tragedy
US Asylum Officers, with the support of their union, are exercising their obligation to Intelligent Disobedience in the face of orders that violate the legal and moral principles to which Asylum Officers are bound. This is an example of an ethically reasoned and orderly response to a policy they perceive […]
Several thousand children, many of them infants and toddlers, were forcibly separated from their parents and sent, frightened and alone, to different parts of the country. Were the Border Patrol Agents who took these children from their parents unfeeling monsters? In short, no. Then how did they do this monstrous […]
A trick question is sometimes asked by the prominent leadership scholar, Barbara Kellerman, from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. “How many people did Hitler kill?” The correct answer, which almost no one gives, is “none”. The killings were all done by the followers of the Fuhrer (which means […]
Intelligent Disobedience does not imply that the authority figure is acting immorally, though that case certainly occurs. The individual with formal authority may simply be wrong for a variety of reasons. There are many other well- intentioned reasons that a person with authority may ask us to do something that […]
What exactly is Intelligent Disobedience? I had the same question when I first heard the term. These are two words that don’t usually fit together. We know what obedience is: following orders or rules or established ways of doing things. Obeying usually keeps life running smoothly. Disobedience is a contrary […]
In the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Army Major General (Retired) Antonio Taguba and Marine Lt Colonel (Retired) Scott Cooper review two memoirs about torture that the authors of the memoirs participated in while assigned to the Mid-East in the “war on terror.” These memoirs are relevant reads for […]
The principles of courageous followership have found their way into many aspects of our culture. In California, for example, The Police Officer Standards of Training have for many years included The Courageous Follower in the year long sergeant level training program. View on amazon.com There is now a new arrival […]
In this time of often high tension between police and communities a new program has emerged that has great potential for benefitting both police and citizens. It is based on the all-important work on bystanders done by professor Ervin Staub of the University of Massachussetts. As a survivor of the […]
The University of San Diego, School of Leadership and Education Sciences, has named Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You’re Told To Do Is Wrong, as the Best New leadership Book of 2015. 128 books were nominated for the honor. There were four semifinalists. Intelligent Disobedience was given the top […]
Ira Chaleff's Quarterly Newsletter contains stories and usable information for those interested in courageous leading and following and healthy relationships to authority.
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