Why Leaders Should Celebrate Disobedience

When Ira Chaleff came to present his book, Intelligent Disobedience, at the BK office, we realized it was more than a book to him: it was a lifelong mission…

… WHY do people obey orders they know are morally wrong? That is the question…. Ira’s consulting practice helps leaders and followers develop healthy habits around obedience. A follower should never displace their moral accountability onto a leader…

By Charlotte Ashlock
Managing Digital Editor &
Treasure Hunter of Ideas
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
BK Community (2014/12/06)
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… Ira’s consulting practice helps leaders and followers develop healthy habits around obedience. A follower should never displace their moral accountability onto a leader…

Intelligent Disobedience is a book that will be of interest to corporate leaders. But what kind of CEO wants people talking back to him? A smart one! The truth is, sometimes the disobedient follower is the one who saves the leader’s bacon…

Which kind of employee would you rather have? The one that follows you, even as you march straight towards an open pit? Or the one that helps you see the pitfalls ahead? This is an integral part of risk management!…

Heroic Disobedience

Sometimes disobedience can be downright heroic. Consider the story of the Rick Rescorla, working at the Twin Towers when the planes hit them on 9-11. An announcement came over the public address urging people to stay at their desks… Rick refused to obey. Instead, he marshaled his employees to follow the safety drill he’d designed…

He was prepared, because he’d ignored the complaints of senior executives who thought safety drills hurt productivity. All but three of the company’s employees escaped with their lives, impressive given the scale of the disaster. One of the casualties was Rescorla himself, who lost his life when he went back to rescue others. Even more than his physical courage, it was his intelligent disobedience that saved lives…

How can we get more intelligent disobedience?

… the task of nurturing intelligent disobedience begins with parents and schools. Too often parents and educators take the easy way out, teaching kids to shut up and snap to it, instead of teaching them to think. Such decisions have serious consequences; for lives, for people, for organizations