Intelligent Disobedience

APPENDIX

The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders

I HAVE MENTIONED TEACHING courageous followership several times in this book. I owe the reader more information on courageous followership for several reasons.

The metaphor of the guide dog that I use is an excellent, but incomplete, model for some applications of Intelligent Disobedience. The guide dog is in no danger of recrimination or retribution for displaying Intelligent Disobedience. In fact, it faces potentially unpleasant consequences only if it obeys a command that it shouldn’t.

When you or your employees or your children or students exhibit Intelligent Disobedience, it may not be immediately well received. The authority being questioned has not been trained in responding ...