Mark Ridley of Transform Performance International introduced me to the idea of intelligent disobedience a few years ago. It has become a core part of some of our work around leadership in the D-VUCAD world. In essence this is the capacity of an individual to know when and how to disobey mandates or rules, for the broader good.

A good analogy can be found in the introduction from THIS article over at ChiefExecutive.net: “For the first year and a half of the dog’s life it learns how to obey. Then it must learn when and how to disobey. Disobey? Yes, that is the crucial skill without which it cannot be a guide dog. If executing a command would harm the team of human and dog it must not obey, even if the command is repeated more insistently.

Think of this scenario: The person who is blind tells the dog to go forward at an intersection. A quiet vehicle is coming around the corner. If the dog obeys it endangers the safety and life of the team. If it disobeys, it can find a safe moment and way to achieve the task of crossing the street. That ability to differentiate between appropriate obedience and disobedience is the pivotal element that makes the guide dog’s service so valuable.

Transfer this to the C-suite. The easiest thing in the world is to obey the CEO’s orders. It may also be the most dangerous. Not because the CEO is evil, bad or even arrogant; but because the CEO also has blinds spots. This blindness is caused by poor data, wrong mental maps, time pressure, faulty analysis, distorted incentives, etc. The CEO needs a best friend”

Videos of intelligent disobedience

I have not found any particularly great short videos on the topics, so here are two longer ones:

 

 

 

Books on Intelligent Disobedience

I have found two solid reads on the topic so far:

“Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When You’re Told to Do Wrong” by Ira Chaleff

“Intelligent Disobedience: The difference between Good and Great Leaders.” by Bob McGannon.

Both are really interesting reads.

Other resources on Intelligent Disobedience

Bob McGannon writes on the topic on his blog HERE. It is worth a read for great examples and stories around the topic.

Ira Chaleff is also an avid writer on the topic. His blog can be found HERE.

THIS Fast Company articles provides a very brief introduction.

THIS is the articles quoted at the beginning of this resource post.