Disobedient Talk

One of my favorite stories of intelligent disobedience involves a marriage proposal – that is, the 6th marriage proposal. Norman was persistent, repeatedly asking Suzie to marry him every few months. Suzie, equally persistent, would reply no, citing differences regarding managing finances and future plans…

One of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, is quoted as saying “When you are finished changing, you are finished.” This is true for both outsourcers and their clients. Business processes, customer expectations, and technology are always changing. An environment that allows and promotes collaborative, productive…

You’ve been hired as a consultant or outsourcer, and for reasons that may or may not be your fault, you start to have delivery issues. In response, you change your status reports, and talk about what you will deliver, and when – but never, ever…

It’s common and expected…when an employee joins a company, they serve a probationary period where performance is closely monitored. The intent, of course, is to ensure the new hire will properly fit into the company’s expectations for the role and whether they fit into their…

When delivering intelligent disobedience workshops, I am often told “I can’t act in an intelligently disobedient way because I work in a regulated industry.” Here are steps you can take to expand the ways you can deliver better outcomes – using intelligent disobedience – even…

You have promised your manager you would follow the rules, and you have spent time understanding your business processes. So when exactly is breaking those promises and disobeying the rules or disregarding those processes the intelligent thing to do? Here are a few characteristics of…

In this video post, you can watch the interview I conducted with Kristina Djokic about “Blind Victim Employees.”  This is one version of “pretend employees,” who come to work, but for some reason aren’t their authentic selves, and as a result, aren’t the contributors you…

Governments won’t create the “new normal” following the pandemic – people will. I will and you will. I hope to do this with purpose. So, I am reflecting on the “old normal,” what we are doing in isolation, and what the new normal should be…

Ambition is a terrific thing. It drives improvements, expands businesses and if applied appropriately, can advance a career. But what exactly determines “applied appropriately” when it comes to ambition in a business setting? Too much, and you can spread yourself or your staff too thin…

Janine recently proved that anyone in an organization can execute intelligent disobedience, given the proper support. Janine is an office administrator for a financial advisory firm on the east coast of the US, which recently moved to a new office facility. She served as a…

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…

The client is happy, the budget-minders are happy and the team is happy as things have been working well for three years. That disturbed Julia, because they were conducting their business incorrectly! Why would Julia take action which would upset happy stakeholders? Because she values…