T.Davis

  In researching intelligent disobedience, the greatest parallels are drawn to guide dogs. Chaleff, in readings and lectures, discusses how a guide dog must not only refuse to act unsafely on behalf of their owner, but go as far as counterpull them in a better direction. While obedience is a very important piece for working dogs, their utilization of intelligent disobedience can save lives. In recent years, specifically pertaining to culture in America, it is my opinion that people are becoming more and more active in their followership roles. Individuals are questioning leaders at work, society and politics more and more. This can be beneficial as a catalyst for change. For instance, there has been a shift in expectations for work-life balance and holding institutions accountable against their mission statements and improvements to the environment in the workplace. Questioning traditional methods and mitigating expectations, when done through intelligent disobedience, can create ...

  What? The leader/follower relationship is one that we see in many different facets of our lives: parenting, sports, work, friend groups, etc. The dynamic can look different, but often times, there can be a bias that the leader’s role is more valuable. However, more and more research is starting to focus on the value of the follower and while both roles are equally important, there is a one significant piece that sets them apart: you can have followers without a leader, but you can’t have a leader without followers. The relationship can only be made stronger by a deeper understanding of how the balance between the two is beneficial for all. Most research is focused on followers as it effects leaders . Learning why this is important could help shift the external view of the dynamic to better mirror the real-life relationship. So what? Though some leadership/followership roles are forged on our behalf, that does not negate that fact that we can all be innately both, often simu...