202108041015 - When is mutiny in order_

& Jocko Willink

• If a leader is asking the team to do something that is illegal, immoral or unethical, it is the duty of the subordinates to refuse that order.

• Napoleon said that is a subordinate leader executes a mission he knows is wrong, then the subordinate leader is culpable. This is the truth

• Either the subordinate understands why the boss's plan makes sense and the subordinate agrees, or the plan is changed based on the feedback from the subordinate. Either way, the plan is now considered viable by both the boss and the subordinate leaders as well as by the rest of the team once it is explained throughout the chain of command.

Objections to the boss

• concerns should not be presented as "This makes no sense,"or "This plan is ridiculous," or "Why would we ever do this?"

  • Statements like that are wrong on two levels:
    1. They come across as emotional, and when people present emotional arguments, they are not taken with the maximum degree of seriousness.
    2. These statements are offensive to the person who actually came up with the plan: *The boss.

• By attacking the boss's plan, you are attacking the boss, and in doing so, you can likely cause them to 202108012045 - Digging In and become more defensive.

It is better for the subordinate to ask questions that put the fault on themselves:

"I want to make sure I can understand your thinking here so I can learn to think through these issues myself"

or

"It's hard for me to understand this clearly since I don't have the experience you do."

Give the boss an easy way out: offer one of the other courses of action they had mentioned, however briefly, at an earlier time.
> "I was thinking about one comment you made, and it made me think that maybe we could..."

202108041039 - Refusal to comply

Here are some possible outcomes when the subordinate refuses to comply:

1. The leader recognizes that the subordinate is extremely concerned about the plan - so concerned that they are putting their career at stake and ricking the possible punitive actions — because it is actually really bad.
2. The leader digs in even deeper and will not change the plan. Since the subordinate has refused to participate, the leader fires the subordinate and puts a new subordinate in place who has been hand-picked for unquestioning obedience. For the boss, the problem is solved, but the team will absolutely suffer now since the voice of reason has been replaced by one of the boss's 202108012048 - Yes Men.
3. If a subordinate draws a line is the sand and refuses to execute a plan or outright quits the position as a protest, they instantly remove all influence of any kind over the boss. Once the statement has been made, there is nothing else they can do.
4. If the subordinate tries every possible method to convince the boss that plan is wrong, and sees no way of changing the boss's mind, then perhaps the better option is for the subordinate to make one last statement of concern and then proceed to lead the team in the evacuation of the plan to the best of their ability.

• { The Shallows - What the Internet is doing to our brains#^c560df

Author: & Jocko Willink
Reference: Willink, J. (2020). Leadership strategies and tactics
tags: #strategy #guidelines
page: 55-60