Ira Chaleff's Blog, page 10

The US Election: A Test of Intelligent Obedience, Disobedience and Conversation

Many people I know are in post-election shock that their candidate lost the Presidential election. Many others are in shock that their candidate won the Presidential election.

A few people I personally know and appreciate had very degrading things to say about Hillary Clinton and the state of our society. Today I was able to say to them “I see the election wasn’t rigged after all.” They somewhat dazedly recognized this was true. I could then say that since what they were told about the ele...

On David Swanson’s Disobey or Die

There is a clear distinction between Intelligent Disobedience and Civil Disobedience; the former may lead to the latter, but not necessarily. Intelligent Disobedience is resistance to specific orders that would produce harm; it may be done quietly though firmly. Civil Disobedience is publicly visible action to disrupt and bring attention to unjust laws and systems in an attempt to provoke society to change them.

David Swanson chooses to blur this distinction in the article Disobey or Die....

Reflections on a Young Writer in Paris

I read with interest in today’s Washington Post about the famous Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, a magnet for great American authors of the 20th century. While not rising to the level of its famed literati, I too frequented the bookstore during my 1964 sojourn in Paris. Just as the article describes, the long standing proprietor, George Whitman, loaned me books to read, gave me encouraging feedback on my early writing, and let me scrub the red tile floors in exchange for a nee...

The Wells Fargo Scandal

The Wells Fargo Scandal or opening millions of unauthorized accounts for its customers has resulted in $185 million dollar fine for the bank.

What is more startling is that 5300 employees were fired over the incident according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. What more cautionary tale can there be regarding conforming to and obeying a culture of intense pressure to meet inflated sales targets? Whether the orders to make the targets any way you can come from the chain of command o...

On 9/11 2016 let’s remember the lesson in Intelligent Disobedience from 9/11/2001 that saved 2700 lives

Excerpt from the book
Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What Youre Told to Do Is Wrong
by Ira Chaleff, Chapter Eleven, p.159-161

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Cyril Richard “Rick” Rescorla was on the job as a vice president for security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which had some 3,700 employees in the World Trade Center, including 2,700 in the south tower…

Rescorla had come to Dean Witter years earlier, prior to its acquisition by Morgan Stanley, to head up its securit...

New Orleans Program Teaches Officers to Police One Another

In this time of often high tension between police and communities a new program has emerged that has great potential for benefitting both police and citizens. It is based on the all-important work on bystanders done by professor Ervin Staub of the University of Massachussetts. As a survivor of the Nazi holocaust professor Staub knows first-hand the difference that intervention or passivity by bystanders makes. What is novel about the program being conducted in New Orleans is the training o...

The Power to Stand Up to Oppression

I do not know the source of this terrific depiction of the power to stand up to oppression. The first frame shows a group of people and a would be oppressor. In the second frame we see the oppressor wielding the whip and one individual refusing to bow to that whip bearer. Crucially, in the third frame we see several other individuals support the first act of courage. This is enough to turn the tide in frame 4 when all stand tall and the oppressor has lowered his whip and is the one bowing...

The Power to Stand Up to Opression

I do not know the source of this terrific depiction of the power to stand up to oppression. The first frame shows a group of people and a would be oppressor. In the second frame we see the oppressor wielding the whip and one individual refusing to bow to that whip bearer. Crucially, in the third frame we see several other individuals support the first act of courage. This is enough to turn the tide in frame 4 when all stand tall and the oppressor has lowered his whip and is the one bowing...

Followership and Intelligent Disobedience in Politics and Governance

Anne Aden is an organization development specialist who performs her work through her company Wellspring Praxis. She has introduced the subject of courageous followership to high level government clients who have integrated it into their leadership development programs. I received a message from Anne today that I am proud to share.

I was just rereading your preface to Courageous Followership. This book and Intelligent Disobedience both have much to offer given the current political envir...

House of Representatives Sit In

We are in a topsy turvy situation when our elected representatives, who are inside the establishment, must resort to civil disobedience, a tool traditionally used by those outside the establishment, in order to have their voices heard. Just as we learned that our primary voting laws and convention delegate rules need to be thoroughly reviewed and reformed, we are now seeing that so must the rules of the House (and the Senate for different reasons).

When a system does not provide leg...