Rebels at Work: What Makes a Good Rebel?

Change happens when someone finds courage to challenge the status quo. When you try to push people out of their comfort zone, some conflict is inevitable. When we lack this courage, we try to stay away from conflicts, comply and worse yet, find ways to justify the status quo.

When this happens, organizations suffer. The gap between people who do the work and people at the top widens because no one in the organization stands up to say the truth. What makes the matters even worse is the culture of punishing those who speak up.

“Tomorrow’s management systems will need to value diversity, dissent and divergence as highly as conformance, consensus and cohesion.” – Gary Hamel

This is true for organizations and true for the society at large. Yet, we badly need rebels to drive positive change. The question then is, “What Makes a Good Rebel?”

Rebellion has negative connotation attached to it, however when married with a mission towards greater good, rebellion turns into a positive force. Mahatma Gandhi was a rebel with a cause, so was Martin Luther King. They were able to see beyond the status quo, refused to comply and rallied people towards a larger mission that resonated with millions of other people who joined their movement.

In 2017, I created a #sketchnote “What Rebels Want from Their Boss” based on awesome insights from Lois Kelly and Carmen Medina who have built the amazing Rebels at Work community. The sketchnote has been one of my most popular ones because the insights resonated with so many people across the globe.

Recently, I had the opportunity to contribute to their cause by visualizing the continuum of what makes a good rebel.

Rebels At Work: Dispatches Book

Rebels at Work: Dispatches shares the most important and useful advice that authors Lois Kelly and Carmen Medina have learned about effective Rebels and change agents from their 10-year Rebels at Work quest. A follow-up to their first book, Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Creating Change Within, this book shares the authors’ most popular blog posts.

Updated: Visual Leadership Pack of 68+ HD Sketchnotes

Check out the Visual Leadership Pack of HD Sketchnotes – a compilation of high-resolution compilation with 68+ powerful (and timeless) ideas to elevate your leadership and learning game.