Sketchnote: What Rebels Want From Their Boss
Tanmay Vora
At the heart of a meaningful change is someone who thought beyond the boundaries. Someone who challenged the status quo. Someone who exerted emotional labor to pursue, fight for their ideas and convince others. And then they bring about change. You can call them rebels or change makers and they are inevitable for growth and positive change.
Rebels may not be a very popular lot and many bosses I’ve seen work overtime to subdue the rebels. But great leadership is about providing right channels to direct this energy, nurturing a mindset of continuous improvement and supporting people as they execute their experiments and ideas. That’s what rebels expect from their bosses.
“…it’s just another one of those things I don’t understand: everyone impresses upon you how unique you are, encouraging you to cultivate your individuality while at the same time trying to squish you and everyone else into the same ridiculous mould. It’s an artist’s right to rebel against the world’s stupidity.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
In this context, I love the work that Lois Kelly and Carmen medina do at Rebels at Work community. I have sketched their ideas here before and here’s a quick sketchnote of their recent blog post “What Rebels Want From Their Bosses”.
This may help you as a leader if you really intend to support rebels in your teams.
Related Sketchnotes/Posts at QAspire.com
Thanks so much for doing this. We love it!
Love this! Being a rebel at work myself, I can completely relate. We aren’t trying to be a problem, it’s in our nature to question, and to think outside of the box. Deep down, we want the same as the bosses – a successful outcome.
Oh my goodness, I loved this sketch, it nails it exactly, thank you. I may not be a trouble maker, but I certainly do not wish to be one who just ‘fits in’, and be ordinary. I keep looking at it and getting excited about it, because this is what is needed more and more in organisations. How can we create that safe place for people to be themselves, then to feel heard, valued and that they matter. Colin Smith aka The Listener
This is so dead-on perfect! Most managers I’ve had in my career have no idea about this and try to make you fit into a “cookie cutter” pattern that’s perceived as “normal.” In the very few cases where I’ve been allowed to truly work as a change agent, my boss was also a “rebel”, but had already learned the hard lessons I needed. When that happened, we truly did move mountains!
My favourite way of illustrating this way of thinking is the Bob Hope-Jerry Colonna sketch on building a bridge from the 1940s.