Day 30: Compliance

Dinner:

• Whisky Japonais : Nikka
• Saucisses variées et pomme de terres sarladaises
• Salade verte
• Divers fromages avec baguette
• Fraises au yaourt de brebis

What do you do if you have a fundamental disagreement with your boss?  This has often been a problem for me in my professional life.  Most human organisations are based on the concept of compliance. In order for the organisation to exist and function its members need to follow orders.  If your body parts had a will of their own you might find it difficult to function. Legs going in a different direction to your eyes,  heart and mind being opposites etc...But sometimes (Germans under the nazis for example) it is expected of people that they rebel against the system.  In some situations I was just following  orders is not an acceptable answer.  But what if the consequences are not quite so drastic?  How do you decide what to do if what is at stake is the life or health of your organisation as opposed to a persons actual life or death?  Should I just execute my orders even if I think they are counterproductive and could lead to the ultimate disappearance of my organisation or should I resist and say what I think at the risk of being sidelined or fired?  My answer has often been to move on to a new organisation when reaching a certain level of discontent.  I'm not sure that was right. I admire (to a certain extent) the people who can just get on with their job without letting themselves be affected by the day to day frustrations of a large organisation.  My Xmas wish last year was that I would be in the same position at the end of 2018 as I was at the beginning, I'm beginning to think that might actually be the case... But I'm not sure I would bet on it!