When you find yourself in a situation where you must defy an authority or else sacrifice a principle, that’s when you know the Universe is talking to you.
Have you ever had a situation present itself where a figure of authority bears down upon you and/or your peers as if your are imbeciles? You know you aren’t, but defending yourself seems less important than honoring your authority.
This is what makes this protocol questionable. It’s militaristic and it causes detrimental harm to the team and to the organization. It diminishes trust, demotivates, it dampens morale, and more.
In a professional setting this seems like something that would be cause for alarm, but Board members and shareholders might be more concerned results than with management style.
With no where and no one to turn to, you are faced with this decision alone, usually on the fly with only milliseconds to consider and act. Are you going to honor that authority and sacrifice what feels important to you or do you take a chance and explore that feeling, that instinct, for some unknown expense that you probably won’t even be able to control?
If you are lucky, you might have to make this choice multiple times a day.