Spring is all around us in the Northern Hemisphere. I want to tell you about unique events that may interest you. But first, let me share with you highlights since my newsletter of late last year.
AUSCHWITZ
Many of you know that the deep background for my compelling interest in Followership was the genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime in World War II. My maternal grandmother lost her entire family except for a niece she was able to save. The burning question was and is, "Why do people follow destructive leaders?"
Last month, at my daughter's request to learn more about her ancestry, we did a "roots" tour through Poland, Ukraine and Romania. The dominant experience consisted of what was no longer there - lineages, communities even graveyards themselves destroyed in the holocaust. On our difficult tour of Auschwitz, we found a silver lining. We learned that every high school student in Poland is required to tour the extermination camps. Let us hope this inoculation against evil can infuse the culture with antibodies that repel rabid leadership and misbegotten followership.
Following on the heels of a Chinese edition of my book, Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told To Do Is Wrong, there is now a Russian translation published by Alpina Publisher, Moscow.
It seems somewhat of a marvel for this topic to be raised in cultures traditionally higher on authoritarian scales. We will watch for signs of Intelligent Disobedience becoming a meme in these spheres.
The US National Park Service has had an interest in courageous followership for a number of years. Last year I taught workshops for staff at two national monuments in New Mexico. The workshop in the Grand Canyon National Park was postponed due to the government shutdown and will be held this month.
It's a treat to go to such wonderful settings and work with such committed people.
In previous newsletters you saw a photo of the wonderfully diverse classes for the Courageous Follower Train the Trainer Programs I taught in Brussels, Belgium and in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is a thrill to see the materials being adapted and applied by graduates of these programs around the world. The shining star is Muhsin Budino from Indonesia who is bringing courageous follower principles to an extraordinary range of organizations in the fourth most populous nation on earth. I, and Muhsin's training cohort, are extremely proud of him.
Canada is pretty darn good as countries go, but there are two fast approaching events that make it even better!
WATERLOO: Global Followership Conference at Waterloo University in Ontario, Canada. Followership novices and aficionados will be streaming to this July 26 - 28th event like celestial enthusiasts who stream to the site of an awesome total solar eclipse. I will be giving the keynote address on the 27th. Join us if you can.
OTTAWA: The third annual Courageous Follower Train the Trainer Program will be held in Ottawa, Canada. The program this year is offered as a preconference option for the annual global conference of the International Leadership Association.
If you wish to deepen your understanding of leader-follower dynamics, expand your toolkit for teaching and coaching healthy leader-follower behaviors, transform your organization into purpose-driven partnerships, sign up for this one. I teach it pro bono in order to keep the costs as low as possible. Those attending the ILA conference receive deep discounts for this workshop.
REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SHORTLY ON THE ILA WEBSITE: www.ila-net.org
I took advantage of being in Europe to visit the Moller Institute in Churchill College, Cambridge University, where I hold a Visiting Scholar appointment.
What a wonderful institute in a venerable university and a beautiful English town.
Just as there is benevolent and malevolent leadership, so there is healthy and unhealthy followership. If I, or one of the colleagues who share my passion for courageous followership, can be of help with your own programs, please let us know. Meanwhile, enjoy the Springtime!
What about you and the organizations in which you work? Would you like help in developing courageous follower or intelligent disobedience modules for those folks? If I can be of help please
let me know.
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