The Art of Insubordination

Humans are hardwired to fear change. They try to avoid it, resist it or pretend it isn’t happening – the classic fight-or-flight response. And the boat-rockers who instigate change – Galileo, Copernicus, the Wright brothers, and their ilk – all could testify to the threats and ridicule that change-makers face as they work to improve the world.

But the world needs change. Thus, the rebels, renegades, outliers and nonconformists – or, as psychologist Todd B. Kashdan calls them, the insubordinates – are essential to kick-start revolutions. The more conformist a group or society, the more vital the role of dissenters. And even when nonconformists get it wrong, their consensus-breaking helps by shaking people out of their mind-sets and stimulating creativity.