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Greetings! The year is ending. Leading and Following are increasingly taking their place on the world stage. In representative government, at times slim majorities of voters are supporting the imperfect democratic institutions designed to avoid the consolidation of power and its oppressive use. In non-representative government, courageous voices are increasingly raised against the abuses of human rights. In market economies, there is always the dance between the wealth producing power of corporate innovation and the structural impediments to sharing proportionately in that wealth. Where these systems are self-generating and self-correcting, there is reciprocity between leaders and followers, rebalancing inequities, and a fluidity in these roles. Personally, I continue to be blessed with a platform and voice to do my part in advancing an understanding of these dynamics. Read on to learn about recent, current and future milestones in this movement. IF YOU ARE RUSHED FOR TIME, SKIP TO THE END TO LEARN ABOUT THE UPCOMING GLOBAL FOLLOWERSHIP CONFERENCE.

AUTHORS RETREAT 

My first in-person COVID-era conference in September was a reunion in Los Altos, California, with talented fellow authors and newer, younger, vibrantly diverse authors who are becoming important voices for their generation.

The oldies are pretty good too. Here’s the youngest looking and acting oldie you will ever want to meet, a voice of great pride in the Latino community, my friend and occasional Latina dance partner, Juana Bordas.

NEW FOLLOWERSHIP BOOK 

In October, at the in-person International Leadership Association conference in Washington, DC, a new and very important book on Followership was released by two authors from Indiana Wesleyan University in Indiana. Michael Linville and Mark Rennaker have created the first beautifully designed teaching/learning guide in the field of followership. It covers the major models of followership research and practice in a highly reader-friendly format. It’s not your father’s textbook! My hats off to them. Since this is my newsletter, I will also brag on myself and say how much I appreciated the note in the signed edition they gave me “Ira - Thank you for teaching us how to follow well!”

Buy online clicking on book's cover

NEW VIDEO ON INTELLIGENT DISOBEDIENCE 

The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest public senior military college in the United States. Its history and culture represent both the aspirational values and the contradictions in our lived experience as a nation. I was honored to work with its Center for Leadership and Ethics as the opening speaker in this year’s conference on “Principled Dissent: Navigating Moral Challenges.” Following my talk, participants organized into small working groups to practice one of the tools of Intelligent Disobedience that I developed. The methodology is summarized in the mnemonic “Blink-Think-Choice-Voice”.

Click on thumbnail to play video

VMI made its own adaptation of my video on this topic and I am grateful to be able to share it with you for your use and discussion. I applaud VMI for its commitment to change, which will always encounter headwinds and require perseverance.

NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE 

THE WINTER GENERALS 

While we celebrate these small victories, as I write there are political leaders abusing their power with all the force of past destructive leaders and cowed, compliant followers. In the last newsletter, I included a poem I wrote on the 200th day of the Russian invasion. We are now approaching the 300th day. To mark this, I am including the post I placed on Facebook last week as Ukraine’s civilian population continues to be shelled by Russian forces, intending to freeze and starve them in the winter that is just beginning. The courageous leading and following of the Ukrainians are a lesson for the ages.

My friend Stephen Macht generously recited my earlier poem on Ukraine and posted it in his Facebook account. Click here to watch.

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