{"id":4389,"date":"2015-02-19T08:40:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T13:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=4389"},"modified":"2015-02-19T08:50:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T13:50:36","slug":"challenging-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=4389","title":{"rendered":"challenging authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1414604582943-2fd913b3cb17\"<\/a>I will never forget that first official, performance review. As a rising, white collar professional with a great job and greater expectations, fresh out of college and ready to roll, it was finally time for my superiors to tell me how wonderful I was. \ud83d\ude42 Yes, there are times we believe we have the world at our feet — and even more times when we need to be humbled\u00a0(…uh, always and still…).<\/em><\/p>\n

Truth told, my review was<\/em><\/strong> wonderful. On a scale of 1-5 with \u201c1\u201d being excellent, \u201c3\u201d being average, and \u201c5\u201d being the area in need of greatest improvement, of the 12 specific categories, I received all \u201c1\u2019s\u201d and \u201c2\u2019s\u201d… except for one.<\/strong><\/em> In a single category, I received a \u201c3.\u201d I was deemed \u201caverage\u201d in one category.<\/p>\n

Hence, being the ever mature, twenty-something that I was, I did the obvious, most seemingly honorable thing to do at the time: I pounced on the \u201c3.\u201d I challenged the authorities above me — not for the rave review just assessed — but rather, for the audacity of someone awarding me with a stinkin\u2019 \u201c3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenging authority is hard. Challenging it respectfully is harder.<\/p>\n

Let me add one more \u201chard\u201d: responding<\/em> to a challenge respectfully is equally difficult.<\/p>\n

Authority relationships exist in most life scenarios… in our homes, hobbies, associations, clubs, churches, government, etc. Authority exists in all of the above. In most organizations, there are persons bestowed with the responsibility of making decisions on behalf of other people. So how do we handle it when we legitimately, passionately disagree with some of the decision-making?<\/p>\n

This past week, I\u2019ve witnessed multiple, reactionary manifestations when authority has been challenged. Some reactions have been especially eye-opening…<\/p>\n