If you pay any attention to the news, you've likely noticed that one of the US' top military commanders in the Mideast lost his job this week. President Obama earlier this week "accepted the resignation" of General McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan. Apparently General McChrystal was urged to resign after making some "insubordinate" comments regarding the President and his administration in a recent magazine interview.
I didn't read the interview, and have no idea what the General might have said, but some of President Obama's comments in his press conference earlier this week struck me as meaningful.
The President said (I paraphrase) that it degrades the integrity of the military to allow a subordinate to question his superior, particularly in a public venue. Without delving into the politics of the situation, I will say that I believe that we should treat each other with respect--particularly when speaking in public about another. But I'm not so sure that "insubordination" is such a bad thing. I know it has negative connotations, but why is it such a bad thing for an acknowledged war expert (General McChrystal, incidentally, is widely acknowledged as a "warrior") to say that he disagrees with his boss' strategy in the war?
My opinion is that, in general, doing the right thing is more important than respecting "authority". In fact, I kinda think it's a good thing to question what you're told because, quite often, even the "boss" is wrong. My guess is that you can see the link between "insubordination" and Self-Management. But I'm interested in hearing what you think. I encourage you to take part in the poll below.
