The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

The author learned basic lessons about dissent aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68), shown here pulling alongside the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) for a refueling at sea somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. competence and integrity, and honestly evaluate your reasons for dissent, you will maximize the chances of being heard. How Not to Dissent When I told the sailors in my repair locker to ignore the DCA, I violated several principles of effective dissent. First, and maybe most importantly, I dissented to the wrong audience. If I believed proper procedure was more important than speed, I should have had that conversation with the DCA in private following the drill. The whole point of dissenting is to help guide your organization in the direction you believe best. But as it was, I didn’t give the DCA the chance to hear my thoughts before I shouted my disagreement to the sailors. This was my second mistake: I dissented in public. Except in rare circumstances, it is almost never the right call to publicly disagree with your superiors, especially if your intent is to convince them to change direction. Public dissent tends to back decision-makers into a corner and, more often than not, forces them to dig in their heels. Dissenting in a public setting, whether it is a Navy repair locker, a meeting or a widely distributed email, could jeop- ardize external stakeholders’ trust and confidence in your organization. In my case, I put sailors in the uncomfortable position of having to choose whether to follow my orders (to proceed deliberately) or the DCA’s (to proceed rapidly). This undermined our chain of command. I could have inadvertently introduced delays and confusion in future scenarios as my sailors waited to hear whether I agreed with the DCA’s orders Except in rare circumstances, it is almost never the right call to publicly disagree with your superiors, especially if your intent is to convince them to change direction. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2019 53