The Art of Insubordination: Todd Kashdan on the Plant Yourself Podcast
Channel: Sick to Fit | Plant Yourself Podcast
Date: 2022-05-02

Todd Kashdan has just written a manual for people who want to change the world for the better, but face opposition from the clueless, fearful, or hopeless majority.

The Art of Insubordination will help you gain allies, convince bystanders, weather the inevitable storms that arise when you buck the status quo, and make it more likely you'll be open to the ideas of other "rebels" when you're in the majority.

Kashdan is a professor of psychology at George Mason University, and so his book is refreshingly evidence-based. He's also a great storyteller, so it reads like a page-turner.

For example, the book begins by describing the free-throw shooting style of NBA star Rick Barry, and uses his underhand release as a metaphor for a demonstrably better idea that never caught on, despite its obvious superiority to the status quo.

If you aren't familiar with Systems Justification Theory (I wasn't), chapter 2 will blow your mind.

And if you find that your arguments just trigger others to dismiss you or become more attached their own wrongheaded views, then chapter 4 will give you an entirely new toolbox of conversational tactics.

In our conversation, we cover a lot of different topics, including reminiscences of Action Park in New Jersey, how to improve Twitter (are you listening, Elon?), the human bias toward attractive people that we're almost not allowed to talk about, and why any good social change movement can benefit from understanding the "sleeper effect."

Enjoy!