The people factor - The resistance to ideas is positive and vital

What I think, the ideas that direct my will, ideas such as my values, convictions and principles need a certain resistance from which they surround me, because that is something positive and vital.

It comes to mind what Jerry Johnson (Menninger Business Institute) said with his ' resistance continuum' and the following seven levels:

1. Blind loyalty (Ask no questions) - DANGER: "Friends"

2. Believers but also questioners

3. Skeptics (‘Show me’)

4. Passive observers ('What’s in it for me?')

5. Opposed (fear changes)

6. More opposed (Fear loss of power)

7. Militantly opposed (will undermine and destroy) - DANGER: Enemies

A popular perception would see the people in level 1 like the only friends and people in the other levels like enemies. Nevertheless, I agree with the conclusions of this study: the people in levels 2 to the 6 are the true allies and the people in the levels 1 and 7 that are blindly to favor or blindly in con are the true danger.

It is worth to note that in leadership, enlisting levels 2 to the 6 like allies is a defining act of leadership (as noted by Tom DeMarco in Management-Aided Software Engineering essay) and defines an essential property in the character of a true leader, at family, at office, at community,... in life.