I first came across this quote many years ago and it made me feel better about having been told I was ‘unreasonable’.

In the days when I had a ‘proper job’ I did sometimes make myself unpopular by challenging the status quo or refusing to accept something that clearly wasn’t working.  Early in my career I learned to challenge processes, activities and assumptions rather than people.

So why did I bring this quote out again this week?  I was talking with a prospective client who is involved in IT Transformation and he described his role as being to ‘challenge everything’.  That sounds very demanding to me and possibly likely to provoke some resistance.

I think it’s important to remember George Bernard Shaw’s words:

“…all progress depends on the unreasonable man”

And the unreasonable woman of course!

No matter how tough it gets, remember that when you’re labelled as ‘unreasonable’, you’re supporting progress.