When to Comply and When to Resist: Finding Your Strategy in Uncertain Times

Every day since January 20, 2025, leaders of nonprofits, businesses, and community groups have faced new, tough questions:  

• Do we change the name of our racial equity program to avoid political backlash?  

• Do we quietly step out of the spotlight to stay safe?  

• Or do we stand up, speak out, and risk the consequences? 

These are not just theoretical debates. They are decisions you may be making right now in the face of authoritarian-style pressures. 

Four Common Responses 

We have seen institutions, companies, and individuals take a range of approaches:  

• Complying to stay out of trouble.  

• Lying low to conserve resources or wait for a better moment.  

• Resisting through lawsuits, advocacy, or public protest.  

• Taking initiative by launching new efforts to build community power and dismantle unjust systems. 

None of these strategies is inherently right or wrong. Each comes with its own risks, costs, and potential impact. 

How Do You Decide? 

When your organization faces these dilemmas, three guiding questions can help: 

1. What are your highest-priority values? 

   Get clear about what matters most: your mission, your people, your sustainability, and your principles. 

   
   

2. What is your role in ending authoritarianism? 

   Not every group can do everything. But every group can do something. Understanding how authoritarian regimes are dismantled through mass protest, defection of insiders, and persistent noncompliance helps you identify where your organization fits in. 

   
   

3. What is your level of “strategic fitness”?

Strategic fitness means being conscious of your default habits. Does your team tend to comply? Resist? Lay low? Take initiative? Recognizing these patterns helps you make more intentional choices. 

Building Strategic Fitness 

Strategic fitness is not about having all the answers. It is about asking sharper questions, testing assumptions, and being willing to shift tactics. It may mean: 

• Taking risks you have avoided before.  

• Partnering with groups outside your usual circles.  

• Balancing care for your people with your contribution to the broader struggle. 

In other words, it is about making decisions that reflect both your values and the reality of the moment we are in. 

The Horizon Ahead 

History reminds us that change comes when ordinary people and institutions refuse to accept tyranny as inevitable. From Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence to Langston Hughes’ dream of a just America, we inherited both an unfinished vision of freedom and struggles to attain it. 

As leaders, we face the same challenge today: to decide when to comply, when to resist, and how to do both strategically and with courage and care. 

Want to Go Deeper? 

Dragonfly Partners has created a day-long workshop, When to Comply and When to Resist. In a full day with a client group, we will explore practical tools for building strategic fitness, share lessons from history and current movements, and give leaders a chance to work through the choices they face. 

Let us know if you’d like to bring When to Comply and When to Resist to your organization. Details and registration will be announced soon.