About Us
Moral Rebels is a small leadership consultancy with a big ambition - to help good people be brave at work.
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, we provide specialist coaching & mentoring, motivational talks & masterclasses and leadership development to inspire moral courage and brave leadership.
These can be delivered online or in-person (if located in North East England).
Moral rebels are courageous people who challenge the status quo to stand up for what is right, despite the personal cost to themselves.
They resist social pressure to conform, refusing to compromise their values. Moral rebels face resistance, backlash, ostracism and reprisals due to their principled stance.
Moral rebels are a wonderful asset at work. They want to make their workplace, sector or profession better.
They are often the moral compass or conscience of the organisation. When supported by good leaders, moral rebels thrive at work - inspiring positive change and ethical practice. If unsupported, they are vulnerable to burnout, sickness absence and may leave their roles.
Read on to learn more about the traits of moral rebels and our 5 top tips for moral rebels in the workplace.
It's not always easy to be a moral rebel. The positive traits that drive you to make things better can come at a cost.
Yet when moral rebels thrive in the workplace, everyone benefits from their impact. People are empowered, leading to positive change and improvements in culture.
Here are 3 signs that you might be a moral rebel:
Are you a moral rebel?
You're driven by purpose, values and to do what's right.
You have a desire for fairness, to protect others or make a difference.
You're justice-sensitive.
You want to challenge discrimination.
Your integrity, purpose and values are important to you - they're a fundamental part of who you are.
You're willing to take a stand.
You see a different way of doing things.
You have the courage to challenge the status-quo.
You're a positive disruptor.
Not taking a stand would compromise your principles and values.
You experience personal cost.
You face criticism, backlash, ostracism or moral distress for taking a stand.
You face resistance, despite standing up for what is right.
You continue to take a stand despite the cost to yourself, because you believe things can change for the better.
Our 5 top tips for moral rebels at work:
1
Expect resistance.
Seek to understand the reasons for the resistance and find strategies to work with it.
Don't take resistance personally - it's to be expected! People often resent morally courageous behaviour in others because it threatens their perception of themselves as good people.
2
Know your values.
Understand the values that are driving you. Understand the values that are driving others, and look for possible clashes or tension between these two perspectives. Emphasise the things you have in common.
Understand your own character strengths and consider where you might be overusing these.
3
See the system you're in.
Taking a systems perspective can help you to understand the complexity and different factors affecting your influence and impact. Understand the role you play, your identity within the broader system, and the power dynamics at play.
Consider what you can and can't control.
4
Pick your battles.
Prioritise your wellbeing when deciding which battles to fight. Find a balance between speaking up, compromising and stepping back. Practice self-care and play the long game - being strategic about deciding when and when not to speak up does not threaten or compromise your values.
Celebrate small wins and don't be afraid to walk away or pause if you need to take a break.
5
Find your tribe.
Feeling like the only person who truly cares about an issue can be lonely and isolating, particularly if you are in a stand-alone role. Support and connection from like-minded people is essential for your wellbeing.
Find others who share your views and values, form connections and share your frustrations, learning and successes.
Hear from our founder, Anna Green
I'm a leadership consultant and coach, sharing my passion for creating braver, morally courageous individuals and leaders after nearly 30 years of leadership experience working in corporate roles within the NHS.
Originally trained as a management accountant, I have significant, varied corporate experience and am a confident, engaging public speaker. I am a Chartered Manager, hold a MSc in Strategic Leadership from Newcastle University and trained as an Executive Coach at Henley Business School. I am professional, compassionate and understand the challenges and sensitivities of leadership.
I've always been driven to make a difference through my work and throughout my career, I've been inspired by dedicated, passionate people who have strong values, act with integrity and stand up for what is right. This isn't always easy, and often comes at a personal cost. My own experience of burnout led me to research the barriers to acting with integrity and led me to setup Moral Rebels.
Our troubled world needs moral rebels. The issues we face can only be addressed through moral courage, compassion and vision. This is leadership. Regardless of your role and focus, we can all play a part in making things better. Organisations and communities need individuals, positive disruptors, social entrepreneurs, campaigners, advocates, activists, leaders, organisations and professions to stand up for what is right to challenge the status-quo.
My belief is that most people have an inner moral compass and deeply-held values. Yet acting in line with those values is hard to do and can come at a personal cost. Did you know that only 15% of people can resist social pressure to comply with situations that compromise their values? These 15% are called ‘moral rebels’, and I believe more of us can responsibly act like moral rebels with the right support. Are you in?
I’ve come to think of this philosophy like a recipe:
- Take a good person who wants to make a difference.
- Add motivation, resilience and the right support.
- The result? Moral courage and brave leadership. A resilient individual who withstands pressure from others to stand up for what is right, burning bright, not burning out. An influential, inspiring and impactful individual who acts with integrity and moral courage, demonstrating brave leadership, regardless of their role. A moral rebel.
The inspiration for Moral Rebels.
Most organisations are full of dedicated, compassionate, skilled staff who work incredibly hard. Yet have you noticed that some colleagues just seemed to feel things more deeply? They stand up for what is right, often facing surprising resistance and backlash from their colleagues.
I have witnessed this pattern in a range of roles: chairs of staff networks, employee champions, sustainability teams, EDI leads, engagement leads. Some people just seemed to put more of themselves into fighting discrimination, defending human rights, protecting the planet.
I discovered that social psychologists have a name for this tendency - 'moral rebels'.
This was a lightbulb moment.
Suddenly I understood why I had sometimes felt so out of step with my colleagues, why I had so often been bewildered by people's responses to proposed improvements or strategic developments.
I'd blamed myself, my communication skills, my powers of persuasion or negotiation. What a relief it was to realise that the resistance I'd faced was entirely to be expected!
I realised that those colleagues with similar traits were also moral rebels. They weren't afraid of challenging the status-quo to stand up for what they believed in. They had the vision and belief that things could change. They demonstrated moral courage to challenge the social norms in their workplace.
At last, I had found the thing that united all those people I had watched burning brightly then burning-out - we were moral rebels.
Sadly, these individuals often end-up losing their initial enthusiasm and motivation, burning out, experiencing moral injury, even needing to take sickness absence or leave their organisations.
Yet organisations badly need their moral rebels. They are among are your most passionate employees, the ones who will act as your positive disrupters, your moral conscience, your social conscience.
It all came together for me at that point.
I understand what it's like to be a senior leader, and I understand what it's like to be a moral rebel. Moral Rebels Ltd was born - a leadership and coaching consultancy specialising in helping purpose-led organisations and individuals to model moral courage and brave leadership.
Late life transitions and a new lease of life.
I'm thriving in my fifties! A southerner who relocated twenty years ago, I am passionate about North East England, its people and regional values - authenticity, humour, compassion and resilience.
A recovering perfectionist who a late diagnosis of autism and ADHD, I have lived experience of burnout and navigating significant identity transitions later in life. I speak on these topics on request. I live in Newcastle upon Tyne with my wife and a grumpy 3 legged cat and relax by drumming in a samba band.
If you’d like to work with me, please do get in touch via hello@moralrebels.co.uk.
I'm passionate about helping people who want to make a difference through their work.
I champion moral courage and brave leadership.
"Anna Green is one of the most able people I had the privilege of working with in my 54 years serving the NHS. Anna is empathic, insightful, wise and highly intelligent both emotionally and intellectually. Anna understands the world of work and how to stay true to yourself and your values, survive, flourish and do excellent work even when the circumstances are difficult. Anna is great to work with, supportive, helpful and a delightful colleague."
Ken Jarrold
Writer and Speaker. Administrator, Manager, CE Consultant. Non Executive Chair and Director in NHS, Director Other People’s Shoes Ltd. 1969 to 2023.
Author of Other People’s Shoes: 40 Questions for Leaders and Managers 2018 - available on Amazon
