Lately I have heard several people tell me the reason they left an organization, cause, school, church or political party was because they were proudly “voting with their feet”. Think of a world where anything I was involved in and which I did not agree forced me to leave – to take my ball and go home. There would be no progress at all. What must be done, by all of us, is to help change our causes, guide them, encourage them and lead them closer to where they need to go. This takes relationship building and patience.
There are situations when we have to adjourn certain relationships if our values are misaligned or other important reasons. I am the last one to suggest that you stay with something even in the face of failure where your value is diminished. But it is a coward who just leaves because they did not get their way. Likewise, it is a coward who says nothing and sits on the sidelines. It is a leader who charges back in to make their case.
The best way to change something is to work to change something. Disengaging as a first strategy is a failed strategy. Leaders don’t quit, they keep at things as long as the prize is worth it.