How to be a Follower of a Bad Leader

From my limited naval knowledge it seems that there is a more rigid, militaristic view of command on ships that is more extreme than most extreme expeditions, like Herzog's.  I think it is necessary to have this authoritarian leadership in certain instances, my thoughts turn towards emergencies, when things need to happen quickly and in a coordinated manner.  A could see ship life being grouped into that.  But what do you do when that leader is doing what you think is a terrible job?  To be honest, I don't know and it is something I have been working on after dabbling at both extremes.  I've stood there watching the leader confidently make a very dangerous choice that could have easily become deadly, yet managed to work out and left us with an epic experience.  I've jumped in an taken over command, overstepping my boundaries, ending in loud voices and a damaged friendship.  And these both within a few hours hike from the road.  Barrett portrays Erasmus' actions in this respect in a positive light.  She seems to praise his respect for the hierarchy of the ship and his persistence to guide and assist Zeke.  We are guided into honoring Erasmus for not stepping up until Zeke is gone and taking time to think through his decisions, in particular to leave the ship without Zeke.  Erasmus' sense of responsibility to take care of Zeke played a role in making Erasmus think of Zeke over himself and the crew at times, yet Barrett makes it seem alright, since he's doing it for his sister.  I'm not sure what to think about why Barrett chose to write it from Erasmus' point of view instead of Ned's.  I found it interesting, yet realistic, that Ned seemed to do a lot of the work to get the group ready to leave the boat, yet everyone still knew that Erasmus was the one to lead them on.