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Different needs require different leaders
Most people (including scholars) believe that we follow a person because of his or her personality or behaviour. In other words that we follow individuals we look up to, admire, get inspired by, etc. Meaning we follow individuals because of who they are. This is a myth. As we discussed in the previous post before Christmas, we follow those we believe are best suited to help us reach a goal or solve a task. It would be ineffective, and frankly quite stupid, for a group of people to follow a single individual all the time. Especially if the only reason we followed was that a person was charismatic, inspiring, or what…
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Thank you for 2022
We’re quickly approaching Christmas and the end of 2022. So I thought I’d end this year with a video showing some of the images produced since January 2022. I wish you a great holiday and a happy new year and I’ll see you all early 2023. Until then – stay safe! Chris https://youtu.be/w19cYH_ChbY Please note that you have to accept cookies on this site in order for videos to work. For more information, please visit our cookies page.
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Why we follow – Part 3 – Making use of our differences
We all have our own set of skills and talents. But different situations require different types of knowledge and abilities. For this reason, we humans have evolved to become exceptionally good at identifying and making use of each others’ strengths. If we’re facing a difficult situation or need help of any kind, we turn to the person or persons best suited to help us. In fact, our entire society is built upon this logic. If we get sick, we go to the doctor. If our car breaks down, we take it to a mechanic. This is so natural to us, we don’t even think about it – unless, of course,…
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Why we follow – Part 2 – What triggers us to follow
In the previous post, we concluded that followership is voluntary, that it, like love, starts within a person. But then the next question is: what triggers us to follow someone else? I’ve spent years trying to understand this. The traditional view on followership is that people follow leaders because of who the leader is or what the leader does. That is, we follow people because we look up to them or feel inspired by them, but I’ve found that’s not the case. In fact, it’s one of the greatest myths regarding leadership. You see, it’s not the individual per se we follow. It’s what the individual can do for us…
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Why we follow – Part 1 – Followership is like love
Through the years I’ve found that one way of explaining the very essence of followership is to compare it with love. We can be forced to do a lot of things that we associated with love, such as having sex, getting married, having kids etc., but that’s not love. No one can make you love them. In fact, no one can make you feel anything and it’s the same with followership. No one can force you to follow them. You can feel obligated, or even be forced to obey someone, but that doesn’t mean you follow them. In other words, the first thing to understand about followership is that it’s…
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Followers and self-leadership
I feel that I need to say a few words about self-leadership. Sometimes I meet people who get a little bit confused when I claim there are no leaders without followers. “Yeah, there’s self-leadership” they argue. Now that argument doesn’t make any sense to me. If I need to lead myself in order to get things done, then don’t I also need to follow myself? If your inner leader tells you to put on your shoes and go for a walk, you’ll immediately run into problems if you refuse to follow yourself. You’ll just be standing there with your shoes in your hand. So no, I don’t think it’s possible to…
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Followers are not sheep
In the previous post- what do we know about followers – I mentioned that no one wants to be a follower. The reason is that followers are often associated with sheep. Now, believe me, that’s not meant as a compliment. For some reason – and I don’t know why – sheep are regarded as stupid. They are considered so dumb, that they’ll die unless someone manages them. In all honesty, this is just mean. What did sheep ever do to us? In fact, as far as I know, sheep are rather smart. Anyway, as to followers, they’re definitely not stupid. Nor are they puppets who simply obey someone else’s orders. As we’ll…
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What do we know about followership?
People spend years studying how to lead but not a day learning how to follow. Companies are no better. They invest millions in leadership development but not a single dime on followership.Why? I think there are two main reasons for this. First of all, no one wants to be a follower because we associate it with something negative. Secondly, many seem to believe that leadership is all that matters. Without great leaders, we can’t really achieve much, so why waste time on followership? But here’s my question: how do we know leaders are vital and important if we don’t know anything about followership? And why do we think being a follower…
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What is followership?
I’ve spent more than 15 years studying followership, but what is followership? Well, simply put it’s how and why we follow people. For example, many believe that followers are the same as subordinates but that’s not the case. A subordinate has to obey orders. A follower, on the other hand, chooses when and how to follow. This means we can force people to become subordinates but we can never force anyone to follow us. We’ll discuss this in more detail in the next coming of posts, so see you soon and enjoy the video below. https://youtu.be/1lIz4iJQ7oU Please note that you have to accept cookies on this site in order for videos…
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There are no leaders without followers
Have you ever thought about the fact that people are obsessed with leadership but completely uninterested in those who follow? It’s strange, isn’t it? I mean – without followers, there are no leaders. You can’t have one without the other. So why are we only interested in one side and not the other? In fact, there’s a power in followership that’s far stronger than any form of leadership. But because people are only interested in those who lead, few know how this power is generated and how it works. So, if you’re interested in how followers change the world, then you’ve come to the right place. Here at followership.se we explore the world…