Much had been written about leadership. Not so much has been written about followership. (Case in point, the word followership comes up on my screen underlined in red!)
As much as the word hasn’t made it into the online dictionary nor the everyday lexicon, it is a concept that is slowly coming to the fore. As a testament to its legitimacy, it is mentioned in Wikipedia and is defined as: “a role held by certain individuals in an organization, team, or group. Specifically, it is the capacity of an individual to actively follow a leader. Followership is the reciprocal social process of leadership.”
So inextricably linked are they that logically, you can’t be a leader if no one is following you. And since being a leader and being a follower is not a mutually exclusive proposition I would say that the best leaders also know when, and more importantly how, to be great followers.
I seem to be on a ‘simplicity kick’ of late and this clever You Tube video satisfies my need for learning something new in less than three minutes! And on a side note, it makes me smile every single time I watch it.
Take a look for yourself. 😊
Have you ever been inspired, moved or excited by someone with a great idea? Did you put your hand up. jump up and actively follow this “lone nut” and give credence and credibility to the individual and the notion? If so, congratulations on being willing to put yourself out there! If not, what’s stopping you?