In life, there are followers, and there are leaders. Leaders depend upon their followers for backup and support. Followers depend on their leaders to be their guide through life, and to do what they think is best for their life, instead of making these kinds of choices themselves. In the fictional novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there are some very obvious examples of these leadership positions. Of course, the characters don't always do the best job filling their role.
In followership there needs to be a leader that inspires and bonds followers together as a unit moving in one direction. Today’s leader has to be more than someone that was placed in a position of authority, a person with a title and a higher salary level. A real leader is found when the behaviors and attitudes of their
Leadership is the elaboration of group inspiration. One person entrusted as leader can implore the aid, and support of supporters in the accomplishment of a common mission. According to Gurdjian, Halbeisen, and Lane “Becoming a more effective leader often requires changing behavior. But although most companies recognize that this also means adjusting underlying mind-sets, too often these organizations are reluctant to address the root causes of why leaders act the way they do” (Gurdjian, Halbeisen, and Lane, 2014) However, today abundant businesses engross importance on the improvement of leaders. Some of the ultimate leaders were formerly followers, such as in instructive businesses. One aspect as leaders many have to contemplate in striving
Drake's new album called “Views” extremely caught my attention. This album had numerous exceptional songs that I could easily relate to. I connected to this album better than some of his other albums that were produced such as “So Far Gone” and “Room For Improvement” because this album had more diversity. For instance, in this album, he put a lot of his thoughts into it but he also put logic. “Views” was the fourth studio album by Drake and was also supported by five billboard singles: "Hotline Bling", "One Dance", "Pop Style", "Controlla" and "Too Good", which are some of my favorite tracks from this album. I absolutely love this album because it shows the struggles that Drake has faced emotionally and it gives us the ability to connect to
Many times in life, we are convinced that leaders rise from the ground, pulling the rest of us up to meet them. Followers are portrayed as decorations to help enhance the leader. The relationship between them, however, is more closely resembling a tower. Followers support and build up to a major cause with the leader at the top, the figurehead of their ideals. The ideal leader is the ideal follower, which helps to portray outwards the qualities they're looking for and the goals they have. The difficulty arises when today's society raises everyone to believe that they must be a leader or they're a loser. As Reese Bobby in Talladega Nights said, "If you're not first, you're last." During my time on the girl's golf team, I was in no way the best
Growing up I was always told to be a leader and not a follower, and as a child I did not think much of that saying. However, in recent years I have begun to grasp what it truly means to
Being a leader is often seen as impressive and key in a resume, merely because it is glorified in today’s society. However, people often forget that if every person on this planet was a leader, there would be no followers, and therefore, no leaders. Becher and Sivers both argue that followers are significant in creating a leader, something I genuinely agree with. However, Sivers seems to point out that being the first follower is hard and can lead to ridicule; although I agree that it is hard to join a small group in action, I believe being the leader is harder and more dangerous regarding the possibility of ridicule.
Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex
Followers help leaders manifest their vision. Successful followers (supporters or team members) come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. A good leader was once a follower. Without followers there is no leadership in any organization. Leaders can develop effective followers as followers develop effective leaders. The performance of followers and leaders of an organization are variables that depend on one another. Both roles are proactive together they can
Leaders are required to engage, support and collaborate with followers who share a vision and a passion to implement needed change in the HCS (Abdel Malak, 2016; Grossman & Valiga, 2013). Both leaders and followers invest a lot of time, energy, and commitment into forming relationships and building trust that is needed for effective teamwork (Abdel Malak, 2016; Grossman & Valiga, 2013). A leader must be able to identify and recognize the dynamics between them and the followers, what the followers expect and want from their leader, and how to engage them to achieve change without demonstrating power and authority (Abdel Malak, 2016).
As a good follower, I need to accept responsibility and I need to be aware of the tasks that I have to take on. I have to readily support my leader at all times and I should be able to voice my opinions to my leader in a very supportive way. Leaders can only lead an organization successfully if they have personalities that appeal to their followers. The individual reflection and big five
Leadership has become overly romanticized by popular culture, leaving little research and attention to followership (Meindl). This focus on leadership has left a deficit in the development of
The importance placed on the follower’s opinions and capabilities acknowledges the value of his or her contribution by leadership. It motivates people to do their best and achieve the necessary goal(s). This empowerment by leadership therefore promotes a beneficial message between leaders and followers allowing for future communication when difficult circumstances might arise.
Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to:
Riggio, R., Chaleff, I., & Lipman-Blumen, J. (Eds) (2008). The Art of Followership How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.