Followership

We are also followers or in a ‘subordinate’ role. I will use that pejorative term as well as the term ‘boss’ as the words are so prevalent across so many countries and cultures. If leadership training is scarce, then followership training is non-existent. We learn how to be a follower by absorbing the culture and modifying our behavior, depending on our understanding, interest and political skill, according to the unwritten rules we pick up along the way. Followership is not a person but a role, and what distinguishes followers from leaders is not intelligence nor character, but the role they play. Effective followers and effective leaders are often the same people playing different parts at different hours of the day.