I learned that my son, Caleb, has the potential to be a songwriter someday. This inspired me to take him to a church gathering where the guest speaker was a master musician, lyricist, and singer. My motive was set, and I remained undeterred in my objective: to connect my son, in whatever manner or form I could, with an established leader in the music field, hoping he would receive something of value that would contribute to a purpose-driven life.
While aware my four-year-old boy probably wouldn’t understand most of what the guest speaker had to say, I did my best to keep him in full view of the man up front throughout the event. This included having Caleb sit on my knees, and when the congregation stood, swapping him between my arms before hoisting him onto my shoulders for the best view in the room. At the end of the meeting, I went to the front and introduced Caleb to the muso. The guest speaker provided more value for my son than I hoped for. My efforts paid off.
Reflecting on the experience, I realised that what I had done as a father-leader on the day in question, even if unconventionally, was to align Caleb with and bring him under the influence of someone who, because of prior knowledge, I believed to be a trustworthy, effective leader in his field.
Bible readers may remember comparable stories in Luke 5:17-39 and Luke 19:1-10. The first story is about a group of men determined to see Jesus heal their paralysed friend. Because of the crowd surrounding Jesus, the men lower their friend through a hole in the roof of the house in which Jesus stands. In the second story, Zacchaeus the tax collector, wanting to see who Jesus is, but being prevented from doing so because of his height and the crowds surrounding Jesus, perches himself in a tree. From there he can see Jesus and Jesus can see him, with the result that Jesus visits Zacchaeus at his home, much to the dismay of the religious onlookers.
What I did with and for my son when I took him to a gathering to connect with a musical leader, what the devoted men did with and for their paralysed friend when they lowered him through a hole in a roof where Jesus was standing, and what Zacheus did when he climbed the tree to see the Messiah, is something we all do, whether knowingly or not, every day of our lives. We align ourselves and/or those in our care with persons or organisations of influence.
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If we agree with leadership expert John Maxwell, that leadership is influence, we will also agree that aligning with, or willingly coming under influential others, is to follow the leadership of those influential others. This process of aligning ourselves with leadership or choosing who to follow is the beginning of what scholars call followership and is part of the broader leader-follower relationship. A crude definition of followership is obeying instructions from leadership. Left at this, followership can easily empower toxic leadership, so scholars like Ira Chaleff, author of Courageous Followership, Intelligent Disobedience, and, more recently, To Stop a Tyrant, conceptualise followership in ways that extend well beyond mere obedience before leaders.
This article is about the first step in followership — deciding who to follow — and understanding its significance and some of the realities and limitations that characterise and inform this decision.
Why choosing leadership, or who to follow, is important
Aligning oneself and those under one’s care with the best leadership possible is important because leadership is a big deal. Maxwell says: “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. Every person is a product of leadership — good and bad; the leadership we consciously choose to follow; the leadership we may not be aware we are following; and the leadership we don’t follow but that impacts us, nonetheless. Leadership is inescapable.
Throughout our lives, to varying degrees, whether directly or indirectly, we are under leadership that provides for, determines, or shapes: our physical and emotional needs and our capacity to fulfill them; the perception and understanding we have of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live; and the quality of the environment in which we live now and in which future generations will live. This is why, according to Ubuntu philosophy, “I am because we are”, or in the words of English poet John Donne: “No man [or woman] is an island”. Our dependence on leadership is why Jesus instructs us to Love one another (John 13:34-35), and why Peter writes that we mustn’t dominate those under our care, (1 Peter 5:2-4).
By “best leadership possible”, I mean that leadership, formal or informal, that, among one’s leadership options in any given context or moment, is closest to or best at striving to protect and/or advance human dignity through the pursuit and application of transcendent values (the first among these, love and justness), and is most competent to meet the tasks of leadership at hand. Individuals without access to this kind of leadership are in trouble and the greater the number of such individuals in a society, the greater the trouble that society is in.
Leadership is fundamental, but the significance of followership mustn’t be lost on those who recognise the centrality of leadership. If leadership is influence, the degree of influence leadership will have depends on the willingness of others to follow. What is human history if not the story of men and women choosing who to follow, or not choosing at all, and facing the consequences of their actions or inactions?
We choose leadership daily, and when or how we choose isn’t always obvious
We align ourselves and those we’re responsible for, with leadership, in the form of persons or organisations, in more ways than we know or care to recognise.
According to author and coach Amanda Reill: “The average adult makes 33,000 to 35,000 total decisions each day. Many of these happen automatically and simultaneously through the information we’ve subconsciously stored about what is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”
How many of our daily decisions are informed by leadership (past and present, known and unknown) that shaped our understanding of what constitutes “good” and “bad”? Are these daily decisions not ultimately decisions about who to follow at any given moment?
Choosing or aligning ourselves with leadership isn’t always an explicit event or process, like voting for a political party in an electoral democracy. We often choose leadership unconsciously. How many of us know, for example, that when choosing a marriage partner, one chooses a fellow leader for life, especially if starting a family is part of the plan?
When I watch a film, I open myself to the influence of those who consciously shaped what the film is intended to communicate. When I watch with my children, I bring them under the same influence. What about the diets we follow? Is what we choose to eat not a manifestation of the leadership we knowingly or unknowingly follow in the food industry? Consider the story about the American teenager who recently sued some of the world’s biggest food companies “for deliberately engineering their [unhealthy], ultra-processed food (UPF) products to be addictive”.
We also invite influence and therefore align ourselves with organisational leadership when we accept a job offer. The leadership of the organisation one subsequently becomes a part of will impact one’s daily experience (including, potentially, after work hours) and possibly one’s career trajectory.
We can’t always decide on leadership, but followership is always a choice
We don’t always have the option of deciding who or what kind of leadership will influence or impact us. Oftentimes, others and/or circumstances decide for us. For example, we are born into families, led by parents who make decisions that can and often do set the stage for how we live the rest of our lives. Depending on a country’s political culture, a majority vote, or those wielding the necessary power, will decide who governs and with what policies. However, being influenced or impacted by leadership doesn’t necessarily equate with following that same leadership.
When realities beyond our control place leaders over us, whether as individuals or as a collective, that we would otherwise not have come under, or in those instances where we continue experiencing the negative impact of historical leadership decisions, the need to align with alternative leadership that is more virtuous and effective, becomes that much more of an imperative. In other words, only good leadership can counter the ill effects of bad leadership.
The more the members of a citizenry align with virtuous and effective leadership and follow the example of that leadership, the more virtuous and effective that citizenry will become and the greater the potential for overturning the consequences of historically poor leadership, including at a national level.
Followership is multidimensional because leadership is multidimensional
Aligning oneself exclusively and permanently to a singular leadership, be it an individual or group, in all things, is inadvisable, if not impossible, for at least three related reasons.
Firstly, diversity inevitably involves leadership specialisation and diversification. As much as I wanted to bring my son under the influence of the music leader I cited in the opening passages, I am not necessarily inclined to seek the latter’s influence in other areas of human affairs, be it politics, the health sciences, or financial management, for example. No one leader or group can lead in all things all the time. Diversity is why effective leadership is generally the result of a team effort.
Secondly, change, in all things, is constant. Leaders change, they can turn out different from what we initially believed, or die, all with potential implications for leadership and the performance and/or life span of the organisations they lead or led.
Thirdly, ‘variety is the spice of life’. One develops as a follower and leader to the degree that one is willing and able to align oneself with and draw on multiple leadership sources, with the understanding that each source of influence has specific expertise and limitations.
The fact that we are constantly aligning ourselves with multiple influencers, depending on the context or need, and whether simultaneously or at separate intervals, also means that followership can range from being a momentary to a long-term commitment.
All in all, the more individuals in a community align themselves and those under their care with the best leadership possible, the more stability, productivity, and security that community should expect to see. Leadership is key, but so is followership, beginning with the decision of who to follow.
An extended version of this article is available here.
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