You're sitting in your Sunday best at a desk in a plush corner office. You're facing the top executive of the company you've fantasized about working for since your first semester of college.
Here comes that probing interview question: "Would you consider yourself more of a leader or a follower?" You answer with confidence: "A leader, of course!" It seems like an obvious response. No one in her right mind would call herself a follower.
The relationship between being a so-called "leader" and being successful, rich and powerful is one most people consider dependent upon each other. Phrases like "the powerful leader" and "the greatest leader of all time" are given to some of the most respected and accomplished people throughout history.
What does this mean for the so-called "follower"? A dead-end job taking orders all day long, never reaching that top tax bracket.
"To learn how to lead, you must first learn how to follow," Benjamin Franklin famously said.
The truth is we are all followers. That executive we admire in the corner office with the amazing view takes orders from someone. So many people find themselves asking the question, "Why him instead of me?" What makes him more qualified and what does he possess that makes them a so-called "leader"?
In business schools around the nation, universities pride themselves in teaching the best leadership skills and even producing leaders. In an article for Forbes — "Why MBA Programs Don't Produce Leaders" — Drew Hansen goes into detail about some of the problems with these programs and their curriculum.
The most successful and respected leaders stem from the greatest followers and share some of the same admirable characteristics. In an article written by Kevin Daum — "10 Traits of Great Leaders (and Their Followers)" — these traits are compared with one another and how they contribute to both great leaders and followers. Some of them include:
- patience
- compliance
- tolerance
- accountability
- gratitude
A successful leader is one who is not only trusted and respected by superiors, but also received well by peers and subordinates. That's why characteristics such as compliance and gratitude are shared by both leaders and followers.
The reality is everyone is a follower, and being an excellent one could get you in an outstanding role of leadership. Yes, new ideas and fresh approaches to problems can help you stand out. But those brilliant ideas and approaches coming from someone who is not respected, and not well known for the ability to follow, could possibly be overlooked.
The key to being a successful leader is to first learn to be a great follower. Although so-called "leadership skills" can be taught at business schools and MBA programs, they don't emphasize enough on how important it is to also be a follower.
So here's a new answer to that interview question: "I am both a leader and a follower. You can't successfully be one without the other."
