Leaders vs Followers

A leader is a person who has followers who choose to follow them, and a follower chooses their leader out of their own will. (Johnson 2011) This week we’ve read about various leaders who all have different styles of leadership. After reading and analyzing viewpoints on these individuals and my findings from the readings about leaders and followers, I feel that in most organizations followers are important as leaders. They also play a very influential role in the behaviors of those they follow, good or bad.

In most companies good leadership sets the tone for the organization. I look at the relationship of leaders and followers like the principal of good communication. It requires more than just talking, you also have to and be willing to listen. Leaders were once followers, and although they are at a position now where they have subordinates they still in some fashion follow predecessors and those they oversee. Most CEO’s started off as a follower and made their way up to their position of leadership but are still following the footsteps of their predecessor in some way.

Some leaders like to have absolute authority when it comes to every decision made within the organization. But most organizations are made up of employees, or “followers”, who all understand the same vision and goals as each other and whom they follow. And each one of those visions is on improvement or solving a problem. When you have some followers who feel that their input is really not that important, and feel that most decision making and changes within an organization come solely from the leader, I think that contributes to the ineffectiveness of that leader. When followers play an active role in decision making and operations, it contributes to the effectiveness of the leader. This also benefits the organization overall.

In some organizations you have followers who choose not to follow that individual and some who do. I think that empowers good and bad leadership behavior. And...