If Everyone is Leading, Then Who is Following?
The Necessity for Quality Followers
In 1996, there were more than 15,000 books about leadership in print. That was a mere 26 years ago! How many leadership books are in print today? An Amazon search for “Books About Leadership” will yield over 10,000 results, while a more general search for “Leadership” will show you over 70,000 results. Regarding leadership books, one estimate is nearly 8 billion titles are currently in print!
Popular leadership books seem to be everywhere. Books like:
· The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
· The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
· Good to Great
· Dare to Lead
· The First 90 Days
· Start with Why
Conversely, an Amazon search for “Being a Follower” yields a whopping 2,000 results, most of which are either on how to be a follower of a deity or how to stop being a lame rule follower.
It has never been trendier than it is now to be about leadership in some capacity. You’re even looked down on in the workplace if you do not desire to climb up the company ladder into some leadership capacity.
I remembered starting a self-employment venture in the health insurance world and attending a conference in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Talking with fellow conference attendees, I noticed much excitement around the Keynote Speaker for the weekend. However, I also quickly noticed, quite humorously, that I had never heard of the Keynote Speaker. All I knew was his name — John Maxwell — and that people were flying in from all over the globe to listen to him speak.
A quick Google search and I added to my knowledge of Mr. Maxwell that he earns between $50,00 — $100,000 per event, which is higher than the modest range of $30,000 — $50,00 for “Leadership Experts” such as Robyn Benincasa, Richard Branson, Deborah Rosado Shaw, and Simon Sinek.
Event organizers gladly pay these astronomical speaker fees because these speakers will draw huge crowds, which yields higher profits for the organizers. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.
Side Note
I’m fascinated by Jesus. I love how he intentionally shut down the large crowd gatherings because he wasn’t about fame or fortune. He wanted people to follow him because of who he is; he is the gift. In John 6, the crowd was getting larger because he had miraculously fed thousands. People were looking to Jesus as their meal ticket. What did he do? He took the topic of food and intentionally taught a difficult-to-understand and controversial message that most of the crowd misunderstood as prescribing cannibalism.
I love Jesus! He gets the big group, his stage is vast, the spotlight on him, and he chooses to dwindle the crowd. He came for the salvation of sinners, not to merely fill bellies. He spent one-on-one time with the Samaritan woman at the well, with the teacher of Pharisees named Nicodemus, and with Peter and countless others. Jesus was focused on caring for the person, not protecting an organization. He didn’t sell out by altering the message of the gospel to become a celebrity lavished with money and fame (ahem) —
Leadership in Schools
Our society screams to pursue leadership, especially in teenagers’ ears—so many changes from the ages of 11 to 17. You go from watching Phineas and Ferb to being expected to have a career path that better lead to being the next Commander in Chief. It’s not enough in middle school to be socially involved; you must be the captain, the founder, the manager, and the mentor. Popularity becomes the goal with the strategy to hold leadership positions in whatever club, team, or organization.
It only gets worse in high school. I currently have three teenagers in high school, and as much of a “Boomer” I may be, I know this about high schoolers: social media is king. Suppose high school was like the Hunger Games. In that case, apps like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Discord are the necessities to survive, gifted by the Game Maker and left in the middle of the wide-open field — social media is a cornucopia. Heck, the goal is to get as many “followers” as possible! Teens don’t want to follow more than to be followed.
Our society is obsessed with leadership roles. As a high schooler trying to fill out college and scholarship applications, job applications, or apply to join an honor club, the application will inevitably ask the one question: “Please tell us what leadership roles you have held, and what you were responsible for, and how long you were the leader, and how many people did you lead, and how many groups have you started, and…”
Applications with this kind of questioning teach the high schooler that unless you are an official leader of some sort or in some capacity, you’re not wanted. That’s not only a lot of pressure to put on an adolescent, but it’s not even the correct message to communicate!
I appreciate how freelance writer Melissa Fenton put it when she wrote,
“How refreshing would it be to see a question on an application that looked like this…
“Explain a time when you were just a regular member of a team, a group, or a club, and you did work behind the scenes that nobody noticed. You weren’t special, or boastful, or overly enthusiastic about everything, but you were just an on-time, dependable, average, and happily participating member. You kept the group quietly afloat, and nobody noticed. How?” (Grown & Flown article by Melissa Fenton, 3/16/2016)
Then there’s college. Enough said. Well, maybe not. Here’s a humorous anecdote from my wife’s experience in her college sociology class: The teacher asked the students to group themselves into one of two groups. “Leaders” go to the right, and “Followers” go to the left. In a class of twenty, nineteen immediately went to the right side of the room while my beautiful wife walked to the left side. It was infrequent for a student to identify themself as a follower, and the teacher was left somewhat speechless. All he said was, “Interesting.”
Who are the Leaders Leading?
This emphasis our culture puts on leadership has led me to pause and ponder the question, “With everyone expected to pursue leadership and to have leadership as the main goal in whatever context one finds himself in, then who is following?” I know it seems to be an obvious question, but if everyone is leading, then no one is following…
This means no one is leading anyone.
I enjoy watching the Food Network television show Iron Chef. It’s relaxing for me. However, with how our society covets leadership positions, what would Stadium Kitchen look like if the entire cooking team consisted of all Iron Chefs? Rather than Sous Chef and Chef de Partie cooking in partnership with the Head Chef’s culinary vision, you would have the proverbial “too many cooks in the kitchen,” and the results would be disastrous.
In the sports world, star players are on each team. In the NFL, the star player is typically the quarterback, maybe the Wide Receiver, but is definitely a player on the offense. What would happen if the offensive line just wasn’t that good? No matter how talented the quarterback is, without efficient linemen protecting him, he would have a horrible season and, quite possibly, wouldn’t even make it through the end of the season without suffering a severe injury.
In the NBA, most people know who Stephen Curry and Lebron James are, but what about the “role players” who come off the bench and contribute in small but meaningful ways? Michael Jordan might never have won any championships if Phil Jackson didn’t convince him to begin playing team basketball.
My point is this: For as much importance our society places on leadership, without quality followers who humbly do their work to empower others, the best leaders will fail. Therefore, we should put just as much, if not more, emphasis on the quality of following and being a team player for the greater good.
Jesus as Servant Leader
As I have written elsewhere, there are two statements Jesus made about himself that go together.
Statement #1: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)
Statement #2: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Leadership and Service are meant to coexist.
God comes to us as a human. If anyone were served, it would be God. Yet, Jesus used his authority to serve others. His servant authority would be used to wash feet, spend time with the social outsiders, heal the blind and feed the poor, and ultimately hang on a cross for the salvation of humanity. Jesus used his authority not to be served but to serve. As previously mentioned, he also was not about building a mega-church for fame and money.
Here’s how Jesus prioritizes leaders and greatness in Matthew 20:25–27,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them, and those in high position exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your servant”.
If we’re to think like Jesus, our society should emphasize following and serving. Why? Because one’s character matters more than one’s position. We push ourselves and our children towards being leaders, yet many leaders today cover the headlines due to illegal and immoral activity unbecoming. Are those headlines a surprise when we idolize the position more than the character?
Closing Thoughts
I’d like to end with another quotation from Melissa Fenton’s article,
“Our world needs leaders, our communities need leaders, and our colleges and high schools need leaders, but they also need legions of followers, and those followers need not be ashamed to serve in that role. We need essay prompts and applications for our youth that do not discount or discourage their roles as just participants but highlight them. Instead of questions like, “How great are you when people are watching?” can we ask them “How great are you when people are NOT watching?” Now that is a question I’d like our teens to truthfully and honestly answer, and it would be a much better reflection of their character and potential than ‘How many leadership roles have you held?”
One last real-life illustration that has been instructive to me. A few years ago, my son took a high school culinary class. Without knowing it, he had signed up for a highly competitive class at a high school specializing in culinary excellence. This being his first culinary class, he was quickly made aware of how he did not belong there. Not only did the advanced skills of his peers make it clear to him, but for group projects, he was never “allowed” to do the critical cooking stuff.
To make matters worse, his culinary class was his last class of the day, and he would walk into my car, and, not knowing what he had just experienced, I would be frustrated with him because he was often late. I could never get from him why he often inconvenienced my “precious schedule” with his frequent tardiness. But he didn’t have to. One day, my wife and I received an email from his culinary teacher. The teacher went on and on about what a fantastic person our son is. Apparently, after the class ended, he would voluntarily stay behind and clean all the dishes and desks.
I think about that from time to time. I wish I were more like that. Dependable and working behind the scenes when no one is watching. He might not get the culinary accolades leading to a career in culinary leadership, and that’s fine. There’s immense value in having a servant-heart that cares for the good of others. I don’t have to wait to see what kind of man he’ll become someday; he’s already an amazing man.
Following is under-appreciated; character matters more than the title.
