Are You a Leader or a Follower?
Broadly speaking, there are two types of people in the world. One type is known as leaders and the other one as followers.
In this article, I am not going to explain how to give the best possible answer in your upcoming job interview. I will demonstrate my thoughts and part of Napoleon Hill’s observations from his book “Think and Grow Rich”. I hope that will help you decide at the outset whether you intend to become a leader in your chosen path, persist a follower, or if you prefer to look for whichever suits you better.
It is no disgrace to be a follower.
In their early career steps, most people do not have the opportunity to manage a team or take great responsibilities. Each organization has already established manners and practices. The newcomers have to learn how to adapt to them. In other words, how to follow them. At this stage, somebody might think, “I hate the idea of being a follower”. Although, he should realize that being a follower isn’t a bad thing. As Napoleon Hill stated:
Most great leaders began in the capacity of followers. They became great leaders because they were intelligent followers.
If you tend to be a follower, that isn’t a bad thing. It means that you are responsible for getting things done, gaining experience in the field, and generally speaking, you are destined to play an essential role in the growth of your organization. Followers are just as important as leaders are. However, no leader is going to succeed if he does not have the most appropriate persons in his team doing the hard work. In fact, more followers than leaders are needed to make the process work.
The man who can follow a leader most efficiently is usually the man who develops into leadership most rapidly. An intelligent follower has many advantages, among them the opportunity to obtain knowledge, insights, and experience from his leader.
What makes a good leader?
Simply having the responsibilities of a leader does not necessarily make a person an effective leader. Great leaders should be able to adapt to their environment and empower their team to succeed altogether. However, not all situations require the same type of leadership style. The leader’s role is quite complex and demands different sets of characteristics or skills, always depending on the organization’s culture, the project deliverables, or the team he is asked to manage. Therefore, each organization should look for specific qualities necessary for effective leadership.
Many experts across numerous management books agree on certain leadership principles. Self-confidence, excellent communication skills, determination in decision making, responsibility, sympathy, and understanding, are some of them. However, to the end of the day, the most crucial factor is whether or not the leader is getting the job done. In my opinion, the following four elements are essential to achieve the expected results and lead a team to excellence.
- Be Loyal: The leader should be loyal to his instincts, to his associates, those above him, and those below him. Without a sense of loyalty and justice, no leader can command and retain the respect of his followers.
- Organize/Plan in Detail: A successful leader must have the ability to organize his work, have practical and accurate plans, and be a master of all the details related to his position. He must plan his work, and execute his plan efficiently. That means, of course, that he must adopt the habit of transferring details to the proper team members.
- Get the Others to Perform: The leader should share details about his position and knowledge of his job with his peer group. By doing so, he will increase the efficiency of his team and influence them to provide more and better service than they could perform without his assistance. Only in this way will he be able to “multiply” himself, be at many places, and simultaneously give attention to several things.
- Act Proactively: Within each team or organization, some circumstances exceed the forecast and predictions. Proactive leaders should expect such incidents and trust their guts as they are confident in their team’s problem-solving capabilities. The aforementioned mindset can not be developed in a single day. It requires constant and efficient communication, honesty, and integrity between all the team members; and, most importantly, inspiration from the leader to its peers to rise to each occasion and do what needs to be done and what is right.
The lack of one or more of the characteristics listed above could be considered harmful to a team and the results it is expected to achieve. On the other hand, perfectly utilizing them does not guarantee success. To accomplish that, the leader should be capable of coordinating all the members and processes to function as a well-tuned orchestra.
Which side should I choose?
If you’re a follower and choose the role of a leader, you will probably be stressed out and feel pressure from your colleagues and your environment. On the other hand, if you’re a leader and you take the role of a follower, apparently you will be able to achieve the goals set by your manager, but they might never fulfill you.
Unless the choice is clear to you, you should probably have to examine both alternatives to determine the employment type that better fits your career style. Thereby, you will have the opportunity to engage with responsibilities and projects outside your expertise area and work with people from diverse backgrounds. As a result, you collect experiences and gain insights and experience from them.
After having a clear view of the pros and cons of each career style, you will be able to decide which one fits better to your traits, mindset, and personality.
Final Notes
While I was thinking of the best way to end this section, this quote by Leonardo DiCaprio came to my mind.
Every next level of your life will demand a different you.
At each new stage (or position) in your journey, you will be asked to learn and do new things. That means that you might also have to unlearn or relearn stuff you acquired in the past and examine everything from a new angle and with a new meaning. Either as a leader or a follower, you must be open-minded, trust your inner voice and follow your true calling to reach your full potential and achieve ultimate happiness.
