Robert Kelley’s “In Praise of Followers” is a comprehensive account of who a follower is, what followership can look like, and the different types of followers we see in corporate contexts. I enjoyed this change of pace from most of the leadership education I have received thus far because it is so significant to acknowledge the population being led as well as the leaders cultivating the qualities we admire. I felt as if the quote, “Followership is not a person but a role, and what distinguishes followers from leaders is not intelligence or character but the role they play,” (Kelley 10) encapsulates the goals of our education at the Jepson School. Just on the Jepson website, we see leadership defined as “leadership not only as a position but also as a process and a relationship among people,” which relates directly to Kelley’s article. Kelley is arguing that in order to create prosperous organizations and leadership teams, we need the “effective followers”: the “risk-takers, self-starters, and independent problem solvers,” (5). I would agree that effective followers help organizations thrive and we must not discredit the driven, passionate individuals who contribute as much– if not more– than the leader.
However, a problem I had with this article is that Kelley ultimately favors extroverts. He fails to acknowledge that not everyone is confident enough to come off right away as courageous, or that racial or sexual discrimination in the workplace can limit individuals from maximizing productivity and success. In my Gender and Work course, we discuss workplace discrimination in-depth, and this article completely disregarded its prevalence. “Followers” in a workplace setting cannot possibly be honest if their employer is not accepting of their sexual orientation, race, gender identity, ability, or nationality, for example. I read an article written by a woman of color who implicitly found herself not speaking up in discussions due to the stereotype of black women being “bossy”; how can she possibly be an “effective follower” if her voice is not recognized? While Kelley acknowledges that effective followers do receive mixed responses from their leaders, he does not mention that a great proportion of people do not meet these criteria if they are introverted or discriminated on the basis of their identity, but does that make them a “less effective” follower?
Anna Marston
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