I really enjoyed this article because it explored a concept that I had not thought about before: how to be an effective follower. This is important because for a leader to be effective and held accountable, his/her followers must contribute to the company or cause and hold them accountable. In order to be an effective follower, one must be active and driven to help the leader succeed and independent in order to hold them accountable.
On the other hand, if followers are passive and unmotivated, the leader can easily become overconfident, manipulative and will overall become unsuccessful. These ineffective followers could easily disband or cause a company or organization to fail. In general, a leader is fully reliant on effective followers in order to support them and allow them to gain recognition.
I also really enjoyed reading this article and the way it demonstrated the key role followers can play in the success of a leader. As a typically passive follower, I was kind of distraught at the fact that my type of following can permit people to become manipulative, so maybe I shall get more involved!
The role of the follower is something I also hadn’t considered before. It shows all the little moving parts that contribute to an effective and efficient organization. This article makes me think of NFL teams and how there are hundreds of positions that contribute to the on field success.
I also agree that this is an overlooked aspect of leadership. By empowering followers to do their best, the leaders, followers, and organizations benefit.