{"id":833,"date":"2019-09-23T09:52:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/?p=833"},"modified":"2019-09-23T09:53:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:53:33","slug":"power-of-the-follower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/2019\/09\/23\/power-of-the-follower\/","title":{"rendered":"Power of the Follower"},"content":{"rendered":"

As John Gardner says early in<\/span> Leaders and Follower<\/span><\/i>s \u201cLeaders are almost never as much in charge as they are pictured to be, and followers are almost never as submissive as one might imagine\u201d(185). This is completely true. Leaders are literally powerless without followers and the illusion of superiority that leaders possess is all a matter of how the followers respond to them. Gardner asks the question \u201cshould the relationship [between leaders and followers] be more informal\u2026 leaders making the goals clear and then letting the constituents help determine the way of proceeding\u201d(186). I believe that yes, the followers should be the ones that truly influence the way of proceeding; I believe that oftentimes followers do in fact influence the way things turn out, even if they are not aware of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This impact followers can have brought me to think of several examples from class and the world today. One example of the huge role followers can play in the action taken by leaders and in a way lead themselves was the Parkland student\u2019s response to the shootings at their school. When it became clear that no real action was going to be taken by the government to prevent school shootings they made their voices heard. As stated in The New York Times by Margaret Kramer and Jennifer Harlen \u201c<\/span>The Parkland students became a force for gun control legislation and boosted the youth vote. Here\u2019s how they changed America\u2019s response to mass shootings<\/span>\u201d(2019). They saw how the leaders of our country were responding and instead of just letting the injustice and terror of the shooting shift into the background they were vocal in a way that was heard by the nation. They put pressure on the leaders to make a change and influenced other followers to not just stand by. If people become aware of the important role that followers play and the huge amount of influence they can have on the outcomes of our leader’s decisions followers can come together and assure that they are being heard in an organized, purposeful way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Link to NY Times article below:<\/p>\n