Thursday, February 25, 2010

The idea of the first follower

An interesting Youtube video I came across on leadership:

The clip ends with some interesting lines, "Leadership is over-glorified... it was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader... the best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow".

What an interesting thought, eh? Are there any applications to guilds where the GM is the leader? Would the officers be the courageous first followers? Though I would argue that sometimes it may be the officers making the decisions, with the GM just communicating it. Anyways, I thought it was an interesting concept:

"Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership".

4 comments:

  1. A very interesting video and concept. I'd definitely agree that it often spawns most guild-breakaways, too, where one loud-mouth leader suddenly gets a follower or two, and others start listening to that one "crazy drama guy" more carefully.

    Social pressure to fit in is an interesting beast all of its own. No matter how much we may say we don't care what others think, it's still reassuring to know others feel the same way as we do, be it the want to dance or even the want to be a gamer girl who raids pixel-dragons all hours of the night (and would rather trade her phone in for a permanent linkup to ventrilo). :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Kae, great point! I was thinking of the first follower concept in a positive end.. thinking about the role of officers as first followers.

    But you're totally right... it could also work on the other negative end. One person expressing concern or discontent, even if its a crazy drama guy may make others feel more comfortable in chiming in. Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, that was filmed at the Gorge at George in Washington...great place to see an outdoor concert...

    Yeah, completely off topic, but it's what I do...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Humm.. very interesting.
    A leader needs good followers. But even the best first follower will not make a numbnut a good leader. So if that setup does not fall apart the first follower becomes the shadow behind the leader (of course, in that case, the first follower is not an under-appreciated leader. The first follower is the de-facto power behind the leader, and the leader becomes replacable)

    Lleleth

    ReplyDelete