To Lead or to Follow

To Lead or To Follow?

I want to start this morning by asking you a question. “Would you rather be a leader or a follower?” Of course most of you answer “leader” because leadership is what we celebrate and being a “follower” is weak right?

You’ve heard the quote, “if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.” Do you need a visual?

But is it important for everyone to be a leader? Can everyone be a leader? Would this team work if every dog needed to be in front?











Next question: What makes someone a leader? ....... How do you know if someone is a leader?

There are a lot of attempts to answer this question, and most of these attempts start by giving examples of the qualities or traits a good leader may possess. But I want a more concrete answer. What makes someone a leader? How do you know they are a leader?
The very concrete answer is that they have people that follow them. A leader is only a leader if they have followers. The leader without followers is just a person with an idea. Often a crazy idea, right? Something new, something unique. The leader does have to be (fill in the blank ___________) and courageous but what about the followers? More specifically what about the FIRST FOLLOWERS? Are they courageous? Hold that thought.

The inspiration for today’s talk was not of my own making. I watched a short video on the TED website where Derek Sivers uses an entertaining video to make some points about how to start a movement. (see below)



(http://sivers.org/ff)

Siver’s concludes with some lesson we can learn from this.
1. If you are the leader standing alone then remember the importance of embracing the first follower as an equal.
2. While leadership is important he is nothing without followers – those who have the courage to provide the social proof – the cues as to how others should act. He says it is the first follower that transforms the lone nut into a leader.

3. The first follower is an under-estimated form of leadership.

So when I ask the question, “Do you want to lead or to follow?” Let’s not dismiss the following so quickly. Let’s investigate. I want to look at this idea of the importance of followers using a few examples.


Leaders must Cultivate Followers

How about his? Who knows who George Whitefield is?

George Whitefield was Methodism’s first and most popular spokesman. Ben Franklin, one of Whitefield’s admirers, said of Whitefield public speaking prowess,

“Every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice was so perfectly well-tuned and well-placed, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music.”

Certainly Whitefield had some of the qualities of a leader, but was he a leader? Why is it then that the movement that he helped co-lead with John Wesley is known as the Wesleyan Revival and not the Whitefield Revival?

Adam Clark, an early historian of Methodism, suggests the reason was that Wesley cultivated followers. He established small groups to carry forward his work locally. He established churches. Wesley saw the necessity to put followers in place to lead; which, in turn, made him the leader. Whitefield did not and he admitted that in this he failed. Leaders must Cultivate Followers



Followers Get things Done – Followers are Doers
Jean Monnet is widely considered the father of European unity. He worked for more than 50 years on policies which eventually lead to the creation of the European Union though he never held an elected leadership position

In his Memoirs, Monnet observes that "People of ambition fall into two groups, there are those “who want to be someone” and those “who want to do something”

He writes:

“The main concern of many very remarkable people is to cut a figure and play a role. They are useful to society, where images are very important and the affirmation of character is essential to the administration of affairs. But, in general, it is the other kind of people who get things moving—those who spend their time looking for places and opportunities to influence the course of events. The places are not always the most obvious ones, nor do the opportunities occur when many people expect them.”

I have another question for you.
If I asked you who the father of American Independence was, who would you answer? Washington? Jefferson? Franklin?

What about John Adams? Why doesn’t Adam’s name come up first or more often? Before reading McCullough’s excellent biography of Adams, I too would have not thought of Adams. I would suggest that while Adams was a great leader, he was a better follower. He was the one who pushed Washington forward. He supported Jefferson in the writing of the constitution. He left his family and served the country abroad as an emissary for years at the behest of congress. If you study John Adams he was a loyal follower. He was more about the cause than he was about himself. Adams was a “doer.” Followers Get things Done – Followers are Doers


Good Followers Give Leaders feedback and direction
If I mention to you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech what does it make you think of? What was the tone? Uplifting? Inspirational? Positive? The“I have a dream” speech is famous because it put forward an inspiring, positive vision that at the same time carried a critique of the current situation. Imagine how history would have turned out had King given an “I have a nightmare” speech instead.

It turns out that he almost did. Apparently, as King stood up to speak that August 28th, 1963 before the Lincoln Memorial, he began an intended nightmare speech. Listen to the tone

“We’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check, but instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

He argued that it was fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment, that those who underestimated the movement’s power would have a “rude awakening.”

Those are pretty dark sentiments, yet we remember the speech as being uplifting, right?

Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer, and devout follower of Dr. King sensed the negative dark tone the speech was taking. She was sitting on the podium behind King. She called out from behind King these words: “Tell them about your dream, Martin!” She had heard riffs of the dream speech to other audiences and she knew that King was headed down the wrong path. She cried out again, “Tell them about the dream.”

King heard her and seemed to hesitate, speaking as if to himself: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair . . . I say to you my friend.” A soft applause from the tired audience gave him the chance to reorganized his thoughts. He then began a new speech,

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.”

And what follows are some of the most uplifting and hopeful images of a better possibility.

Mahalia, the follower, nudged her leader in the right direction. Good Followers Give Leaders feedback and direction
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/books/chapters/chapter-kings-dream.html)


Sometimes the follower becomes the leader


William Wilberforce was the member of British Parliament that led the reforms to end the practice of slavery in the British Empire. One interesting thing to understand is that Wilberforce did not set out to be the leader. He was a follower. He became interested in a movement that others were leading in order to end this horrible practice. He believed in their work and became a follower. He asked how he could help. The leaders of the movement asked him to step to the front and use his position and resources as a member of the Parliament to move the cause forward.

Many timers a follower will be faced with a situation where they are asked to step forward and lead. If you are the follower will you be ready? Sometimes the follower becomes the leader


Following can be Dangerous

Let’s not forget that following can be dangerous too. We don’t want to follow for the wrong reasons. Please don’t mistake my message. I have a whole other homily in the works to warn against the danger of following. We don’t want to join in only because we feel that might be the only way to be cool. We don’t want to follow with blind obedience and full compliance or conformity. We only have to look at the atrocities perpetrated by evil regimes to see the dangers of this type of following. Ordinary people have been compelled to do evil things because of following in the wrong situation, an unjust cause. We only have to look at bullying in our own school and community to see the dangers in this type of following. In fact, this type of weak following may be one of the most dangerous things we can do. We need to be thoughtful. We need to be brave.

I’m no historian, nor am I a theologian, but I suspect that if you looked into any religious movement or any historic movement and you look past the leaders you will find some courageous first followers.
(Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi stick in hand walking

INDIA - JANUARY 01: Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi, stick in hand, walking with followers on the Salt March towards Dandi where they plan to break the salt laws passed by the English colonial rulers.
http://www.life.com/image/72385174)


At first glance, the words “courageous” and “follower” do not seem to belong together. Our culture does not view being a follower with respect. Everyone must develop their leadership potential. Right? Of course, developing leadership potential is good. But who will all these leaders lead? Followers, naturally. Therefore, as the other side of the same coin, followers also deserve respect. Lots of it if they perform their role well.
What can you do? Do you have to be the leader to show leadership? Follow – follow what you find to be just and worthy? Let you actions support your beliefs. Don’t under estimate the power you can have as a follower. Just make sure you are following the right person or cause. Find that “lone nut” with a good idea and have the courage to stand with them, to help cultivate other followers, showing them the right way to follow, be a doer, put the good of the cause before our own needs for recognition and give your leaders the right nudge from time to time.

Let me leave you with one last example of the importance of followers. This comes from one of the most famous rebellions of our recent past. See if you can spot the moment where the first follower transforms the lone nut into a leader. And leave me comments about other "Followers" who have made a big impact.