Why you shouldn't always be a leader

Who says we always have to be a leader?  Do appointed leaders even have to lead all the time?

As a child I used to follow certain friends but my mother used to tell me to ‘stop following’.  The same happens in our jobs.  Lead lead lead, is the cry, and we all paradoxically follow in the call to lead.

But following has some advantages. Even now I follow some friends to vacation locations I would never dream of visiting, eating strange foods, meeting different people.  If you always lead, you follow your own path of predictability.

The same applies in business.  Following leaders in your industry or others gives a new perspective.  I follow people such as Matt Church, Seth Godin, and Chris Brogan. In fact, Social Media is built on the concept of ‘following’.

 

Being a leader is no more superior than North is to South. It’s just one f the ways to live your life or career. It’s not the only way.

 

Even appointed leaders have to follow. They have to be humble and listen to a Board, or they have to follow market forces. We all follow, and need to follow at times. Why is it such a bad thing?

 

I agree we all have a time to lead, but we also have a time to follow.