Are you a leader if no one is following? In order to lead people, it’s not enough to have exceptional talent and vision; you also need the ability to attract followers. By definition, you are not a leader if no one is following. The Colonel said, “You can have a brilliant vision, kiddo, but if you can’t inspire others to action with that vision, you’re not a leader, just a dreamer.”
A couple of years ago, I saw a delightful video on YouTube. It took place at the Sasquatch Music Festival with many clusters of people picnicking and enjoying the afternoon. One lone, shirtless man is dancing an incredibly unusual rhythm to the music that is being piped over the loudspeaker. It is a comic and perhaps mock-able dance—until a second man gets up and joins him, trying to match him step for step. What happens next is amazing. The first dancer greets the second dancer, embracing him and showing him “his moves.” This allows the two to dance together in simultaneous choreography rather than just as two people dancing side by side. That first follower transforms the lone, slightly crazy, dancer into a leader. If the leader is the flint, it is his first follower who creates the spark for the fire. Before you know it, a second follower joins them, and then momentum begins to build. Before long there are dozens of people all gyrating together in a spontaneous dance party.
How many “crackpot” ideas (landing on the moon, finding the Titanic, creating the world-wide-web) would never have been realized if the one with the vision could not effectively communicate what the vision looked like, in-spiring others to action in following that vision? Without followers, the first dancer is just “dreaming” in dance. He needed to be able to communicate his vision for what the dance looked like, how it flowed and what it meant before he could be called a leader of this dance movement.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
