Followership

It's becoming more and more apparent as we move deeper into the 21st century, that what is really going to save us is...ourselves. Not us in our current, doubting, snarky, nasty, twisted, and seriously negative state. But perhaps a smarter, more understanding, focused, optimistic, and relentlessly driven version of ourselves that is willing to give the right people the roles of leadership and do whatever they can to support that leader. The scary thing (at least historically) is this type of statement could have been made by early supporters of the Nazi party. I'd like to believe the difference, this time around, is we're smarter.

Consider (once again) the follower. Who is this mythical beast? Where did she/he come from? What brought them to this point of "true believer"? What motivates the follower? Are they merely animals that respond to a ringing bell, a flashing light, or a promise of a free meal, free health care, or free cell phone? 

Currently we're suffering what could be a crisis of leadership. Nobody seems nice enough, or smart enough, or capable enough to warrant the support of a clear majority of intended followers. You could argue that an election is the barometer by which we measure leadership potential, but the fact, these days, is that smaller and smaller groups of eligible voters are even showing up to make a selection. So we're left with the winner, who for the most part, has merely succeeded in "winning the ground game" and not winning the hearts and minds of those to be led.

We should be worried about terms like "mandate", "majority", and "moral", which have all to frequently been invoked to silence critics and opinion outliers. Of course the majority always rules in a democracy, but are the true majorities being heard and understood?  More importantly, are the true majorities engaged enough to be heard? Or are they whining, bitter people who shake their fist at the TV set, frown, and then settle back into the La-Z-Boy thinking someone else will do the dirty work?

Become a good follower. The world needs you.

#399 one more to go.