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CHAPTER 7: FOLLOWERSHIP 209
Similarly, effective followers present realistic images of themselves. Followers
do not try to hide their weaknesses or cover their mistakes, nor do they criticize
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their leaders to others. Hiding things is symptomatic of conforming and passive
followers. Criticizing leaders to others merely bolsters alienation and reinforces the
mindset of an alienated follower. These kinds of alienated and passive behaviors can
have negative—and sometimes disastrous—consequences for leaders, followers, and
the organization, as illustrated by the stories in this chapter’s Leader’s Bookshelf.
Only positive things about a leader should be shared with others. It is an alienated
follower who complains without engaging in constructive action. Instead of criticiz-
ing a leader to others, it is far more constructive to directly disagree with a leader on
matters relevant to the department’s or organization’s work.

What Followers Want
Throughout much of this chapter, we’ve been talking about demands on follow-
ers and how followers can become more effective and powerful in the organiza-
tion. However, the full responsibility doesn’t fall on the follower. To have good
followers, the requirements and obligations of those in a leadership role should
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be reexamined as well. Leaders have a duty to create a leader–follower relation-
ship that engages whole people rather than treats followers as passive sheep who
should blindly follow orders and support the boss.
Research indicates that followers have expectations about what
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constitutes a desirable leader. Exhibit 7.4 shows the top four
As a leader, you can learn to give and receive
choices in rank order based on surveys of followers about what Action Memo
they desire in leaders and colleagues. feedback that contributes to growth and
Followers want their leaders to be honest, forward-thinking, improvement rather than fear and hard
inspiring, and competent. A leader must be worthy of trust, envi-
sion the future of the organization, inspire others to contribute, and feelings.
be capable and effective in matters that will affect the organization.
In terms of competence, leadership roles may shift from the formal
leader to the person with particular expertise in a given area.
Followers want their fellow followers to be honest and competent, but also
dependable and cooperative. Thus, desired qualities of colleagues share two quali-
ties with leaders—honesty and competence. However, followers themselves want
other followers to be dependable and cooperative, rather than forward-thinking
and inspiring. The hallmark that distinguishes the role of leadership from the role
of followership, then, is not authority, knowledge, power, or other conventional
notions of what a follower is not. Rather, the distinction lies in the clearly defi ned
leadership activities of fostering a vision and inspiring others to achieve that vision.
Chapter 13 discusses vision in detail. Organizations that can boast of effective

Exhibit 7.4 Rank Order of Desirable Characteristics
Desirable Leaders Are Desirable Colleagues (Followers) Are
Honest Honest
Forward thinking Cooperative
Inspiring Dependable
Competent Competent

Source: Adapted from James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why
People Demand It (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993), p. 255.