365QOD-Day13

"To be a great leader, learn to be a great follower"- Anonymous

Today I saw an incredible video.  It was presented by Derek Silver at a TED conference called, "How to start a movement."  It is worth watching at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V74AxCqOTvg&feature=relmfu

In the video a person at an event starts to dance in an unusual way.  Most people are observing him.  A second person comes to his side and starts to mimic the first.  First person welcomes the second as an equal and they continue dancing.  The follower having joined the quirky originator now attracts new followers who start an avalanche.  Pretty soon you can see people running to join this unusual dancing group.  Their fear is to be left out of the new "in" thing.  The key to this movement was the first follower.  The originator is given credit as being the first BUT the movement does not occur without the second person.

The amazing part is that this took only 3 minutes for this movement to develop.  Incredible!  So what can we do with this information?

The best book on leadership that I have ever read is John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. 
I warn you though.  After reading it you will never see your leaders in the same light.  You will yearn for great leaders and will be angry at being led by lesser leaders.  Many leaders are positional leaders.  They are placed in positions and have a difficult time earning the trust of their followers.  Eventually they move on and the vacuum is filled by a leader that is capable of leading. 

I saw this firsthand at Bethlehem Steel.  Original CEO during my tenure was an engineer Walter Williams.  On a one to ten scale he was probably an 8.  He retired and replaced himself with a lawyer Hank Barnett.  He was at best a five on that same scale.  He retired and the loser he appointed was a two.  The two realized that he was over his head.  He demoted himself and brought an outside consultant/CEO to run the show who was a nine.  The nine promptly fired the two.  It was too late at that point and the company filed for bankruptcy.

 Today's question is:
What person do you know or an idea that is worthy of you being a first follower?