Regina loves leadership. A lot of  very worthwhile work has gone into making leadership a big part of our school. In a global world, leadership is something all of us should strive to accomplish.

However, a strongly overlooked part of leadership is the people who are needed to follow our leaders. We seem to associate the word “follower” as mindless sheep who follows the leader of the herd off the proverbial cliff. This just isn’t true. We are not sheep. At Regina, we are intelligent young women.

Sometimes we are the leader who motivates, plans and calls those around us to help carry out our mission. Yet, sometimes we are the followers. Every good leader needs good followers. Followers are absolutely not in a position of conformity or submissiveness. Instead, the followers are the doers. They put the action behind the vision. They support the leader. They understand their role and they follow out the course of action. Together WITH the leader, they accomplish much.

It would be absurd to think the world can only hold billions of leaders. What would happen if  the President of our Country had a cabinet meeting, and his staff decided they wanted to be the leaders instead? Imagine their conversation– “You know, Barack, that’s a nice plan, but, you know what, you have been the leader for close to four years now, how about letting me be the chief for a change?” Absolutely not. What would have happened if Joan of Arc’s soldiers said, “I’m kind of tired Joan, so I’m going to sit this battle out?”

The important job of a follower is to listen to their leader in order that leader and follower work effectively towards a common goal. The conundrum is that if everyone is a leader all of the time, then nobody can possibly be a truly effective leader.  Am I wrong here?  If we all try to be a leader at all times, then we will never have any followers. Nothing would ever be accomplished, except designating the leader of all leaders.

The ability to be a good follower is just as important as the ability to be a good leader. A great follower has drive and ambition. They work hard to make sure the leader’s ideas become a reality. So, go ahead and take pride in being a great follower, because not everybody is.