True leaders create leaders, not followers

Some people believe that leaders need followers. We disagree. 

We believe that:

True leaders create more leaders, not followers.

When times are stable, having an organisation under the direction of one individual or a small leadership team can bring focus and momentum. It turns the organisation into a supertanker, with all its resources moving in the same direction, at the same speed, and all controlled by a single hand on the wheel.

But when times are churning, the ability to adapt becomes paramount. Now the time it takes a supertanker to turn becomes a liability. And an organisation filled with followers finds its ability to change and adapt is limited by the capacity of the one leader or leadership team to change and adapt. And no one has the knowledge to be able to find the best solution to every issue that arises.

This means that, in a time of change, leaders who create followers become bottlenecks: they choke the ability of their organisation to adapt.

But leaders who teach people to lead themselves increase the ability of each individual to handle change, which increases the ability of the organisation as a whole to handle change. And leaders who become antifragile, and teach others to become antifragile, make the whole organisation antifragile: able to use change to become stronger and more inspired.

Leaders who create more leaders turn their organisations from supertankers into fleets of speedboats, each powered by their own inspiration and enthusiasm, all aligned around their shared purpose and direction, and each able to dodge the obstacles and pursue the opportunities that arise, without the need for constant guidance from the bridge.

In a time of change, leaders who create more leaders expand the capacity of their organisation to adapt. That makes the organisation stronger, more valuable, and a more exciting place to work. 

Do the people around you encourage you to follow them or lead yourself? What do you encourage in others? Six months from now will it be more useful or less useful to be around people who don’t simply follow but can lead themselves to do what needs to be done? What are you doing to prepare for that future?

Adapted from The Churning, Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.

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