"Follower Leadership"

A recent Morning Consult report noted that more than half of young adults would become an influencer, given the opportunity.? Who can blame them?? While influence has always provided benefits to those who hold it, today, the rewards are truly extraordinary.? From cash to goods to experiences, those believed to have a strong following on social media seem to be on the receiving end of something at every turn.

While the internet will give us listicle upon listicle of the top traits of today’s top influencers, there is a glaring omission.? Using subtle – and sometimes not so subtle messaging – the biggest influencers foster a sense of dependence – that without them, we would somehow be lost.? More than anything, today’s influencers want to be our go to source for wisdom, entertainment, encouragement, tips and tricks – whatever it is they are supposed masters of – forever.? And it is that last word that matters most.? As much as we may feel empowered by them, the last thing they want is for us to move on.? For today’s top influencers, permanent followership is the real objective.

Leadership obsessed with fostering intense forever followership is worthy our attention, particularly because it can be seen well beyond the world of social media.? Our political, media, and business cultures are filled with it.? Today, intense audience engagement and “stickiness” are standard measures of individual, policymaker, and corporate success.

While the benefits of intense “Followership Leadership” are routinely extolled, there are real downsides.

Sustained followership requires a leader to have on-going resonance and relevance with his/her audience no matter their mood.? As a result, leaders must pivot with the crowd.? Ironically, the best Follower Leaders are really leader followers.? Whatever way the wind is blowing, they mirror it in what they say and do.? And who can blame them.? As we see over and over in business, the media and politics, the benefits to those who do can be extraordinary.? At the same time, the price paid today to be out of sync with one’s audience is blistering.

The net result, then, is leadership cowardice.? Courage, creativity, and innovation are off the table.? Unless messages perfectly align with the sentiment of the crowd, it’s unwise to take a stand.? The ultimate goal is extreme cognitive ease, where everything is easily accepted and digested – where, to borrow from Daniel Kahneman, things feel familiar, true, good, and effortless. ?At the end of the day to achieve and sustain this, the follower leader must cater to the ever-changing whims of the crowd.

With consumer confidence low, this can be especially challenging.? Not only can groups be highly emotional and impulsive, but their focus is also solely on the present.? As a result, priorities change quickly with little regard for the long-term consequences of the actions.? In response, Follower Leaders must act urgently and tactically.? Deliberative strategy and planning are of little use, if not counterproductive.

If these audience following leadership actions seem counter to fostering audience dependence, they are not.? Followers often say their influencers “Get me,” and “It’s like they can read my mind.”? Moreover, they deliver just want the audience wants when it wants it.

And here is where we need to be especially careful.? Follower Leadership can be especially predatory.? Cults, authoritarian regimes, and abusive relationships are characterized by leaders who seek to foster a permanent environment of highly dependent followership.? Follower Leaders are master Pied Pipers of the vulnerable. ?Their messages routinely reinforce the uncertainty and powerlessness we feel today – the stories we’re most likely to accept. ?They know we routinely mis-associate cognitive ease with authenticity and truth.? What we miss in these moments is that their goal is never empowerment.? The last thing they want is for us to stand on our own, let alone do it ourselves.? Again, the objective is followership and perennial dependence.?

Ironically, while the external messages suggest otherwise, the internal structure of Followership Leader environments is incredibly fragile.? Like passengers on a plane, dependent followers can go from calm to chaos in a flash.? As I shared above, without intense resonance and relevance and the certainty of a potential reward, the crowd will quickly turn and move on.

Not surprisingly, what we then see with Follower Leaders is an escalation in messaging.? To hold the crowd’s attention, promises must become bolder and bolder while the perils of not-following must become more and more punitive.? With that, followers see little choice but to remain – which itself only reinforces the powerlessness they already feel.

I don’t pretend to know how this will all play out, but the proliferation of Followership Leaders since the Great Financial Crisis cautions that the era may be coming to a head.? With so many now seeking to become influential and so many sheepishly following those who already are, it feels like dog and tail have all but become indistinguishable.

What could take its place?

My gut says something more akin to grassroots leadership.? Where today’s highly abstract, social media-driven “faux-centicity” and promises are replaced with local familiarity and an obvious shared-purpose – where leadership comes unexpectedly from within the crowd rather than from those seeking adoration and dependence above it.

Needless to say, for those at the other end of the spectrum – those mega-influencers with millions of followers and a lifestyle/organization dependent on the dependence of others – the downfall could be dramatic, particularly as no one, including their current followers, believes that outcome is even remotely possible.

Peter Atwater is the author of "The Confidence Map: Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity"

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