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Essentials of Followership: Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm with Purpose
This highly acclaimed new book explores different ways of thinking about leaders and followers as role and as relationship-based qualities instead of mere ranks in the organization. The authors provide the student and the scholar key components of followership, inspiring leaders and followers in organizations to adopt transformed attitudes and actions that move beyond the constraints of current stereotypes, catalyzing stronger, healthier, and more effective communities of purpose.
The traditional focus on leaders and leadership often has led to overemphasizing leaders while overlooking or underestimating the importance of followers and followership. For all of the books, videos, coaching, and leadership development that are invested each and every year into improving the competencies and qualities of leaders, one could argue that precious little return on investment is being realized. We still do not know how to develop leaders consistently across contexts. Further, examples of poor (if not downright toxic) leadership are everywhere despite all the "how to" books on the market. Essentials of Followership provides hope for solving such a crisis - developing effective followers.
Leaders represent only part of the equation that makes up successful organizations. There is another important element that usually is overlooked and the follower. Society tends to attach a stigma to the notion of "follower," often associating it with passivity, disengagement, and a lack of motivation. In the discipline of leadership, however, the follower is defined as a ROLE. Once followers are viewed through the lens of fulfilling valuable roles in an organization (roles that are every bit as important as the roles of leaders), everything changes! Soon it also becomes clear that all of us operate in both leader and follower roles (even CEO's!). Many of the same characteristics that seem to define effective leaders also define effective followers. Effective followers can diminish the development and influence of toxic leaders. Exercising effective followership supports fulfillment of organizational purpose. Being an effective follower is good just on its own or for becoming an equally effective leader. This book can help readers become both.
What the leadership and followership experts are
"Finally, a textbook on followers! Consider this lively and informed volume a necessary corrective to a field still saddled with being relentlessly leader centric."
Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Kenney School
"This is the first textbook devoted specifically to followership. With this book, the reader will gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the leadership equation - leaders and followers together, working in a context. With features including discussion questions, illustrations, and applications, the novice student will gain a complete understanding of the leadership-followership paradigm, while more experienced scholars will appreciate the deep-dive into the multi-faceted world of followership."
Ron Riggio, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychologist
"I even gained insight into how my own work fits in the evolution of the field. Kudos to Rennaker and Linville."
Ira Chaleff - Author, The Courageous Follower
"This book is by far the most thorough, well-researched exposition on followership you will find. if you want one book on followership to have in your library, this is it."
Marc Hurwitz - Author, Leadership is Half the Story
Essentials of Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm with Purpose is the very first textbook on followership! We believe that beyond the disruption in the workplace attributed to the recent pandemic, there is a significant movement afoot - the empowerment of the follower. Younger generations are paving the way.
The traditional focus on leaders and leadership often has led to overemphasizing leaders while overlooking or underestimating the importance of followers and followership. For all of the books, videos, coaching, and leadership development that are invested each and every year into improving the competencies and qualities of leaders, one could argue that precious little return on investment is being realized. We still do not know how to develop leaders consistently across contexts. Further, examples of poor (if not downright toxic) leadership are everywhere despite all the "how to" books on the market. Essentials of Followership provides hope for solving such a crisis - developing effective followers.
Leaders represent only part of the equation that makes up successful organizations. There is another important element that usually is overlooked and the follower. Society tends to attach a stigma to the notion of "follower," often associating it with passivity, disengagement, and a lack of motivation. In the discipline of leadership, however, the follower is defined as a ROLE. Once followers are viewed through the lens of fulfilling valuable roles in an organization (roles that are every bit as important as the roles of leaders), everything changes! Soon it also becomes clear that all of us operate in both leader and follower roles (even CEO's!). Many of the same characteristics that seem to define effective leaders also define effective followers. Effective followers can diminish the development and influence of toxic leaders. Exercising effective followership supports fulfillment of organizational purpose. Being an effective follower is good just on its own or for becoming an equally effective leader. This book can help readers become both.
What the leadership and followership experts are
"Finally, a textbook on followers! Consider this lively and informed volume a necessary corrective to a field still saddled with being relentlessly leader centric."
Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Kenney School
"This is the first textbook devoted specifically to followership. With this book, the reader will gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the leadership equation - leaders and followers together, working in a context. With features including discussion questions, illustrations, and applications, the novice student will gain a complete understanding of the leadership-followership paradigm, while more experienced scholars will appreciate the deep-dive into the multi-faceted world of followership."
Ron Riggio, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychologist
"I even gained insight into how my own work fits in the evolution of the field. Kudos to Rennaker and Linville."
Ira Chaleff - Author, The Courageous Follower
"This book is by far the most thorough, well-researched exposition on followership you will find. if you want one book on followership to have in your library, this is it."
Marc Hurwitz - Author, Leadership is Half the Story
Essentials of Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm with Purpose is the very first textbook on followership! We believe that beyond the disruption in the workplace attributed to the recent pandemic, there is a significant movement afoot - the empowerment of the follower. Younger generations are paving the way.
184 pages, Paperback
Published August 23, 2022
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