The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders

by Ira Chaleff

Many significant failures—from FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina to the recent economic collapse—could have been prevented or mitigated if those lower in the hierarchy were successful at communicating to leaders the risks they saw in the system. Ira Chaleff’s Courageous Follower model has facilitated healthy upward information flow in organizations for over 15 years. The Harvard Business Review called Chaleff a pioneer in the emerging field of followership—this new edition shares his latest thinking on an increasingly vital topic.The updated third edition of The Courageous Follower includes a new chapter, “The Courage to Speak to the Hierarchy.” Much of Chaleff’s model is based on followers having access to the leader. But today, followers can be handed questionable policies and orders that come from many levels above them—even from the other side of the world. Chaleff explores how they can respond effectively, particularly using the power now available through advances in communications technology.Everyone is a follower at least some of the time. Chaleff strips away the passive connotations of that role and provides tools to help followers effectively partner with leaders. He provides rich guidance to leaders and boards on fostering a climate that encourages courageous followership. The results include increased support for leaders, reduced cynicism and organizations saved from serious missteps.NEW Related Product in February 2010 - The Courageous Follower Evaluating Your Followership Style and Growth Path

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction, Business, Self Help, Politics, Education, Management

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 9, 2003

About the author

Ira Chaleff is an author, speaker, workshop presenter and innovative thinker on the beneficial use of power between those who are leading and those who are following in any given situation.

His groundbreaking book, The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, is in its third edition, has been published in multiple languages and is in use in institutions around the globe including educational, corporate, government and military organizations. He is coeditor of The Art of Followership: How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations, part of the highly regarded Warren Bennis Leadership Series. He has written on the appropriate use of power in non-traditional settings in his creative non-fiction work, The Limits of Violence: Lessons of a Revolutionary Life.

Ira’s latest book, Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told to Do Is Wrong, is once again breaking new ground by exploring the deep cultural roots of obedience and how to equip individuals of all ages to resist inappropriate orders and find better ways and ethical means of achieving legitimate goals.

Ira is the founder of the International Leadership Association’s Followership Learning Community and a member of the ILA board of directors. He is also the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, which provides coaching, consulting, and facilitation to companies, associations, and agencies throughout the Washington, DC area. He is chairman emeritus of the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation and has provided facilitation to nearly one hundred congressional offices to improve their service to constituents. He is adjunct faculty at Georgetown University, where Courageous Followership is part of the core curriculum in its professional management training for staff.

Ira holds a degree in Applied Behavioral Science and is a Board Certified Coach from the Center for Credentialing and Education.

Reviews

[Allen Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my deep interest on the topic of followership, I finally was able to read Ira Chaleff's "The Courageous Follower." I very much appreciated the respect and value that he ascribes to the follower role. His emphasis on uniting both leader and follower roles around a common purpose is refreshing and challenging; how much of my own involvement is guided by my adherence to our organization's purpose?

Although initially excited at the content in the first few chapters, I found that my interest and enthusiasm waned towards the latter half of the book. The pattern of offering lists of recommended questions or wordings to use in dialogue as part of nearly every subsection became a bit ponderous and overwhelming. I feel like I would need to carry a copy of this book and a flowchart in order to make appropriate use of his recommendations for interaction in a given situation. A few especially poignant conversation points for each chapter or theme would have had more impact in shaping my perspective and responses.

Despite so intensely emphasizing the significant factor of human interaction--the leader-follower dynamic founded upon truth, honesty, vulnerability, confrontation, morality and the like--I came away feeling this it was all a bit depersonalized. Could I just program a robot to utter Chaleff's recommended statements and questions? There is an extreme paucity of real-life/realistic or historical examples or case studies, which makes the content feel a bit too theoretical and idealized.

I'm not convinced that, in the development of followership as a topic for conversation and for growth, that labels and categories are what's needed. Chaleff offers us "courageous followership," repeatedly stating that, "Courageous followers [do this]..." almost as if it's a badge to wear or a certificate to qualify for. Is courage actually at the center of what we need in order to follow well? At the core, we need to do well in our role...regardless of our style or personality. In addition to "courageous follower," Chaleff also offers us Partner, Implementer, and others...more labels and categories. Maybe these are helpful, concrete, even motivational for some, but I think that a simple exploration of helpful perspective and actions would pay us richer dividends than determining whether I am a Bystander (Kellerman), Implementer (Chaleff), Star (Kelley), Follower First (Ricketson), or First Follower (Sweet).

I think we have grown beyond the need to shape corporate culture and business perspectives. What we need in the realm of followership is addressing real individuals where they're at by providing encouragement and guidance (rather than paradigms) to serve well and "grow forward" in their role as follower.

However, taking "The Courageous Follower" for what it is, it is a worthwhile read...a gem of reasonable quality in a field that as yet feels sometimes barren. Recommended, but wondering if we can push beyond the idea of courage, beyond the labels, and really encourage one another to follow well?

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea of leading from your position...whether that means supporting your boss or trying to influence others from your spot...you can take a leadership role from any position in your organization.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every single person with a job should read this book. It should be compulsory! Great book!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

the trick will be to remember the info as needed.

[Shawnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a lot out of the first half, not so much the second half which I found too wordy and repetitive.

[Timothy Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ira Chaleff's "The Courageous Follower" seeks to impart the skills necessary to be an effective contributor to an organization's mission and leadership.

Although I read the text in toto, the Author's recommendation that you read the sections that are relevant to you, and skip over those that are not should be heeded.

This book will be helpful in teaching people to stand up to powerful and committed leaders in a fruitful way, which in the context of the book, means a way that will serve the purposes of the organization. It is of limited use to those who find themselves serving unmotivated leadership.

Perhaps the most interesting section "The Courage to take Moral Action". The author gives several examples where a small opposition movement was very important, even if not always very successful. Historically, he examined the Nazification of Germany, and the importance of the dissenting "White Rose" society. He likewise briefly examined the Enron debacle, and the notorious response of Catholic leaders in hidden years leading up to the public's awareness of the sex abuse crisis.

Recommended for those who are looking for effective ways to interact with their organization's leadership, but are experiencing trouble bringing difficult matters to their attention.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the gift shop of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on a visit there in February. This book is incredibly applicable to an officer’s life in the military with regard to understanding the hierarchical dynamics of both subordinates and superiors. Businesses are not so different from the military as far as command and control can be handled or mishandled. Fostering the appropriate environment to support, encourage, and learn from subordinates is at least as important as knowing how to approach superiors with concerns and ideas. I have no doubt I will turn back to this book for years to come and employ its teachings in my daily interactions. Thank you!

[Derrick Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by a college professor. This book has a lot of useful information about being a leader behind the leader. My only negative comment us that it is long winded. There are a lot of pages between points.

[Gene McKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chaleff was one of the first authors to understand the importance of followers to leaders. Although many newer books exist about the subject, Chaleff really understood the fundamental need for effective followership and how they can help leaders achieve their goals.

[Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the 3rd edition of this book, but that option wasn’t here on Goodreads. This is a unique “leadership” book that focuses on not how to lead, but how to serve those above us well and, through learning followership, we can then learn to better lead those beneath us.

[Joseph Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great perspective on follower centered leadership. Lord knows I've worked for some terrible leaders, this book helps to define how followership encourages leadership.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my co-workers recommended this book to me, so I decided to check it out. There was definitely some valuable information here, but, for some reason, I had a hard time working my way through the book.

Final rating = 3.5 stars

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading a bunch of books and articles related to the culturally unpopular topic of "followership" as I'm trying to understand what makes a good follower, and whether "sheep" or "yes-people" are really what a leader needs.

In the original 1995 edition (the only version available through the library) of The Courageous Follower, Ira Chaleff does the best job of showing just how important a follower is in making a leader -- and the organization they serve -- successful. Chaleff offers his own stories of humiliating failure and success, which help the reader readily absorb and apply the information.

I found myself understanding my own roles (as leader and follower) more clearly as they have played out in school, work, family, marriage, church, and other social situations, and perceiving what has gone well and poorly.

Driven by the concern for institutions and leaders that have run egregiously amok (Nazi Germany, My Lai Massacre, today's politicians who "get caught," and so forth), Chaleff makes a strong case for the need for courageous leaders to keep leaders on a moral path relating to a "common purpose" that represents specific values.

Followers display courage towards their leaders in five distinct ways, and Chaleff gives very specific examples of scripts to follow when a particular kind of courage is required. (His book has a lot of lists and scripts, so it's not the most fluidly readable book, but it's all very tangible and practical for immediate application, as needed.)

1) The courage to ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY challenges followers to take it upon themselves to get informed, discover relevant opportunities, and act with the authority granted by co-owning the common purpose.

2) The courage to SERVE means followers relieve the leader of tasks that weigh them down or that they are not especially suited for. Followers must realistically acknowledge their own abilities/talents and employ them, particularly where they complement areas where the leader has less prowess.

3) The courage to CHALLENGE states that a follower's ultimate allegiance is to the "common purpose," so if a leader deviates from that common purpose, the follower will need to question the actions/decisions of the leader and the group and call them back into alignment with the core agreed-upon values.

4) The courage to participate in TRANSFORMATION is needed when it's obvious that certain behaviors of the leader are going to jeopardize the common purpose. The follower struggles along with the leader to take on the challenge of real personal change. Leaders don't end up in a pattern of inappropriate behavior or decision-making in a vacuum, so those around have to change as well to enable permanent transformation for the common good.

5) The courage to LEAVE can have several causes, not all of them negative. (I found this section particularly helpful as I have been wondering if it's time for me to exit from a particular organization I've participated in for quite a while.) It's definitely time to leave, and maybe even disavow a destructive leader, if there is no hope for transformation. On a more positive note, it might also be time to leave if a follower has grown to his or her potential and needs a new challenge or mentor or, conversely, if the follower perceives that the leader needs new blood to infuse the organization with new ideas and energy.

I hope I can skim Chaleff's newest edition to see what additional insights he offers, but even this volume has served to reorient and invigorate my convictions about my roles and responsibilities in all of my social spheres. Again, I highly recommend this resource.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Belated MLLI reading. I couldn't find a strong theory here, just a series of generic statements which affirm the positive, productive actions readers might be taking, but wouldn't persuade anybody to change their attitude or perspective. I really felt it was lacking case studies or other real world examples; most of the statements were so vague that they could either apply to anything, or meant almost nothing.

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for my School Library Administration class and really enjoyed it. We were to choose a book about being a leader and this is about how to be a courageous follower which in turn makes you a leader in your own right. It's all about how to stand up for what's right and work with integrity for the common good of the organization.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was grateful for this unusual take on leadership: of what it means to be successful,as well as what it means to be brave, forthright,groundbreaking, proactive or encouraging. There is only one other book i've read that addresses the value of input from underlings and how important it is to listen.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some really good ideas & info in the first four chapters & last chapter. Food for thought. I also liked the sample questions and action steps which made it not just an intellectual/theory book but practical as well. Skimmed the last 2 chapters, not as relevant to my current situation.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to get you thinking about how you support and have a stake in your boss' success (therefore your organization).

The Courageous Follower

[Angeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

LLO

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this. I have recommended it to many clients.

[Tammy]

Reading for the Nebraska Library Leadership Institute

[James Pritchert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here is another book I read in my subservient time frame. I briefly met the author at a signing event and I used the ideas in the book somewhat in my work.

[Scott Childers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of it really struck me as "How to suck up to your boss" or "How to be a sycophant". The real stuff that makes the approaches more balanced and make sense come much later in the book.

[Katilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

outdated, any good points are described poorly and therefore wisdom should be sought elsewhere.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It speaks to authenticity and the reality of the work place.

[Elizabeth]

Book for school. Decent ideas but mostly common sense and geared towards (big)buisness settings.