Essentials of Followership: Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm with Purpose (Paperback)

SECOND EDITION of Essentials of Followership: Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm – The PERFECT companion to any leadership book you may be using! 

This highly acclaimed new book, now in its second edition, explores different ways of thinking about leaders and followers as roles 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 the books, videos, coaching, and leadership development that are invested each and every year into improving the competencies and qualities of leaders, there is widespread agreement 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.

While significant portions of the second edition remain unchanged and continue to reflect accurately the essential content of the discipline, a few areas have some added material. Three of the more expansive updates include sections on Social Media Influencers and Followers, Ethical Followers, and Global Practices of Followership. Beyond the disruption in the workplace attributed to new technologies (such as AI) and the recent pandemic, there is a significant movement afoot – the empowerment of the follower.