Editors’ Notes

What is followership? Is it more than just passively doing what you are told? And, if so, why is it important? These are often the first two questions people ask when encountering it in class. Followership evokes a variety of reactions: negativity, confusion, incomprehension, and in some cases a sudden and life-altering “aha” moment. Regardless of that initial visceral apprehension, however, there are some basic truths that virtually all the authors in this NDSL issue comment on, because it is such a widespread experience: First, all of us take on leadership and followership roles from time-to-time. Sometimes you have to lead, sometimes you need to follow, and sometimes you have to do both simultaneously. Second, while we have discovered a lot about leadership in the past 50 years, debunked some myths while possibly creating others, much less is known about followership. There is a paucity of insightful and rigorous research on followership. The last major literature review, done in 2014, highlighted a need for more scholarly work. Indeed, much of the research on followership is embedded in leadership theory or called by a different name (see Chapter 1 for more on this). Third, teaching followership can be harder than teaching leadership—all the authors of this book except for two are also leadership teachers and scholars—not because of any inherent difficulties but because we live in a world that worships at the altar of leadership. Consider how many programs have “leadership” in the title even though they are about developing technical skills or implementing personal change, for example, or the plethora of books that use leadership to sell an often unrelated message. This problem extends beyond western perspectives on followership, too, as we see from the unique contribution in this book to the challenge of teaching followership in Indonesia (Chapter 7). And, finally, there are few teaching resources about followership (see Chapter 4 for a review of post-secondary resources, and Chapter 9 for a review in the military) although most believe that followership can be taught, much the same as leadership. In this book, we focus on the last of these challenges, teaching resources, by which we mean introducing programmatic interventions, overcoming prejudices, integrating followership with leadership training, describing specific classroom techniques that can be used to teach it, and even introducing a new model (Chapter 8; see Chapters 1 and 3 for reviews of existing models). He walks out in front, the leader and walks at the rear, trusted by his companions. Mighty net, protector of his people raging flood-wave who destroys even walls of stone” (Kovacs, 1998, p. 1). Enkidu is precisely the courageous follower who stands up to and for his leader. He is also the gods’ answer to the prayers of Gilgamesh's people to help him become a more noble, just leader. Enkidu is the type of follower Ira Chaleff so eloquently argues we need more of today in his foreword to this book, not just a handmaiden to the leader but someone who also actively shapes the environment we collectively inhabit, a person who stands up to and for his/her leader (Chaleff, 1995). How, then, do we get more Enkidus? Clearly, training on behavioral skills is one approach, although not the only one. In Chapter 6, for example, the authors speak to the importance of storytelling both as a pedagogical tool but also for understanding and changing general attitudes toward followership. Chapter 5 eloquently describes the need for followership identity work to develop a scaffold on which to build behavioral and other forms of training. Chapter 2 speaks to both direct and indirect (Ninja) methods for inserting followership education into what are ostensibly leadership courses. We think it is important to view followership as a complement to leadership. Leadership does not exist without people willing and able to follow. In addition, following is more than blindly obeying orders; it is not followersheep (Thody, 2000), it is a wolfpack (Hurwitz & Hurwitz, 2015), a meeting of equals each of whom has a distinct and important role in creating effective partnerships and teams. The problem is that most leadership programs exclude followership, not consciously but simply by creating an over focus on the importance of the leadership role (Meindl, 1995). There is no other partnership endeavor we know of where training only one team member on half the skillsets needed would be considered effective. Imagine, for example, teaching a catcher in baseball how to give signs for the next pitch but not teaching the pitcher what those signs meant. Imagine if only one person in a couple was taught to dance. Or, imagine if the admiral in a fleet had to directly command each and every ship (see Chapter 8 for a wonderful historical look at how different admirals in the British navy both succeeded and failed in this regard). The assumption that everyone knows how to follow, and that it is not a skill that requires development, is not only wrong, people know it is wrong (Agho, 2009). What the contributors to this book can tell you from over a century of combined experience training followership in many different contexts and situations is that the impact of the training is powerful. We live in a leader-centric world, essentially viewing the world with a single lens. The introduction of followership gives us a second lens that changes monocular vision into binocular vision. It is what adds depth and understanding, often at a very personal level. Students who are given the opportunity to study both leadership and followership develop more holistic approaches to both, and are able to enact and mentor others to do both. It also reduces the unintended consequence of only talking about leadership as important, or acting as though anything good must be associated with leadership qualities or potential. While the book does not promise to answer the questions of what we should teach about followership, or what model is best, it does present examples of different ways to teach followership that are largely independent of the specific model of leadership adopted. Chapter 1 (Riggio) addresses many of the topics in this introduction in more detail. Ronald Riggio is one of the “founders” of modern followership studies, and he draws on his years of experience to explore the recent history of the topic and a modern perspective on why it is important to teach it. In Chapters 2 (Hurwitz and Hurwitz) and 3 (Rahaman and Read), the authors draw on many years of experience to present ideas on how to design a followership program both standalone and inside a leadership program. Chapter 4 (Jenkins and Spranger) surveys the available followership pedagogy and instructional strategies for post-secondary education, distilling key themes and approaches. They also cogently argue why followership pedagogy is distinct from that of leadership. Chapter 5, by Thompson, argues that we need to extend these approaches beyond the cognitive and affective domains to that of identity—our core beliefs about ourselves and how we interact with the world. From here, the book pivots to specific techniques and challenges and may be useful as student readings in teaching followership. For example, Chapter 6 (Underkofler, Rossi, and Korbal) outlines how stories—in particular those from the US Civil Rights movement—can be used to enrich students’ understanding of and appreciation for followership. Chapter 7 (Nurhadi) is a unique contribution because followership education has largely been framed in terms how to teach it to westernized students—this is the first exposition on teaching it in a non-western context such as Indonesia and raises questions about how to teach a topic that is so dissonant within an existing cultural context. Finally, the last two chapters introduce historical and modern examples of followership in the military—both how it is enacted and why it may be more critical to develop it there than anywhere else. As a collection, this book is a singular resource to anyone interested in the pedagogy and andragogy of followership. It is our great hope that it is but the first of many more such resources to come. We (Rachael and Marc) first met at the followership preconference symposium to the annual conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA) in 2014. A rich collection of researchers, trainers, and thought leaders in followership were also at that event including many chapter authors in this book: Chaleff (Foreword), M. Hurwitz and S. Hurwitz (Chapter 2), Nurhadi (Chapter 7), Read (Chapter 3), Riggio (Chapter 1), Spranger (Chapter 4), Thomas (Chapter 9), and Thompson (Chapter 5). It inspired us, and we owe an intellectual debt to the ILA and to the organizer of the conference, Rob Koonce, for promoting followership and creating a space where the ideas in this book could germinate. As well, there are many others who have contributed in other ways to this book and to followership. Ira Chaleff is chief among them—a generous mentor, friend, supporter, ideator, and provocateur to all in the followership community. While his intellectual legacy is secured through his contributions to the field of followership, perhaps more important is the community he has fostered and developed. This NDSL issue would not exist without him. Neither would it exist without Ronald Riggio who not only authored the first chapter, but has also been a constant and important author, editor, and organizer in the followership field. It was Ron who connected us with the New Directions for Student Leadership series editors. Moreover, it is those editors—Kathy Guthrie and Susan Komives—who took the bold step of proposing a NDSL issue on followership. The book is a testament to their vision and skill in guiding this book to completion. We also want to acknowledge the many early adopters of followership who put in countless hours (and years) teaching and promoting it before it was accepted, or even acceptable, including Robert Kelley, Jean Lipman-Blumen, Barbara Kellerman, Ed Hollander, Gene Dixon, and Warren Bennis. Finally, while followership has lost a few of its early members, we wanted to include a special farewell to Andrew Francis, a warm and welcoming presence whom all in the followership community miss. We hope that you find this issue insightful and thought provoking. After reading and hopefully applying the approaches within this NDSL issue, we invite you to get in touch with us and share reflections, questions, or experiences you have had in followership education. Marc Hurwitz is associate director, undergraduate, and non-degree programs in the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, University of Waterloo, Canada, teaching, mentoring, and guiding entrepreneurs to build their businesses. He combines a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience with graduate degrees in physics, mathematics, and business. Marc is also chief insight officer for FliP University, delivering blended learning solutions for career and life success. Marc has co-authored two previous books on followership including Leadership Is Half the Story (Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2015), as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles, and two special journal issues. He was chair of the 1st Global Followership Conference (2019), and chair of the Followership Learning Community, International Leadership Association from 2015 to 2018. Rachael Thompson is senior lecturer and program leader at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, United Kingdom. She develops, leads, and teaches on various leadership, personal development, reflective practice, and research methods-based programs and modules. Rachael holds a doctorate centered on followership within public sector contexts, and has published her research in various journals and books including Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Leadership Education, and Journal of Leadership Studies. She has presented her research at multiple international conferences, participated in panel discussions, and more recently undertook a co-chair position for the 1st Global Followership Conference (Canada, 2019). Rachael is an active member of the International Leadership Association's Followership Learning Community and held the role of chair 2018–2019.

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