As a wholesale supplier, we understand that our customers prefer to market our products with their own brand. To do so is simple:
I ran across the following Tom Peters quote: “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”
My favorite definition of leadership is the ability to get someone to go where they wouldn’t go by themselves. I’ve been wondering if that definition conflicts with Tom Peters’ idea.
I’ve concluded that there’s no conflict. A leader doesn’t get someone to follow where they wouldn’t otherwise go; a leader gets people to go there on their own.
A leader is not afraid to create more leaders but rather gets satisfaction when someone becomes a leader. The greatest satisfaction in my job is when I see someone take initiative, grab hold of a project, collaborate with their business partners, and communicate their improvement ideas.
Does Tom Peters’ idea conflict with my blog posting of September 5, 2013, titled “Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy”? In the “Leadership Lessons” video, Derek Sivers talks about the first follower. But that first follower really isn’t a follower, he’s a leader too, and the original leader embraces the first follower’s leadership.
What would you like your legacy to be? The creation of a whole bunch of followers or the creation of a team of leaders? An organization that has just a bunch of followers but no leader when you leave, or a group of leaders who can carry your organization to greater heights than you could ever have imagined?
Header image via svilen001
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