Followership

In this summary you will learn

• What followers are and why they are important
• Why people follow
• What the different types of followers are

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Why you should read Followership

People who run businesses generally have considered what it means to lead. However, they probably have read comparatively little about being a follower. For that reason alone, getAbstract would recommend that they should read this book. However, Barbara Kellerman’s study of followers has a lot more going for it than that. She offers worthwhile discussions of why people follow, which values and standards guide them, and how followers gauge appropriate behavior from each other, rather than from their leaders. The balance of the book is slightly less forceful. Once she introduces her schema for categorizing followers, the content is more self-evident, especially given her deeply developed examples. The book is well-designed to spark productive thought on hierarchical relationships. If it is not the last word on the subject, it is a solid entry in the larger conversation on the nature of leadership.

About the Author

Barbara Kellerman also wrote Bad Leadership, Reinventing Leadership and The Political Presidency, and is the author, editor, co-author and co-editor of several other titles. She teaches at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.