Followership may be defined as the ability to effectively follow the directives and support the efforts of a leader to maximize a structured organization. However, the term “followership” is often linked to negative and demeaning words like passive, weak, and conforming. According to Alcorn (1992), followers have been systematically devalued and, for many, the very word itself conjures up unfavorable images. This stereotype has caused people to avoid being categorized as followers. Research done by Williams and Miller (2002) on more than 1,600 executives across a wide range of industries indicated that over one-third of all executives are followers in some fashion. Yet, rarely did any of the executives concede that they were followers. The statement
© 2006 Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. All Rights Reserved. 304
“Always be a leader, never a follower!” has gone a long way toward adding to the stigma of being a follower.