Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Cal Turner, Jr. is Chairman of the Cal Turner Family Foundation and President of Dollar General Corporation.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Led to Follow

Abingdon Press

Chapter One

Leadership for a large part means to be led. Henri Nouwen

It is often said that unless you are the lead dog pulling the sled, the scenery never changes. Neither, we could add, does the smell.

There, in a nutshell, lies our problem with following. We like neither the look nor the smell of it. Ask the contestants on American Idol, The Apprentice, or Survivor. Ask the athletes using chemical means to enhance performance. Ask the executives willing to do anything to boost quarterly numbers. No one is scrambling for the chance to yell, "We're Number 7!"

How many times have we heard, "If you want to be somebody, become a leader"? Dare to challenge that outlook by noting that leaders require followers, and the reply is always swift and certain: "Well, I know which position I prefer."

It should be no surprise, then, that there are plenty of books on leadership. The average bookstore can inundate you with them. Politicians like Rudy Giuliani and corporate executives like Jack Welch share their experiences and life lessons. Coaches like John Wooden and Rick Pitino tell people how to succeed using the principles of sports. Entrepreneur pastors like Bill Hybels encourage clergy to be courageous leaders.

The most popular of them all is minister-turned-businessman John Maxwell, who cranks out long lists of irrefutable laws and indispensable qualities related to leadership. His most recent title, The 360° Leader, bolsters a long-held suspicion that leaders really do spend a lot of time running around in circles.

All of these books are helpful—there are tried and true principles that separate success from failure and winners from losers—and many of us have benefited greatly from reading and applying their teachings. These leadership principles, however, generally focus on the self, on personal skills and traits to be cultivated, when true leadership requires looking beyond our own capabilities to something greater than ourselves. Such leadership goes beyond simply putting others' needs before our own. In the thirty years since Robert Greenleaf gave the world his book Servant Leadership, many politicians, pastors, CEOs, and athletes have stumbled and fallen. A president has been impeached. High-profile preachers have gone to prison. Sports heroes have found themselves in court. Television personalities like Martha Stewart have been convicted of wrongdoing. Executives at Enron have brought about the biggest corporate failure in United States history. Too often we have seen leaders betray their trust, embarrass themselves, and, in the case of Enron, cost others millions of dollars in lost revenue and retirement benefits.

These leaders did not slip and fall because of their lack of knowledge. They knew how to run companies, lead governments, develop churches, and win ball games. But something was missing! Beautifully rigged ships with broken rudders will run aground. Expensively mounted political campaigns flounder for a moment's lapse in moral judgment. And talented, charismatic leaders can waste promise and opportunity if they operate with an incomplete view of leadership. It is this missing ingredient that we propose to address in this book.

We believe this ingredient is followership—the ability and willingness to follow something greater than ourselves. Just as leadership is more than mere leading, followership is a calling higher than simply following another leader. Rather, it is leadership with a moral compass, guided by the magnetic north of mission and bound by empathy and mutual respect for those with whom it shares the journey. It follows a powerful vision and embraces the unpredictability of life and work.

On the surface, leading by following couldn't seem like more of an oxymoron—an apparently incongruous phrase like jumbo shrimp, civil war, old news, or even United Methodists—but can anyone lead who is not willing to follow? Can a leader who honors no calling higher than his or her own objectives truly inspire and influence others to greatness? Do leaders fail because they refuse to follow?

Follow may not be a very popular word, but here's the truth—all great leaders are great followers! It was true of Moses, of Paul, of Winston Churchill, of Nelson Mandela. These were people whose charisma was more a product of the purity of their vision, of their ability to hold fast to a cause, than of any talent or skill they had developed. They are examples of the fact that we are talking about an elevated form of following, one that qualifies us for true leadership.

Followership is more attitude than action, more "being" than "doing," a matter of the heart as well as a decision of the head. We tend to measure people by what they do or fail to do. Accomplishment is the name of the game in business, in sports, and yes, even in the church. But what if our successes or failures, our accomplishments or hesitations, our actions or inactions, come from a deeper, more obscure part of our personhood? What if our "being" determines our "doing"? If this is the case, if leadership is more a matter of who we are than what we do, then we must look deeper into our souls to find the essence of leadership. We must find and follow the things that will lead us to a life of mission and fulfillment.

We might ask ourselves questions like these:

• What is my core identity as a person?

• What is my purpose for being?

• Am I willing to learn from others, and to share credit and control?

• How can I best handle failure?

• Am I able to adapt to changing circumstances?

• Do I seek wisdom by finding answers, or by asking the right questions and living with confidence even when there are no clear answers?

Thoughtful responses to these questions, which we will address in the coming chapters, help lay a foundation on which a life of followership might be built. It is a process that demands much of us, for to lead we must follow our true selves; our mission; the people we hope to serve; the faults, failures, and changes that come with life; and yes, even the questions that have no easy answers. Followership relies on unshakable core values and personal integrity, and a life purpose to which the leader is truly dedicated. Flaws in those underlying structures will always show through.

The true leader draws from a deep sense of calling and purpose, staying focused on the mission, while also listening to the people sharing the path and supporting the mission. The result is truly inspirational leadership that is as individual as the time and place it inhabits, and yet as universally recognizable as the quality, integrity, and charisma that infuse it.

Bosses and managers can be faceless, wishy-washy, interchangeable. The leader immersed in the principles of followership will be anything but. It's the difference between the faceless bureaucrat and the spellbinding orator, between the sycophantic courtier and the spirited coach. Sometimes its approach is quiet and deliberate, and sometimes it is impassioned and energetic, but always it is...