Managing Leadership^®

Politics is a good place to look for lessons regarding the notion of “followership,” which we have been discussing the past few days. It’s worth bearing in mind that much of the blissful prose written about leadership and followership in business ignores the shotgun always present at that wedding. We shouldn’t presume too easily that we fully understand what is producing the effects we think we see.

But in politics, especially in a country like the United States founded on a rugged sense of individual self-reliance paired with a robust distrust of authority, it is easier to examine the veracity of the leadership-followership dynamic as depicted by the modern leadership movement. And, indeed, many politicians are used by that movement as exemplars of the sort of individual leadership it promotes.

Key among these is Abraham Lincoln. And he certainly was more than merely a great president – he was a towering figure in history.

But for all that, he wasn’t really a leader, nor were Americans his followers, in the sense we are encouraged to understand those terms today.

He didn’t bring to his presidency a transforming and unifying vision. On the one hand, his political views were shared by many, and well developed long before he added his voice to those expounding them. And on the other, his election prompted the secession of the Southern states and the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Further, his elevation resulted from his being the last man standing after candidates widely viewed as much better leadership material than he outmaneuvered each other into the ground. So, it didn’t happen because his irressistable personal leadership attracted followers to his standard, either.

Moreover, he was widely ridiculed throughout his presidency, by people all across the land extending even into his own hand-picked cabinet, as not only not up to the job, but as actually diminishing the stature of the office. He was hounded by intrigue and efforts to replace, undermine, and thwart him. (Please read Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s superb “Team of Rivals” to learn more about Lincoln’s greatness in the face of all this; you can see my review of it here.)

Ralph Waldo Emerson observed of Lincoln and the American people, “Step by step he walked before them; slow with their slowness, quickening his march by theirs; the true representative of this continent; an entirely public man.”

Yes, he was elected to take the helm in troubled times, but he didn’t run away from his base. He consulted it constantly. When the country wasn’t ready for a step, he didn’t pretend to bold, visionary leadership of such timid followers. He waited. When it was ready, he didn’t hesitate.

But he was always in intimate contact with Americans of all sorts everywhere in the nation, shaping the country’s path and pace according to what was possible, which was determined at least as much by them as by him. He managed the process with courage and genius. But he did not lead it in the sense that that term is used and promoted today.

So, let’s return to the world of work. When you think about it, your workplace is very likely also riven by two-faced political posturing centered on the boss, isn’t it? Moreover, despite the leverage wielded by the labor market and the HR department, your staff and corporate culture probably also shape both the path and pace of your decision-making, don’t they?

If you are heedless of either concern, and attempt to plow ahead by exhibiting what you are taught is real leadership, and insist on receiving in return real followership, you are likely to look back soon enough and find that you really have lost the herd. This is classic withdrawal from reality, which develops inevitably into isolation and marginalization or even disaster. Remember that you can not only get too far ahead of the herd, but if you irritate or ignore them, they can engineer innumerable ways to hang back so that you find yourself alone out there, looking worse than silly.

Lincoln was not a leader, and neither are you. But, like him, you can persevere, and even become a truly great manager. Just remember that your assets in that endeavor are your colleagues – not your “followers.”

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Today’s tips: Speaking of shotguns and managing outcomes, please see this article by Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership about constructive conversations. And speaking of politics and discovering leadership among the “led,” please see this piece from The Economist about the benefits of women in power.

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