Want to be a Great Leader? Start With Your Toughest Follower

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Shane Elmore for writing today's blog post. Shane served as Pulsara's Vice President for Clinical Innovation and Development from 2013-2022. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

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POP QUIZ: Who’s the most difficult person to lead?

YOU ARE.

Regardless of where you are within your organization, you already have the most important leadership assignment you will ever have. This simple, but very important concept, is one we must all tackle if we aspire to leadership.

I’ve heard people say in frustration that they don’t have anyone to lead. They consider themselves in the lowest rank and the possibility of leadership is more of a joke than reality.

But that’s where true leadership is forged. Leading yourself is difficult.

If you don’t take yourself seriously, then don’t expect others to either. If you can’t follow yourself, then how can you expect anyone else to follow you? This is true for all of us -- we are our most difficult leadership assignment.

If you want to lead tomorrow then you must learn to follow today. If you haven’t learned to obey, you will cause big problems when you finally have the opportunity to command. People who never learned to follow, but end up in positions of influence and power, have enormous difficulty getting others to follow them AND respect them at the same time. If your followers don't feel respected by you, and they probably don't if you can't relate to having been in their position, then why would they respect you?

We’ve all worked for the leader who is incapable of following. You can see them coming a mile away. They have the following consistent qualities:

• Prideful
• Rigid
• Unrealistic

At Pulsara, we have a leadership team who is willing to follow first and lead if needed. Living by obedience creates a spirit of humility that can be seen and felt by everyone. The leader who has learned to follow knows that they are fallible. They seek accountability because they’ve learned that they can’t trust themselves. 

A wise mentor of mine once told me:

When you see a good man or woman, emulate them.

When you see a bad man or woman, examine your heart.

Keep in mind that a position of power can cloud your judgement no matter how large or small the position. So, follow first, be your own leader, and when the time comes, lead others as you would like to be led.