Follow the Leader: The One Thing Great Leaders Have that Great Followers Want Book

List of figures Acknowledgements

Introduction: the wrong question

Part One Emotional logic

01 Why do we follow?
If we understand why we follow then we start to understand what value leaders provide. It’s easy to see the attraction of being a leader, but why would anyone want to follow? Why are we so desperate to give up our ability to choose our own course of action? Find out why we are willing to die for a suit, literally!

02 Emotional logic: the follower’s decision-making engine
By understanding the mechanics of how followers choose their leaders we can work to meet their demands. But are their choices always rational? How can we tackle something that isn’t? And what does the phrase ‘the duck is ready to eat’ have to do with any of this?

03 Charisma: the one thing that matters
Ask any follower why they admire a particular leader and chances are charisma will be the answer. Yet few people know how to define it, never mind develop it. The good news is that once you understand emotional logic charisma becomes clear. We can learn a lot about it from the Mona Lisa. She knows something we don’t and that’s why she has that knowing smile.

Part Two The values dimension

04 Compassion
Great leaders don’t just understand others; they seem to have an ability to know exactly how they feel. In this chapter we look at how compassion works. We look at the steps that need to be taken to develop this, as well as the tools that can make it more effective. In our search for models I will divide the world into PowerPoint and Excel people, just to be able to unite it again.

05 Hope
What we look for our leaders to provide is hope. But what does that mean? How, without having to lie, do you articulate the future when you don’t know what is going to happen? How do you create pictures your potential followers can buy into? Is there anything we can learn from the leaders who are chosen through elections?

Part Three The character dimension

06 Asperity
Potential followers need to know that you will be able to deliver your vision regardless of the situations you find yourself in. Do you have the grit, self-determination and resilience to succeed? Will you stay true to your values when the going gets tough? A few wax models can help us find out.

07 Rhetoric
Through its rational and emotional aspects, rhetoric speaks directly to emotional logic. But how do you find the right words to engage? How do you ensure your message sticks? How do you build an argument that convinces the heart as well as the head? In search of answers, I will introduce you to the Scot and the American who defined the English language.

08 Integrity
To be sure that you will deliver the vision you have expressed, followers will want to know that what you say is what you will do. This is where integrity comes in. In this chapter, with the help of stuffed toys, I want to show you how to build and retain integrity. I will show you how integrity is a process of alignment and what to do when that alignment is broken.

09 Simplicity
Given that followers make their decision to follow incredibly quickly, we must be able to give them as much of the data they require in a format that is as simple as possible. How do you build simplicity without becoming simplistic? What are the components of simplicity and the tools used to build it? I will use a key rule of business books to find the answers.

Part Four The achievement dimension

10 Measurement
Leadership is not given – it is lent. For leadership to be sustained, followers must have a way to know that progress towards a vision is being made. For this they need markers. Measures are those markers. But how do you create measures that are bought into? How do you know which measures truly matter? In this chapter we meet a British scientist and a French engineer who can help us with that.

11 Action
As a leader you must reassure followers that you are capable of delivering on your promises. It is your actions that provide that reassurance. But are all actions the same? How can we differentiate the actions that take us forward from those that can hold us back? Let me introduce you to the tallest leader I know.

Concluding thoughts

Index