Leaders versus Followers is an article meant to help you discover whether you are a leader, a follower, or both. This article will help you discover both the advantages and disadvantages of being a leader or a follower in this modern world. With that said, let us, deep-dive, into it, head-on.
Who Is A Leader?
A leader according to me is someone who has a natural ability to lead the way, and the rest of the crowd follows after. A leader is a natural talent, a natural ability.
A leader leads people from one place to another. He or she does what people want or expect, but he or she may also use some force to make people do certain things for the benefit of the people, or that of his or her own.
Humans have a natural ability to lead, but not all humans are born leaders. Animals have their own leaders, naturally, but not all animals are good leaders. Leaders are leaders, whether are good or bad. There is a need for a leader in every area of life.
In a family, a man and a woman are leaders in different ways. A man is known to the top leader in the house. A woman is the second in command in each family. In my culture, a man is responsible for the things a woman may not be able to do physically. A man has to bring things from far, but a woman has to take care of things at home.
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Some people may still argue that leaders are both born and made, but I don’t think so. Leaders may be improved, but if they are not leaders in the first place, they can’t be made leaders, no matter how they are trained to be. Just as there is no human who can recreate or completely change their lives and nature, there is in the same way, no human that can make him or herself a leader through training.
If one has the ability to lead, that’s natural. I have also seen during my days on earth that people be forced to be what they are not, naturally, I think that’s why self-discovery is very important. Your parents, your friends, your colleagues, your co-workers, and your siblings or even your very own partner may want you to be what you are not.
Even though our culture teaches that men are always heads or leaders of their family, some women born leaders have proved to be leaders, too. This means leadership has no gender issues. Any gender can be a good leader if they are born leaders.
What Are The Advantages Of Being A Leader?
There are many advantages of being a leader. Some advantages are for the leader, and others are for his or her followers. For those who love recognition (and most leaders do!), recognition is one huge advantage of being a leader. People recognize you for your outstanding leadership abilities. People may also have their own expectations of a good leader.
If you don’t meet those expectations, then you may not be a leader according to them. But because you might already be a leader, you might have some kind of influence even among the people, and you will always win them as followers through those influences.
Fame may be one of the advantages. Resources (especially in Africa) are those advantages of being a leader. Wealth and authorities are some of the advantages of being a leader. Honour and social respect are some of those goodies of being a leader in a society.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Being A Leader?
In everything, there are both advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to leadership, there are both advantages and disadvantages too. One disadvantage is that leadership is a huge responsibility for many people to bear. But if one fears responsibility, then he or she may not be a born leader.
Having many enemies is a disadvantage of being a leader because every successful human or animal has his or her own enemies. Also, the followers always blame their leaders for some things, and this can be a disadvantage for a leader or leaders. Sometimes, people blame their leader or leaders for some failures in the leadership system.
For example, if there is no food at home, the children may look for help, or blame their parents for this failure. A husband may blame his wife for some things. A wife may blame a husband for some leadership things at home. A village may blame their leaders. A county may blame its leaders, and the list of blemish may continue from level to the other.
I know the fact that for some people, these disadvantages may be advantages as well, depending on certain circumstances, or mind-sets. But commonly speaking, blaming leaders can be a big difference between leaders and their followers. The pain that comes with blaming depends on whether the blames are based on facts, or on mere personal opinions, fuelled by hate and dislikes.
The rivalry was, is, and will be the most form of leadership disadvantage in human history on earth. When one is a leader, he or she will always have those who want to challenge him or her for the same position. This competition comes with lots of other unwanted actions for most people. Thus, some people may not desire to take the lead.
Who Is A Follower?
Now, a follower is someone who walks after the leader. This happens in the real world where two or more people are walking to a place, and one person may lead the rest. To walk after or behind a person is to follow the person. But this following can also mean when you have someone you listen to in life and follow them by following their advice, or by doing what they command or suggest.
Christians follow Jesus for spiritual walks and guidance. Buddhists follow Buddha for some enlightenment lessons and practices. Muslims follow Mohammed for spiritual teachings, and of course, most Africans follow some deities for spiritual nourishment and life. These are examples of both leaders and followers in spiritual matters.
If you love reading these articles, you may be my follower. People also follow each other on social media these days, or on platforms such as WordPress, and much more. The followers get updates from their leaders or their friends. These updates are the interests of the followers as well as those of the leaders or providers. Each human being has a gift, a passion. Each passion is for a good purpose. So yes, a follower is someone who followers another person, or other people.
In each and every family, there is a leader or several leaders. There are also followers in each family, clan, tribe, and society. In fact, life is all about following and being followed. Men and women lead their families in their own ways. Children may lead other children, too.
The following can be forced or chosen at will. It can be a voluntary action, or a forced or dictated the action. It depends on the leader or the follower to lead or follow the course willingly or grudgingly.
But naturally, there are people who love being followers instead of being leaders, and this is perfectly okay. Not everyone is or should be a born or made leader. I believe that leaders are born, not made.
What Are The Advantages Of Being A Follower?
If you follow a good course or a good leader, chances are that there are so many benefits to doing so. But being good and being bad can sometimes be determined differently by different people, and for many different and even conflicting reasons. So what does the “Good,” mean?
In this article, I explained what I know so well about the definitions of good and evil. Go ahead and read that, and they have a sense of what good or evil means. But in case that will distract you a bit, I believe there are both personal and universal goods and evils. If the majority of people agree that something is evil, that’s universal, or common sense. The same process applies to bad or evil.
If you are not a born leader, you will enjoy the goodies that come with following your leaders. But this depends on who those leaders are to you. If the leaders are good, then following them is a good thing. If the leaders are evil, or hurting you in one way or another, then following them may be hard or difficult.
If you are a follower, you may not fall prey to the blames and insults that others in the group usually direct to your leaders. Your sole responsibility in the group may be to follow the leader and his or her ways of life. However, following others may come with its own pains and disappointments.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Being A Follower?
Yes, there are disadvantages to being a follower, even if one enjoys following others in this world. One of the pains you may experience as a following is a feeling of being spoon-fed or being used for another person’s own gains and joys. This of course depends on who your leader is.
As a follower, you may be forced to do or accept to do things you don’t want to accept or do. You may not be allowed to share your views and express yourself as much as possible, especially if your leader is a dictator. Dictators have their own places in life. There are some conditions where dictatorship works best for the goodness of the followers, especially if the purpose is for the benefits of both leaders and followers.
If you are a born leader, you may always find it harder to be led, or be under someone else’s leadership and guidance. But good leaders are good followers. We learn from each other in life before we even start to teach our very own students. This means we have to be students of other leaders before we lead our own teams or groups. Leadership can be learned, but I still believe we only improve at what we already love doing, not the other way around.
Again, what I termed here as a disadvantage may be termed as an advantage by someone else somewhere on the planet. There is nothing wrong with having different and even conflicting views because this makes us uniquely different from the rest of the world’s people. Even my parents are non me, and I am not them. I am who I am.
Wisdom from John Monyjok Maluth
As usual, I think in everything, there a need for a balance. Leaders are also followers, and followers, and also leaders. Thinking only of one side of the coin can bring you much trouble than peace. It may bring you more harm than good because you will be persistent, and even rigid to let things go freely.
Are you a leader right now? Then be a leader. Are you a follower right now? Then be a follower. Trying to be good or even the best can lead to other unknown stumbling blocks, leading to dissatisfaction, and other life issues. But having a balance will not only keep you upright, but it will also keep you fit.
Further Readings
- Are You a Leader or a Follower?—Entrepreneur
- 10 Signs You’re a Follower Instead of a Leader—Inc.com
- Leaders vs. Followers—CaseInterviews.com
I hope this article has been helpful to you, personally. Would you like to leave a comment below?