The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders (2nd Edition)

The task of courageous followers who see life’s harsh wake-up call coming is to effectively make a leader aware of the need to preempt that call. This is often much harder than it sounds. Anyone engaging in dysfunctional behavior has a lot of defenses built up around it and a lot of filters in place to screen out messages that disconfirm their behavior.

How do we get leaders’ own alarm bells ringing? How do we provide a simulator in which they can experience potential disaster without actually going through the crash that will damage both themselves and, very likely, those they should be serving? Courageous followers can become both amplifiers and interpreters of the events they want a leader to pay attention to.

Though leaders are probably aware, to some degree, of their problematic behavior, motivation to transform is only created when they realize how seriously others view it. This is a central point for courageous followers to comprehend:

Because offending leaders rationalize the seriousness of their actions, they assume others will also minimize that seriousness. This is their fatal error in judgment.

Conveying the intensity of our dismay, our concern, our outrage about the leader’s practices is the single most important act courageous followers can take as catalysts for change.

If we understate our feelings out of deference to a leader’s position, out of discomfort with vocalizing the truth as we see it, or out of fear of the leader’s reaction, we will be ineffective as agents of change. The skill required is to deliver the message in a way that conveys our support for the leader without pulling punches. We can do this if we target the behavior, not the leader:

“You and I share a deep commitment to the purposes of this organization. We cannot let those purposes be jeopardized by

denying the serious impact _______ [dysfunctional behavior] is having on the organization.”

“Once you grasp the importance of an issue, no one is more capable of vigorously addressing it than you. I am very afraid that _______ [dysfunctional behavior] is bringing this organization to the brink of disaster.”

“If I were doing something that jeopardized my career, I know you wouldn’t quietly let me drive over the cliff, and I can’t let you do that either.”

“You’ve led this organization brilliantly, but we can’t let that obscure how these actions are violating common decency.”

Transformation occurs most readily in an atmosphere of “tough love”—a genuine appreciation for the person and a steadfast stance against the behaviors that are detrimental to the person and the organization. We each have our issues and time for transformation, and in healthy relationships, we take turns being a clear-eyed and resolute catalyst for the other.