If you want to be a leader, you should NOT act like one.

Well don’t frown, I’ll get to the explanation.

A research has been published in British Journal of Psychology tilled “I follow Therefore I lead” found
that to be a good leader, you must be one of your follower.

The researchers selected and tracked a group of 218 Royal Marine recruits who were engaged in a
training program where later, the recruits, their commanders and other peers voted to select an
individual with the greatest leadership ability.

It is found that, the recruits in the group rated themselves to have the both leadership and
followership quality and their commanders also rated the recruiters as such.

But the interesting part is, the fellow recruits and peers couldn’t see the followership quality in all of
them as how they and their commander think they are.

Lesson 1: Understand leaders and followers are members of the same group.

A successful leaders need to be perceived as “one of us,” not as “one of them,” and setting oneself
apart may affect the willingness of the team members to follow.

Lesson 2: The commanders of the recruits themselves failed to recognize the leadership quality of
their followers. This shows an ineffective leadership structures and team dysfunction as well as
disconnection.

Original Article

I follow, therefore I lead: A longitudinal study of leader and follower identity and leadership in the
marines

Kim Peters S. Alexander Haslam

First published: 22 May 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12312