Leadership

After reading the excerpt What Every Leader Needs to Know about Followers and having a debate about followership versus leadership, I found it acceptable that everyone should strive to be a leader. Even though it can be tough trying to having various leaders in one area it still can be a learning experience for the followers obtaining to be leaders because they view different ways to approach situations and also learn how to adapt their opinions comfortably with other individuals around them. When I was 17 I found it hard following my parent’s orders because they both had different opinions on certain situations. At the same time I was maturing trying t follow in their footsteps so that I could be just like them by being a leader to my sisters. But due to the confusion of which parent I should follow, I drew the conclusion that I could simply share both of their skills. As I was developing my leadership skills in high school, I viewed certain followers as shared in the reading. For instance, I was very familiar with “Isolates”. In high school isolates were common around because whenever I had to group work in my classes, I always noticed classmates that were completely detached. As explained in the article, Isolates “are scarcely aware of what’s going on around them…they do not care about their leaders and can drag down their group or organization”. This was acted very well in my group. It was always the rebellious students who did not like to cooperate in class and acted devious towards teachers that were isolates. When it was time for group work the isolates would always sit back and watch everyone else take into action of the group project. I disliked very much because they sat back and did try to help with what needed to be complete for our group assessment. As opposite to isolates in my class, there were also the “Diehards”. Even though there were a few isolates in my class, we also had the over achievers or students who wanted to get good grades in class. Diehards were described as “prepared to go down for their cause- whether it’s an individual, idea, or both”. These were the fellows I found myself more acquainted with because they did not sit around and watch things take into action, they were the ones making things get started. Also with the diehards, they supported me and worked just as hard as I did in the group to achieve a good grade on our project. They were a strong asset to the group and the other leading individuals that was in the group. When I was in my group, my classmates who were devoted into getting the work done contributed ideas and solutions to the project that was worthy of completing and accepting a good grade on. Reviewing the excerpt gave me insight that leaders are more dynamic to have to because instead of following individuals into the right direction, we can lead individuals into the right path of success.