follow the leader

Follow the leaderJamie Anderson, Jorg Reckhenrich and MartinKupp explore the evolving art of followership

© Copyright 2014 London Business School

BUSINESS STRATEGY REVIEW 2

In Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? Rob Goffeeand Gareth Jones explore the concept of

followership in the context of leadership withinorganisations. Their assertion that followership isa key element of organisational success has had adeep impact upon the way that many businessleaders approach the art of management. But

what is, and will be, the impact of social media onthe ability of leaders to build and sustain a

followership community?


Social media has blown apart this millennia-longtrade-off between reaching a mass of followers

in an intimate way, and has created theopportunity for what we term “mass intimacy”.Followers can engage with the leader and other

followers in a network dialogue. Despite the “mass intimacy” that social media

platforms enable, the basic principles offollowership still apply.


Social media is simply a new tool for engaging withfollowers – the leader still needs to craft a strategy forattracting and sustaining a followership base.

Lady Gaga is an exemplar of the new realities offollowership. She has also implemented a remarkablyconsistent approach to delivering what we see as thethree pillars of a social media followership campaign:

• the first pillar is communicating a personalnarrative (Who am I?);

• the second is developing a collective narrative(Who are we?);

• and the third is building a future narrative (Whereare we going?).

These principles have already been discussed inliterature on followership, but they are less wellappreciated in relation to social media as a tool forpersonal branding.


The personal narrative: Who am I?The best leaders excel in their followers’ eyes by being themselves and byrevealing things about what made them who they are: they are able tocommunicate “Who am I?”

Think of Mahatma Gandhi, who often spoke about how he was stronglyinfluenced by Western writers such as Henry David Thoreau and John Ruskin,by the writings and personal example of Tolstoy, and by his own intensiveimmersion in religious writings from both East and West.

For Gandhi, a story was never enough; embodiment in one’s own way of life wasan integral part of the message. His clothes reflected his decision to adopt thelife of an ascetic and he wore the same attire whether he as meeting the ruralpoor of India or the political power brokers of the British Empire.

Steve Jobs, the iconic late CEO of Apple, seemed to have a deep appreciationof the importance of a personal narrative.

Lady Gaga has also been extremely skilful at communicating her personalnarrative


Clearly, Gandhi, Jobs and Gaga all helped their followers tounderstand something of who they are and where they come

from because they understood that followers demandauthenticity. What is new is the way in which social mediaplatforms allow leaders to demonstrate this authenticity

directly on a daily basis. It is therefore imperative for the leaderto have a good understanding of what Dave Ulrich and NormSmallwood have termed the personal leadership brand that

they want to communicate.

The leader must have a clear understanding about what he orshe wants to be known for, and then ensure that these traits are

communicated as part of their social media activities.

Gaga is very consistent in getting across her core values:acceptance for all, equality, creativity and honesty.


The collective narrative… Who arewe?Mahatma Gandhi understood that followers want to feel part of acommunity and saw his natural colleagues as the mass ofordinary human beings

For the Apple community created by Steve Jobs, this sense ofbelonging might be defined in just two words: “think different.”

Lady Gaga has also proven herself immensely capable ofbuilding this sense of community and significance among herfollowers. She draws upon being the weird girl in class and givesthe message that the fans are okay the way they are, a messagethat resonates strongly with teenagers, but also with gay andlesbian fans.


The future narrative… where arewe going?The final pillar of leveraging social media to build afollowership is what we call the future narrative, or“Where are we going?” Goffee and Jones say this isabout “exciting others through a passionatecommitment to clearly articulated personal valuesand a vision.”


In a very short period of time, Lady Gaga hasemerged as a music industry phenomenon andastute adherent to the principles of followership.

Just like Gandhi and Jobs before her, sheunderstands that followers demand authenticity, asense of community and an exciting future vision.

She has not only understood how to leverage socialmedia to connect intimately with her followers, shehas also demonstrated the potential business impactof how this intimacy can deliver commercial results.


Perhaps we should betalking not about thenew economics of theinternet, but about theGaganomics of onlinefollowership.


The full article was published in BusinessStrategy Review Volume 24 Issue 4 2013

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