Great leaders have followers. Poor leaders have themselves.

The question is, according to Erika Andersen, ‘What is it … that makes someone willing to consider one person his or her leader but not another?’

‘A truly farsighted leader envisions a possible future that responds to and resonates with people’s aspirations for their individual and collective success. … True visionaries often see possibilities where others see difficulty and dead-ends.’

‘People who work with a passionate leader don’t wonder what she stands for or whether she will abandon her principles when the going gets rough.’

‘When the leader commits honestly, based on his or her authentic beliefs about what’s important, people tend to feel it and be drawn into new levels of engagement.’

‘When people observe their leader behaving courageously over time, they are much more willing to follow him or her into new territory. … When the leader lacks courage, people feel as though they need to protect themselves.’

‘When others see that you’re willing to do something that could damage you personally in order to support the success of the organization, they are hugely more likely to line up behind you.’

‘When leaders are wise, we see that they’re considering our welfare and that they’ll do their best to make sure that the enterprise succeeds in a way that supports the success of the greatest possible number of us, their followers.’

‘A leader who is fully generous shares both the power to make decisions and the responsibility for dealing with the consequences of those decisions.’

‘The trustworthy leader tells the truth and keeps her word. She speaks the whole truth (sometimes omission is as much a lie as an outright misstatement) and even tells the truth about not being able to tell the truth.’

‘When a leader is worthy of trust, people reward him or her by becoming more trustworthy themselves. Trust is the essential bond between a true leader and her followers.’

‘Trustworthy leaders are competent. They demonstrate the capability to do the job they have been given (and are honest about any deficits in that regard and how they’ll go about addressing them), and they get the results they’ve committed to achieving.’

Source

Erika Andersen (2012). Leading So People Will Follow