I was recently asked to provide some comments at the Global Followership Conference held this past summer at Indiana Wesleyan University. In addition to answering some questions, I provided some guidelines for what good followership looks like. Here is a summary.

Q. When a leader delegates responsibility to a follower, that comes with accepting the risks. In other words, there are benefits, but also real costs. What are your thoughts?

A. Responsibility comes with risks and obligations. As a leader, you can’t delegate control and responsibility effectively if you still “control the shots.” As a follower who is empowered, you have to accept the responsibility and realize the weight of that and accept the consequences and the outcomes.

It is clear that there can be real costs. We might reframe leaders of social movements as actually being “followers” who are resisting the status quo. Therefore, Nelson Mandela is not a leader initially. He is a follower who resists, and has to pay the price — 27 years of imprisonment. In the workplace, an empowered follower who takes on this responsibility must also consider the consequences, which can be positive or negative.

Q. One of the persistent tensions in........

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