Leaders get the spotlight, but most people spend their careers as followers, not leaders. Robert Kelley’s framework shows why cultivating followership is the overlooked advantage in business.
Imagine you’ve just taken over a new team. Most members are settling in well, but two stand out. Jeff, in his second year, rarely shares opinions and only does what he’s told. If you don’t assign it, it won’t get done. Miyuki, far more experienced, thinks for herself but drifts through work disengaged, sometimes cynical. Neither is failing outright, but both are holding the team back.
Most managers would treat this as a leadership problem. But Robert Kelley, in The Power of Followership, would argue it’s a followership issue. Jeff and Miyuki are demonstrating distinct follower styles—passive and alienated. Recognising these patterns is the first step to nudging them toward exemplary followership, where they take initiative, contribute ideas, and act as true partners.
Our cultural fixation on leaders makes us miss what’s really going on. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, tells the story of Joe Kramer, a welder who declined every promotion but became indispensable because he mastered every aspect of the plant. Kramer’s followership, not management, kept the operation running.
And yet, organizations still undervalue this. Kelley points to a multinational telecom’s performance review form that scored leadership potential from 0–5 but had no way to rate followership quality. In another case, when a department head named Joan was suddenly hospitalized, her team stalled within a week because all decisions were anchored in her. These examples show the cost of neglecting followership: dependency, bottlenecks, and wasted talent.
Kelley’s framework lays out five styles of followership on two axes: engagement (passive to active) and critical thinking (dependent to independent).
The key is not to box people permanently, but to see where they are and help them shift. Kelley stressed that any style can move toward exemplary with the right conditions.
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Kelley outlines three actions that define exemplary followers.
First, they create added value. In The Power of Followership, a FedEx clerk noticed drivers skipping a weight check and pushed for a fix, saving the company $2.1 million a year. At Copeland Corporation, also documented by Kelly, a drill bit operator gathered data to prove a more expensive tool was cheaper in the long run. Both went beyond their job description to make the organisation better.
Second, they nurture relationships. Exemplary followers build networks across teams, understand their leaders’ pressures, and share information freely. Kelley notes that these “invisible infrastructure” connections often matter more than formal reporting lines, because they spread knowledge and prevent siloed decision-making. They are not afraid to disagree when it matters, but they frame dissent in ways that strengthen trust.
Third, they exercise a courageous conscience. Jerome LiCari, R&D director at Beech-Nut, provides one of Kelley’s strongest examples. LiCari refused to approve adulterated concentrate, resigning and contacting regulators when management ignored him. At Johnson & Johnson, employees invoked the company credo to block baby oil from being sold as suntan oil, then repositioned it safely. These are followers protecting the company by doing what’s right.
If followership drives results, leaders need to treat it as a partnership. Max DePree at Herman Miller described leadership as a covenant: “Leaders don’t inflict pain; they bear pain.” His approach was to create space for followers to flourish—and then get out of the way.
Other executives have shown what this looks like in practice. Hugh Aaron at Customcolor opened the company’s books during a crisis, teaching staff how to read financials and inviting them to act. Employees cut costs aggressively, saving the firm. At Nucor, CEO Ken Iverson doubled down on partnership by sharing gains in good years and taking the steepest personal pay cut in downturns. These moves reinforced trust and autonomy—the soil where exemplary followership grows.
Contrast that with Lee Iacocca’s claim that “I saved Chrysler.” By erasing his team’s contribution, he undercut the very followership that made the turnaround possible.
Followership is never blind obedience. Jared Diamond recounts in The Power of Followership that he nearly drowned in New Guinea after boarding a reckless canoe. A fellow biologist, observing the same risk, waited for a safer tugboat. The lesson Diamond drew: followers are responsible for whom they choose to follow, and not following can be the wisest act of all.
Sometimes the best act of followership is to lead momentarily or to act without leaders at all. When Pittsburgh residents were denied city funding, they designed and built the Highland Park Super Playground themselves. On aircraft carriers and in electric utilities, Kelley notes, rank often gives way to expertise during crises: whoever knows most takes command until danger passes.
Followership is not invisible labour. It’s a discipline that can be taught, evaluated, and rewarded. The Jeffs and Miyukis of every organization are not “problem employees” but underdeveloped followers who can shift toward exemplary. Leaders can make that shift possible by:
Behind every admired leader is a network of exemplary followers. Recognising them not only improves organisational results but also builds resilience and ethical strength. As Csikszentmihalyi’s welder Joe Kramer proved, sometimes the person who never wanted to lead turns out to be the cornerstone everyone else relies on.
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