Why should you follow anyone?

Blog Featured Image (3)

The Lone Nut

I was first shown this video by someone nearly 10 years ago, some of you have probably seen it, if you haven’t it is worth spending 3 minutes of your time enjoying watching a movement happen.

 

Creating Change

Creating change is hard. There is a lot of inertia to overcome and you have to sell your vision to other people, which can also be tricky to do. This dancing guy in the video does it beautifully, he simply shows you how you can be the change. But it takes a lot of bravery to stand up and be the lone nut, to keep on doing what you are doing until someone else recognises exactly what is on offer and what the change could be.

Many of you aspire to being a leader, to being a change maker and view leadership as being the person who shows everyone else the way. 

Crowds and Tribes

At the start of the video, the dancer is surrounded by a crowd of people sitting and listening to the music. He is on his own but he has stepped up and is prepared to be a leader, he is prepared to go through the risk of ridicule by showing the crowd how they could truly enjoy the music.

By the end of the video, the dancer can’t be seen anymore. He is surrounded, not by a crowd, but a tribe. A crowd is a tribe without a leader, by standing up and communicating to the crowd that he is prepared to be a leader the dancer has gathered a tribe of people who want to join in and be part of something more.

Still aspiring to be the leader? 

Without followers you are a lone nut

What if no one had stood up and joined the lone dancer?

The crowd would have left at the end of the day and laughed about the crazy guy who danced like no one was watching. He would have been dismissed as a crazy guy and everyone would have enjoyed themselves less.

Although the lone dancer showed the way, the most important people were those that saw the fun, recognised the change that they needed to make and joined in. Because they joined in it was suddenly more acceptable for others to join in. The first followers showed that anyone could do what the lone dancer was doing, they made the change real. They were the ones that turned the crowd into a tribe. That is the power of the follower.

Create a tribe

The next time you see someone doing something you think is a little crazy (but potentially great), don’t dismiss them as a lone nut. Instead, imagine what the world would be like if you joined in and supported that idea. What is the change that could be created if only there was a tribe of people doing the same thing?

Don’t be afraid to be that first follower. You are likely to embraced and treated as an equal as you both move forward to create something new. Now there are two of you doing it, it isn’t so crazy. Ask others to join you, grow your tribe. Soon you won’t be the crazy ones, the crazy ones will be the people not doing what you are doing.

You don’t have to be The Leader to be a leader. You can lead change by standing up next to a lone nut and being a follower. Offer validation, grow your tribe, be the change. The world needs more brave followers.