Followership, influencers, and the eighth grade

I am more than a little annoyed at these take it to the street types bloviating (not new word) about their first amendment right (to assemble) despite the recognition by anyone who is listening physical distancing is what will stop Covid 19. One of the things anyway. These same bloviaters forget the fact citizenship carries a duty--to defend the United States and I would suggest they are carrying out acts completely opposite from that duty. On the way to being a naturalized US Citizen the individual swears an oath (not anything the rest of us have to do--unless you served in a capacity that requires an oath) which includes swearing to defend and protect. In fact the bloviater is less concerned about the closed business down the street (never shopped there I'll bet) than he is about gaining his 15 seconds of fame pushing a bizarre political agenda and interpretation of the Constitution.

A follower has two responsibilities to support leadership towards the goals established by the community; the other is to step up to alter the course the community if the goals not longer comply with mores, standards of behavior, and, indeed, the law. The follower must also lead. Free themselves from those influences slowly eroding the communities core. In other words the follower must constantly compare what they know to be right against the stream of nonsense spewing from the fire-hose.

Can you tell the difference between an influencer and a leader? Influencer's occasionally take on the roll of leader but leader's cannot shed the additional label of influencer. The leader particularly in today's social media world influence with every gesture, tweet, post, photo, or short film. No real leadership here just an action that a certain number of people will embrace. Enough of that, and the influencer appears to be a leader. The problem here is the influencer staggers through the community without a plan, agenda, or thought to what happens next. Where does it take the community? Well there be benefits or consequences? Does the influencer even care?

I would suggest President Trump is an influencer and not a leader. Too many of his actions are done without thought to the future or impact on the community. His bloviator followers waited in the weeds to see some one who could legitimize there own agenda. The bloviator is not the influencer but a carrier, a Typhoid Mary, of the influencers reactions.

Finally the influencer can be a collective. We saw this last weekend with how people took to the streets and others to the park completely ignoring the sober advise to continue to physical distance and wear masks to fight Covid 19. Come on America! You are acting like a bunch of petulant eighth graders . You should be ashamed of yourselves. Even though you did not take that oath, you are a citizen and have a duty to defend and protect your neighbors and family let alone the Nation. So what will influence the followership positively? I don't know. How many will it take? Humm? We blew past 10K, 25K, 50K and now nearing 75K dead and 1.2M cases how many will it take? I hope the business owner feels good about the money they make in defiance of better angels.

Influence--a shattered model

Social media created a new leadership model, or so it would seem It struck me the other day -- yes I am a little slow--and my excuse is--life has presented some distractions. The word influencer (not really a word) and influencers (also not a real word) wormed its way into the popular lexicon. That is the way of language--it changes.

Suffice to say influence is an active part of any leadership type we choose. The ability to influence followers into action, the influence of setting the example, using influence to gain the consensus and so on--'cause you are a leader and get it. Now, however, influencer appears to be a model, but is it?

Influencer definition is--one who exerts influence: a person who inspires or guides the action of others; often, specifically:a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media. www.meriam-webster.com

Notice this definition (and a number of others I reviewed) make no mention of responsibility or attributes we have discussed in leadership models. A failure of the Trump administration is attaching responsibility to the influence exerted. Social media influencers gain mainstream attention with out accepting responsibility for the consequences of their posts, comments, pictures or whatever instrument is used in creation of the mental detritus. The influence occurs at the macro level (followers) without understanding who or how it effects (follower) the micro level. For a leader to operate in that kind of vacuum sets up a disaster. Any scenario comes to the same conclusion; a leader understands how their behavior, words, actions, or social media posts has a direct effect on their success as a leader. Not understanding reduces leadership to influencership (I can create works also.)

So what is the responsibility of the follower and followership?

Next one fan's.

I'm back.