Embracing Followership: How to Thrive in a Leader-Centric Culture
The Importance of Followership
In a society fascinated by leadership, have we devalued the significance of followership?
As part of a team that put on my organization’s largest international conference, I was asked, “How many people do you manage?” My answer—“None”—caught people off guard.
In one sense, I helped oversee everything, yet I didn’t have a single person reporting to me.
Is it okay to simply do well where you are? What if you want to use your gifts, talents, and abilities to perform with excellence—without aspirations of occupying a formal leadership role?
In Embracing Followership, Allen Hamlin Jr. walks you through the many facets of being a follower, helping you make your own unique contributions to the various organizations, working groups, communities, or congregations you’re part of.
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Praise for Embracing Followership
Allen Hamlin writes on followership with an elevating language that imbues this form of relationship with service, grace, and individuality. A very welcome addition to the growing literature on followership.
—Ira Chaleff, author of The Courageous Follower
Embracing Followership may be among the top 10 most fresh, provocatively insightful expressions of what kind of thinking can ‘set the readers free’ from mindless cultural expectations on us that we've unconsciously imbibed. If you are one of the multitudes who can’t escape thinking you should be more of a leader, this book is for you. It marvelously clarifies the reality of how we are all both leaders and followers and are ‘blessed’ when we find ourselves ‘at home’ with that reality. I plan to distribute dozens of copies!
—Greg Livingstone, founder, Frontiers
Embracing Followership challenged and changed me—one of the rare books that can challenge your worldview and make you glad you read it. Allen manages to exalt followers without disparaging leaders, proving the unique value of each and providing practical steps to move us toward the mutually beneficial place of respect and value for the contributions of both.
—T. J. MacLeslie, minister, missionary, and author of Designed for Relationship
Contents
- Introduction
- A Primer on Followership
- Part 1: Misconceptions & Realities of Followership
- Followership According to Followers
- Followership According to Leaders
- Leadership According to Followers
- Part 2: Can & Should: The Opportunities of Excellent Followership
- Obligations of Followership
- Contributions of Followership
- Ownership: Passion in Action
- Part 3: Obstacles & How to Overcome Them
- Internal Challenges to Following Well
- Relational Challenges to Following Well
- Cultural Challenges to Following Well
- Resources for Personal Development & Self-Awareness
- Clarifying Vision and Role
- Rest as a Resource
- Part 4: Followership in Relationship with Leaders
- The Leader−Follower Dynamic
- Communication & Trust
- Cooperation & Pre-Forgiveness
- Influence, Submission, & Reward
- What the Relationship Can Achieve
- Following “Poor” Leaders
- Part 5: Followership in Relationship with Other Followers
- Association
- Peer Relationships
- Informal Leadership
- Part 6: Followership in Relationship as a Leader
- A Perspective on Leadership
- Displaying Dependence
- Establishing the Environment
- Inviting In
- Empowering and Promoting
Product Details
- Title: Embracing Followership: How to Thrive in a Leader-Centric Culture
- Author: Allen Hamlin Jr.
- Publisher: Kirkdale Press
- Publication Date: 2015
- Pages: 256
- Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
- Trim Size: 5.5x8.5
- ISBN: 9781577996323
About Allen Hamlin Jr.
Since 2006, Allen Hamlin Jr. has served with an international Christian non-profit organization. In this role, he has primarily provided team development training and consultation, along with mentoring and member care, to multiethnic teams serving around the world. He and his wife, Lindsay, have lived in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. They currently live in Wales, where Allen provides leadership and support for a number of teams operating in southern England, Wales, and Ireland. Both Allen and Lindsay have a deep appreciation for the values and tensions associated with serving in and alongside of cultures outside of one’s country of origin. They also both thrive when they can serve in roles that bring them alongside a leader and vision.