Kellerman on Leadership: Followers Matter

Harvard University leadership expert Barbara Kellerman argues that past studies of leadership have missed a vital element: an examination of followers.

“To ignore the followers and focus only on the leaders is to not fully to grasp that leadership is a dynamic activity. There is no leader without at least one follower,” said Kellerman in an interview on the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Web site, where she is the James MacGregor Burns lecturer in public policy. “Understanding how the relationship unfolds between leaders and followers is crucial.”

Kellerman will discuss the role of followers in a workshop from 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. on Friday, Feb 13, during the 2009 National Council of Bar Presidents Midyear Meeting at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. That workshop, “How Followers are Creating Change and Changing Leaders,” will examine the important role of followers in demanding responsibility from leaders.

Kellerman will also draw from high-profile examples in business and government to explore the seven types of bad leaders in a presentation from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

Kellerman is the author of Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters.

More information on the 2009 Midyear Meeting NCBP program is available here. Registration information is available here.