we explore the difference and common misunderstanding between leadership and management. Then we take a deeper dive into followership and subordinates to better understand the value of followership in corporate success.
Part 2 of the book focuses on finding and developing Amplifiers in your company. We review how “talent scouting” misses the mark in most companies and lay out several strategies to better find and develop potential Amplifiers throughout the company. We thoroughly analyze leadership, followership, and Amplifier styles, motives, and traits in order to create specific development programs to enhance these characteristics throughout the organization. Throughout the section, several examples of Amplifiers who have had successful careers are highlighted along with their secrets and suggestions on what it takes to be an Amplifier.
In part 3 of the book, we explore how Amplifiers magnify the power of teams and increase the impact of corporate performance for its stakeholders. We dig deeper into the Amplifier effect on corporate strategy and how Amplifiers turn up the volume on positive change and corporate racial justice. Several examples highlighting the positive impact of Amplifiers and negative ramifications on corporate outcomes when there is a lack of Amplifiers can be found throughout this section.
Finally, we close the book with how Amplifiers can amplify life beyond work and create a lasting impact on countless people with whom they interact.
Throughout the book, I use my experience and draw from the collective experiences of my colleagues in the firm. Therefore, there are times where I use first-person references, in other cases I use we. I also want to respect the emerging thinking regarding gender pronouns and refrain from using he, his, she, or her and use they, their, or them as a singular, nongender version of the pronoun.
1 True Amplifiers: Leaders, Bosses, Followers, and Subordinates
The key to unlocking organizational success lies in discovering and deploying the Amplifiers in your company. Amplifiers know how to increase the impact for all key stakeholders through the power of example and by bringing out the best in their colleagues who surround them. These Amplifiers have the power to turn up the volume to enable transformation efforts to be successful or to affect the positive change that a company is seeking for long-term and sustainable health.
Leadership and followership are compared to each other as if they are two different sides of the same coin. Common thinking suggests someone is either a leader or a follower. We don't often see them as two separate dimensions on differing axes. When we juxtapose leaders and bosses on the one axis, and subordinates and followers on the other, we see a different view on effectiveness. Amplifiers exist at the intersection of great leadership and great followership. When deployed effectively throughout the organization, they magnify the power of the teams that they are either assigned to or with whom they interact.
For the purposes of this book, we use the following definitions to frame the discussion. You will notice that our definitions, especially that of leader, differ from the common search definition on Google, “the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.”1
Our analysis does not focus on job performance skills or proficiency of the individuals. Our work focuses on the leadership and followership attitudes that drive employee engagement and create long-term differentiated and sustainable cultures. We assume that the capabilities of the individual workers are that they are trained, competent, and perform the expected job duties commensurate with their position. We recognize this is not always the case, but that is not in the scope of our analysis.
| Leader | A person who uses their influence, example, or persuasion to cause others to follow them |
| Titled Executive/Boss | A person who is in charge of or commands a group, team, or function |
| Follower | A person who willingly goes along with and accepts direction from a leader |
| Subordinate | A person lower in rank or position who complies with directives of a superior |
In this book, we make an important distinction between leaders and bosses, but not simply by juxtaposing leadership skills with management skills. Instead, we view leaders and bosses (or titled executives) as different ends of the same leadership continuum. They may hold the exact same job title and have the same responsibilities, but they may operate on different ends of the leadership continuum. Similarly, we view followers and subordinates as two ends to the followership continuum. Leaders are usually also bosses, and followers are usually subordinate to their leaders. The distinguishing factors that push them to one end of the continuum or the other are their individual styles, motives, and traits. These dynamics drive how they interact with others to get work done.
Most people think about leadership and followership as two ends of a continuum. However, in Figure 1.1, we show a matrix of leadership and followership behaviors. For the purposes of uncovering and discovering true Amplifiers in an organization, we map leaders and bosses on the same continuum on the vertical axis. We also map followers and subordinates on the same continuum on the horizontal axis. Note the intersection is slightly off-center because most organizations have a higher concentration of leaders and followers.
FIGURE 1.1 Leaders, Titled Executives/Bosses, Followers, and Subordinates
It is important to note that the actual job function of the person at the top of an organization or function does not differ on the continuum of leaders and bosses. In fact, the activities are the same. We also assume for the purpose of Figure 1.1 that individuals performing their roles are competent; the figure does not evaluate performance but the style in which they carry out their role. What does differ and, in fact, differs significantly, is the style in which they carry out their core job functions. It is the same for followers and subordinates. Followers and subordinates alike have work to do to complete their daily activities. How they conduct themselves and interact with their colleagues to get that work done is significantly different. The style and the nature of how they approach their work in the context of the broader organization and mission are what sets followers apart from subordinates.
One of the things that is amazing to me is the number of people who share with me their frustration when a colleague who has been promoted to be their boss lacks the requisite leadership skills. These individuals have excelled in their work product, have been exceptional employees, have demonstrated their ability to produce outstanding work, and seem to always reliably get the job done. They possess project planning skills, risk analysis, and the ability to budget and track status. But many times, an individual who possesses these functional subject matter expertise and perhaps even managerial expertise is recognized as a star worker, yet their peers on the team will not follow their lead. When the individual is promoted, the other team members shrug their shoulders in disbelief
