Nearly everything I read has something to say about leadership.  In one way or another, authors tell us:  “this is what a leaders does; this is what a leader needs to do; this is what a leader should focus on.”

In the book I presented last Friday at our monthly event, the First Friday Book Synopsis, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt, we learned that “developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader…”

I don’t disagree with that, or most of the other things I read about leadership.  The fact is that leadership is an all-encompassing, incredibly important role.  Good leaders can create good and successful companies and organizations.  Bad leaders can lead to genuine problems, even the destruction or disintegration of a company or organization.  Many stories of each are everywhere available.

But I think there is one “this is the main task of leadership” consideration that trumps them all.  It is the task of a leader to attract followers.  Because, if there are no followers, there is no leader.  Leadership is not a “title,” it is a fact.  And followership may be the single biggest signal of successful leadership.

In the book, Tribal Leadership:  Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization, Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright focus on the “tribal” metaphor for companies and organizations.

It’s as though our tribe is part of our genetic code.  Birds flock, fish school, people “tribe.”   

In a tribe, leadership is truly critical.  And as they describe successful tribal leadership, they give this short, simple assertion:

Tribal Leaders are talent magnets, with people so eager to work for the leader that they will take a pay cut if necessary. 

People have a need for good leaders; people need to follow good leaders.  Tribal leaders attract followers — followers practically fight to get “under the leadership” of a good tribal leader.

The book proposes five stages of tribal leadership (from the book):

Stage	Collaboration	Mood	Theme
5	Team	Innocent Wonderment	“Life is Great”
4	Partnership	Tribal Pride	“We’re Great (and they’re not)”
3	Personal	Lone Warrior	“I’m Great (and you’re not)”
2	Separate	Apathetic Victim	“My life sucks”
1	Alienated	Despairing Hostility	“Life sucks”

In this list, the goal for the tribal leader is to aim for stage 5, and help each tribe member move up the stages together.  Yes, to “move up together – to “follow the leader.”

The leader says, “this is where we are going – together.  Now, let’s go.”  Building followership to take that journey together is the test of, the proof of, genuine leadership.