Classroom resources

For fifty years, leadership has dominated how we talk about politics, business and education. As a result, most of us absorb the idea that leaders are indispensable – usually without noticing we’ve done it. Yet few of us ever stop to ask how that idea shapes the way we see ourselves and each other.

These exercises help your students do exactly that. Each one turns on a question rather than an answer, prompting students to examine what they believe about leaders and followers – and where those beliefs came from. Each exercise is built to accompany my book, Why We Follow, and works whether or not your students have read it.

Run them in any order. Pick what fits your students and your time. And where you can, don’t rush – leave time between sessions so students can reflect, and listen to how the people around them talk about leaders and followers. Some of the sharpest insights come from simply paying attention.

Usage policy

This resource is free to use and share for educational purposes. It is intended to support teachers in facilitating classroom discussion and to help students broaden their perspective on leadership and followership.

Please note that it may not be sold, distributed for profit, or used for commercial purposes.

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Exercises

Exercise 1: The qualities of a “leader” and a “follower”

Reveals the values we quietly attach to the words “leader” and “follower” – and what those values do to the people who wear them.Students name a leader who changed the world – then discover how much of that leadership depended on the people standing behind them.

Time: About 40 min

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Exercise 2: The people behind the leader

Students name a leader who changed the world – then discover how much of that leadership depended on the people standing behind them.

Time: About 30 min

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Exercise 3: How our views affect individuals and society

Objective: The students reflect on how contemporary views of leaders and followers affect individuals and society. Helps students identify consequences of leader and follower assumptions – in workplaces, politics, schools and online.

Time: About 60 min – can be divided into two sessions.

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Exercise 4: The camping trip (leader rotation)

Objective: Have students experience how leader rotation works. In a few minutes, this exercise show that who leads tends to shift with the situation – and that influence usually follows competence, not title.

Time: About 30 min.