Are You A Leader Or A Follower? How To Know Where You Fit In The Company

Whether bottom of the food chain in the hierarchy of a company, working yourself up the ladder or taking the lion’s share at the top, the truth is positional power in a company has nothing to do with leadership skills. Even if you’re contracting simply to answer the phones all day, there is nothing to say you can’t have better leadership skills than the General Manager or CEO for that matter.

Personal experience has taught me that there are far too many large corporations who care less about social issues affecting the business and focus more on profit over people. It’s become so clear to me that the world needs more leaders who are willing to act with courage and ironically the best leaders are the ones who generally tend to make great followers too.

The verdict is that neither is better than the other, personality has everything to do with where you sit on the spectrum and every career girl has an opportunity to become their best selves in either roles. Take a look and see where you fit in.

The Leader

She’s probably the girl who dares to wear the highest heels, walks with a strut and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She is able to inspire positive change, promote action and gives solutions to social issues in the business, and even in the world. She doesn’t hesitate to make tough decisions, takes big risks and will only ever act assertively.

With the bigger picture in mind these people are passionate about making an impact, are open to new ideas and aim to bring out the best in people. The leader is a go-hard or go-home, all-in or all-out, black and white kind of girl who doesn’t like to muck around.

A small caution to this group: some of her weaknesses may include not hearing people out, can appear to be arrogant or overconfident and is forgetful of how decisions impact the frontline if she doesn’t stay present and involved. True to the words of lady Marilyn Monroe, ‘Give a girl the right shoes, she can change the world.’

The Follower

There is far too much stigma around the follower being someone who doesn’t make impact, this is simply not true. While the leader will be heard first before seen, the follower will muse and ponder. She tends to think things through more critically, has an eye for detail and will give attention to systems, processes and analytics. She is task-focused and cares more about doing an amazing job than she does of directing people.

The follower will work really well in a team and is a master of managing goals, deadlines and expectations. She’s a boss in her own right as she will mark out her territory and take charge on her terms and it will be like her own little world.

A caution to this group: Followers may not care much about the greater picture, don’t mind running with the status quo and won’t influence the people around them for better as she prefers to focus on herself. She is prone to becoming a bystander who observes without participation. If bored, she may become complacent and unoriginal in the work. The key is to keep her stimulated.