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Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
If you've learned a lot about leadership and making a movement
then let's watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes
and dissect some lessons:
First, of course, a leader need the guts to stand alone
and look ridiculous. But what he's doing is so simple
it's almost instructional. This is key.
You must be easy to follow! Now here comes the first follower
with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone else
how to follow. Notice how the leader embraces him
as an equal, so it's not about the leader anymore
- it's about them, plural. Notice how he's calling to his friends
to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower!
You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself.
Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form
of leadership. The first follower transforms
a lone nut into a leader.
If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark
that makes the fire. Now here's the 2nd follower.
This is a turning point: it's proof the first has done well
Now it's not a lone nut, and it's not two nuts.
Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
A movement must be public.
Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader.
Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers
- not the leader. Now here come 2 more people,
then 3 more immediately. Now we've got momentum.
This is the tipping point! And now we have
a movement! As more people jump in,
it's no longer risky. If they were on the fence before,
there's no reason not to join in now.
They won't stand out, they won't be ridiculed,
and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry.
Over the next minute you'll see the rest who prefer to stay
part of the crowd, because eventually they'd be ridiculed
for not joining. And ladies and gentlemen
that is how a movement is made!
So let's recap what we learned: If you are a version
of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone,
remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers
as equals, making everything clearly about the movement,
not you. Be public.
Be easy to follow! But the biggest lesson here...
did you catch it? Leadership
is over-glorified. Yes it started
with the shirtless guy, and he'll get all the credit,
but you saw what really happened: It was the first follower
that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We're told we all need to be leaders,
but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care,
is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great,
have the guts to be the first person to stand up
and join in.