How followers shape the leadership culture they experience
In 1978, during one of Apple’s earliest product launches, a young engineer challenged Steve Jobs on a key design flaw in the Apple II. Jobs, famously intense and often dismissive, paused, listened, and then made the change. That moment didn’t just improve the product; it set a tone. It showed that even strong-willed leaders can be shaped by the courage, consistency, and conviction of those who follow them. History often remembers the leader on stage. But behind every defining decision is a chorus of followers who, through their actions or inaction, shape the culture that leadership inhabits.
“Culture is not simply declared by the C-suite; it is co-authored daily through thousands of micro-interactions between leaders and followers.”
Last week, we examined how followers create their leaders by the behaviours they tolerate, reward, or challenge. This week, we turn the lens slightly: how the collective posture of followers sculpts the leadership culture itself. Leadership does not evolve in isolation; it grows in the ecosystem that followership creates. If leaders are the visible architecture of an organisation, then followers are the silent sculptors, chiselling away at the tone, texture, and temperament of leadership through their daily behaviours.
Research from Harvard Business School has long established that leadership effectiveness is not merely a function of personality traits or strategic brilliance but of relational dynamics within teams. A 2023 MIT Sloan study found that leaders’ decision-making styles shifted significantly depending on the openness, responsiveness, and initiative of their followers. Leaders in “high-engagement followership cultures” were more collaborative, transparent, and innovative. Conversely, in “passive followership cultures”, leaders tended to centralise control, communicate less, and default to authority rather than influence.
Consider a typical executive team meeting. If followers nod along politely to every directive, rarely push back, and quietly adjust their private opinions afterwards, a leader receives a distorted signal about the team’s alignment. Over time, this breeds overconfidence, insulated decision-making, and eventually, brittle leadership. On the other hand, a team that respectfully challenges assumptions, brings fresh insights, and takes ownership of outcomes creates a feedback loop that refines leadership judgement and elevates collective performance.
This dynamic was visible in the contrasting cultures of two major airlines during crises. When Southwest Airlines faced operational disruptions in the late 1990s, frontline staff didn’t simply wait for headquarters to issue fixes. They communicated issues rapidly, proposed alternative solutions, and collaborated across silos to keep flights moving. Leadership responded by empowering teams further, creating a virtuous cycle of trust and agility. Meanwhile, a rival airline with a more hierarchical culture experienced cascading delays and a leadership vacuum because employees assumed “head office would fix it.” The difference wasn’t in leadership intelligence but in followership posture.
The practical implication is clear: the followers you cultivate today will determine the leaders you experience tomorrow. Culture is not simply declared by the C-suite; it is co-authored daily through thousands of micro-interactions between leaders and followers. This is why leadership development efforts that ignore follower behaviour often fail to achieve sustainable transformation. You can install a new CEO, rewrite the strategy, or change the org chart, but if followership habits remain passive, fearful, or overly deferential, leadership culture will regress to its default setting.
For leaders reading this, the natural question arises: how do you shape followership that, in turn, shapes better leadership? It starts with modelling reciprocal accountability. When followers see that their feedback leads to real changes, they learn that their voice matters. When they observe that challenging ideas is met with curiosity rather than retaliation, they become bolder. When they witness ownership celebrated, not just obedience, they start co-creating rather than complying.
Ask yourself: What kind of followers are you nurturing in your organisation? Are your teams conditioned to agree or empowered to think? Do they elevate your leadership through thoughtful contribution or unconsciously diminish it through silence and compliance? What are the daily cultural signals, spoken and unspoken, that teach your people how to follow?
The answers often lie in seemingly mundane spaces. Pay attention to who speaks up in meetings and who stays silent. Notice how dissenting opinions are handled. Observe whether your team surfaces bad news early or sugarcoats problems until they explode. These are not peripheral behaviours; they are the cultural code that determines how leadership evolves over time.
A useful reflection comes from the management expert Peter Drucker, who once said, “The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” I would add: the followers of the future will be those who know how to answer honestly, courageously, and constructively. Leadership is not a solo act; it’s a duet. And the quality of that duet depends as much on the follower’s contribution as the leader’s direction.
This week, I challenge you to conduct a “followership audit” in your sphere of influence. Choose one context – a project team, department meeting, or strategic review – and shift your observational lens from leaders to followers. What behaviours are being modelled, rewarded, or ignored? How are these behaviours shaping the leadership tone in that space? Identify one subtle but powerful behaviour you can reinforce among your followers that will elevate the quality of leadership that emerges.
Remember, leadership culture is not inherited; it is constructed. Followers are not passive spectators; they are active participants in this construction. By shaping followership intentionally, you sculpt the kind of leadership your organisation ultimately embodies. The question is no longer just “What kind of leaders are we developing?” but also “What kind of followers are we becoming?” Because in the end, followers don’t just support leadership; they shape its destiny.
About the author:
Dr Toye Sobande is a strategic leadership expert, executive coach, lawyer, public speaker, and award-winning author. He is the CEO of Stephens Leadership Consultancy LLC, a strategy and management consulting firm offering creative insight and solutions to businesses and leaders. Email: [email protected]
