In 1994, Nelson Mandela walked onto the Rugby World Cup field wearing the Springbok jersey, a powerful symbol once associated with apartheid. That moment wasn’t just about reconciliation; it was about a nation choosing the kind of leadership it wanted to embody. The crowd, mostly white, erupted in unified cheers for the Black president they had once feared. In that instant, the followers shaped the narrative of leadership. They didn’t just receive leadership; they co-created it.
Leadership is rarely a solo act. It is a dynamic exchange where followers influence, affirm, and, sometimes unknowingly, construct the kind of leaders they get. Just as a sculptor depends on the quality of the clay, leaders are moulded by the culture, expectations, and behaviours of their followers.
“If your culture celebrates thoughtful dissent, shared accountability, and intelligent risk-taking, the leaders you produce will be adaptive, resilient, and values-driven.”
Last week, we explored how courageous followers transform leadership by using their voices. This week, we turn the mirror around. If followers have that kind of power, then leaders must ask: What kind of leadership are we cultivating through the environments we shape, the behaviours we tolerate, and the examples we reward?
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership reveals that followers influence up to 50 percent of leadership behaviours through their feedback loops, whether active or passive. In high-trust environments where followers engage critically, leaders evolve with clarity and accountability. In contrast, passive or fearful followership breeds authoritarian tendencies, micromanagement, or stagnation. Simply put, the leader you see today is often the reflection of the follower culture you have built over time.
Think about the leaders you have admired. Chances are, they didn’t rise in a vacuum. They were sharpened by teams that expected excellence, communities that valued integrity, and colleagues who provided honest feedback. Now think of leaders who went unchecked until their organisations collapsed. In many of those cases, it wasn’t the absence of intelligence that caused failure; it was the absence of followers willing to shape leadership with courageous engagement.
Consider the Enron scandal. Executives at the top engineered a culture of greed, but layers of followers either played along or stayed silent. Their collective compliance created a distorted mirror that reflected and reinforced destructive leadership. On the other hand, companies like Patagonia thrive because their employees continually shape leadership priorities through active dialogue on sustainability, purpose, and people. Their leaders lead boldly because their followers follow thoughtfully.
This raises a profound organisational question: Are your followers creating leaders who listen, learn, and adapt, or leaders who dominate, isolate, and stagnate?
In practical terms, followers shape leadership through three often overlooked channels: expectation, response, and reinforcement. Expectation sets the tone. When followers expect openness, integrity, and accountability, leaders feel the pressure to rise to those standards. When expectations are vague or apathetic, mediocrity fills the vacuum. Response determines how leadership behaviours are received. Constructive challenge creates adaptive leaders; passive acceptance breeds complacency. Reinforcement solidifies the culture. The behaviours that followers reward through compliance, applause, or silence become the leadership norms that persist.
This dynamic is vividly seen in politics, business, and communities. Charismatic but ethically questionable leaders often thrive not simply because of their persuasion but because followers are willing to suspend critical judgement in exchange for comfort, identity, or short-term gains. Conversely, transformational leadership often flourishes when followers hold their leaders to enduring values and are willing to engage rather than idolise.
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For organisational leaders, this means the quality of leadership in your enterprise is inseparable from the quality of followership you nurture. If your teams are disengaged, overly deferential, or fearful, the leaders who emerge will likely mirror those dynamics. If your culture celebrates thoughtful dissent, shared accountability, and intelligent risk-taking, the leaders you produce will be adaptive, resilient, and values-driven.
Here is where introspection becomes essential. What kind of follower culture are you cultivating? Do your employees feel safe to challenge authority? Are middle managers encouraged to offer strategic input or simply execute orders? Do you reward critical thinking or silent compliance?
Consider the leadership bench you are developing right now. Five years from today, the people rising through your organisation will lead based on the norms they experience today. If the current environment rewards blind loyalty over intelligent contribution, you may be unintentionally producing future leaders who prioritise control over collaboration.
To shift this trajectory, leaders must intentionally create ecosystems where follower influence is visible, valued, and constructive. This involves fostering psychological safety, making feedback loops transparent, and publicly acting on follower insights. It also requires modelling humility and showing that leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue.
Ask yourself: What kind of leaders are your meetings shaping? What kind of leadership are your reward systems signalling? When your followers look at you, do they see a partner in progress or a distant authority figure?
This week, here is your challenge. Identify one key leadership behaviour in your organisation that has emerged or persisted because of follower culture, whether positive or negative. Trace it back to the expectations, responses, and reinforcements that shaped it. Then, engage your teams in a candid conversation about the kind of leadership you want to co-create for the future.
Leadership is not simply what happens at the top; it is what the collective allows, shapes, and sustains. Followers are not passive spectators; they are active sculptors. The leaders of tomorrow are being crafted in the clay of today’s follower culture. Make sure the sculpture you are shaping is worth admiring.
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: contactme@toyesobande.com
