A Celebration of Followership: The Story in Documents of Courageous Followership and the Followership Community

This unique retrospective, with over three hundred rarely seen documents, traces the impact of Ira Chaleff's ground breaking work that conceives of followership as the indispensable complement to leadership. Building on this record, it introduces the work of the community of followership educators and practitioners that has flourished in tandem with those initiatives. The narratives preceding each chronological segment place the documents in historic context. They suggest new veins of research for the upcoming generation of scholars drawn to this emerging field. The narratives inform, clarify, surprise, at times amuse and often inspire. The theorists, educators, trainers and coaches engaged with the subject of followership are a highly motivated group. They understand the power of the subject to change the way leadership is done, to support its virtues, curb its excesses and improve its outcomes. They also perceive that much of the world doesn't know about followership or sufficiently value it. There is truth in this statement. But it is not the entire truth. The purpose of this volume is to document the impressive variety of countries and institutions where courageous followership, and the other major followership models, have made their impact. Filling in this picture will bolster the commitment of the followership community to find better ways of developing dynamic and ethical followership in society, a manifestly crucial need in the face of leadership failures and transgressions. In that sense, this is a love letter to the followership community and an inscription on the baton Chaleff is passing to them. About the Author Ira Chaleff is an author, speaker, workshop presenter and innovative thinker on the beneficial use of power between those who are leading and those who are following in any given situation. His groundbreaking book, "The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders", is in its third edition, has been published in multiple languages and is in use in institutions around the globe including educational, corporate, government and military organizations. He is co-editor of "The Art of Followership: How Great Followers Make Great Leaders and Organizations", part of the highly regarded Warren Bennis Leadership Series. He has written on the appropriate use of power in non-traditional settings in his creative non-fiction work, "The Limits of Violence: Lessons of a Revolutionary Life". Ira's later book, "Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told To Do Is Wrong", once again breaks new ground by exploring the deep cultural roots of obedience and how to equip individuals of all ages to resist inappropriate orders and find better ways and ethical means of achieving legitimate goals. He has recently completed two terms of service as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Leadership Association (ILA) and is the founder of its Followership Member Community. He is currently mentoring a community of academics and professionals in the field of courageous followership through the Teaching Followers Courage project. Ira is also the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, which provides coaching, consulting and facilitation to companies, associations and agencies throughout the Washington, DC, area. He is chairman emeritus of the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation and has provided facilitation to nearly one hundred congressional offices to improve their service to constituents. Ira has recently been adjunct faculty at the Federal Executive Institute and a Visiting Leadership Scholar at the Moller Institute, University of Cambridge, England. He is the co-founder and co-facilitator of the Northern Shenandoah Valley chapter of Coming To The Table, a group dedicated to racial healing and justice.