Followship: The Buck, the Bridge, and the Brave

May 2026

www.SOGiants.com

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727

Greetings, and happy spring! We had several positive comments from last month’s SOG letter. If you would like to read it again, it is available at this link. April 2026 SOGiants

Any discussion of “leadership” should automatically lead to a discussion of “follow-ship.” The two are inseparable! As I have mentioned before, in what I call Rule #12, leaders must make more leaders and prepare to replace themselves, therefore, forcing the leaders to seek higher goals and aspirations. I believe this is the only way these higher aspirations can be attained.   

How do we find or help make the leaders of the future? As we build our followship, I believe we must treat the potential followship as collaborators in the changes that occur on a daily, and sometimes, hourly pace. The true collaborators can make the difference in our successful “replacement of ourselves.” The best first step is to remove obstacles and reward active contributions. Allow people to fail! As U.S. Grant told us in last month’s issue, “Even if we are not sure it is the right action, we must take action.” Support the honest efforts of your followship.

The obvious critical tool is, of course, communication. Communicate not only when things go badly, but when things go right. Did you ever notice the supposed leader that reprimands wrong behavior or actions, but fails to praise good behavior or actions? They are the same folks that take credit rather than shifting credit for success. These folks also quickly defer failures to someone else and never accept failure as their own.    

In a recent article I read by Ron Riggio, Ph.D., he points out that, “70% of organizational change initiatives fail or fall short of expectations.” We all know what happens next: finger pointing! If leadership participates in finger pointing and ostracizing the followship, that same followship may stop taking chances and making decisions.

Leaders not only need to remove obstacles and support followers’ efforts in contributing to the decision-making process, but followers also need to have the courage to speak up and let leadership know about the obstacles they encounter so that leaders can take action to eliminate or reduce those obstacles. As the great Coach K, basketball coach at Duke University tells us, “Having too many words gets in the way of leadership. They just put you in a box. People set rules to keep from making decisions.”    

President Harry Truman had a plaque on his desk at the White House that told everyone how he felt: “The Buck Stops Here.” Great leaders should have that same sign on their desks.  

In 1932, Senator George Norris of Nebraska was asked about his nomination for Presidency of the United States. He said that people should use the following criteria in judging him or anyone: “History will ask, “Did the man have integrity? Did the man have unselfishness? Did the man have courage? Did the man have consistency?” If so, she or he is a leader!

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Marilyn vos Savant

Have a great May!!! Thank you for your support! 

Michael M. Carney mr.mikecarney@gmail.com

A special thank you to my support team!

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