Is leadership overrated? Leadership doesn’t happen unless you have followers. Being a great follower is a vital skill. Regardless of role, everyone is a follower. Even CEO’s follow the direction of the board. This topic is covered in an article I shared in Millwork & More, the magazine for the World Millwork Alliance.

Let’s start with a definition of followership courtesy of Rex Gatto Ph.D., BCC

“The willingness to cooperate in working toward the accomplishment of defined goals while demonstrating a high degree of interactive teamwork. Effective followers are active participants (partners) in creating the leadership process. Followers permit leaders to establish and keep themselves in control of a situation that is productive, efficient and people-oriented.”

Great followers get promoted. Look no further than Cubs GM Theo Epstein. Epstein won the honor of being Fortune’s Greatest Leader in 2017. He credits part of his success with followership. “Whoever your boss is, they have 20% of their job that they just don’t like. So if you can ask them or figure out what that 20% is, and figure out a way to do it for them, you’ll make them really happy, improve their quality of life and their work experience.”

How do you follow greatly?