In life in general do you consider yourself a leader or a follower ?

I seem to be seen as a leader, as I’m continuously placed in leadership roles. I have a strong personality with lots of reasoned opinions. Additionally, I’m pretty organized and efficient. As such, I tend to present as a “leader”.

Ideally, however, I strive to be something you didn’t mention: a teammate. I’m a big believer in teamwork and a “follow me” management style. In this, I look to learn from other people and offer leadership opportunities to everyone on the team.

I have no interest in being a follower.

I seem to be a natural leader but I generally don’t strive for such a position. I’d rather just be a member of the team but I have no problem stepping up to a leadership role if the situation calls for it.

Look. You’ve got it all wrong. You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves. You’re all individuals!

@Kropotkin I’m not! ;-)

Natural leader here, but self-aware enough to actively and intentionally NOT lead when inappropriate (despite my urges!)

Neither. Not a leader, nor a follower.

There is a time to lead, and there is a time to follow.

There were times in my life where I was a leader and times I was a follower.

Now I don’t follow any more, and anyone that followed me should have their heads examined. I follow the beat of a different drummer, and I am that drummer.

I am also independent. I have no qualms with doing what is socially acceptable or popular, as long as it is the best choice for me. Similarly, I will do my own thing and go against the grain when that option is best suited to my purpose. Whenever I encounter folks who hate popular things just because they’re popular, I try to explain to them that having a knee-jerk reaction to do the opposite of everyone else means that society is still dictating their actions, because they are automatically rejecting some options based on social norms, rather than considering everything before deciding how to proceed.

I lead myself, albeit haphazardly. I would be a leader, if I could get anyone to follow me. I’ve not been a follower since Ram Dass in the sixties.

I dislike leading, and will not follow a cause I don’t believe in.

Never been a follower, I do my own thang!

Much more of a leader, however, I really have no desire to be a leader.
I do not want to “manage” anything or anyone, but I am a leader when it comes to divergent thinking skills and generating new perspectives to old problems.

@Kropotkin Yes! We’re all individuals :P

I seem to fall into leadership positions.

It’s hard to be a leader in the Fluther world, because no question has a Lead Question button. ;-)

I’m flexible. Sometimes I lead, sometimes I follow and sometimes I just go my own sweet way.

I used to be very much the leader, but now I just sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else play.

Bit of both in the workplace. I’m too much of a thinker and not enough of a doer to be able to just follow. I can’t stand repetitive work, I hate filling shelves like some goddamn robot, and I hate more than anything else not being able to initiate change where it’s obvious change is needed. Ha. Probably why I’m still out of work looking for a job!

Can you be a leader if you have no followers? I often tell people what I think they should do, but it’s up to them to decide whether they want to do it or not.

At work, I have no employees now, but I used to have a couple back when we had the budget to pay for them. I told them what to do. They did it.

I am a substitute leader for my dance group. That also involves being a leader of the band, as well.

I’m a leader at home, in my family. My wife is also a leader. We’re raising our kids to be leaders.

I don’t like who I become when I’m the leader, so I turn down requests to lead. I’m a good team member, so I do that instead.

I could get you all to drink the Kool- Aid,

just sayin’ . . .

Neither a borrower nor a leader be.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.