"A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

Use this forum to discuss the May 2021 Book of the month, "Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through" by Jeff Meyer.
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Judy_Jemutai7
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Re: "A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

Post by Judy_Jemutai7 »

I believe a good leader leads, and part of leading is inspiring their followers by doing what needs to be done to set an example of what should be the standard performance.
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Post by Chetna_Kharbanda »

I disagree. A leader must inspire but along the journey to fulfil one's dream, one always look up to his leader for time to time guidance. A person would always look up to his leader for extemporization, directly or indirectly. So a good guide can be good leader as well as source of inspiration but only inspiration might not end up guiding someone to the right path
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Post by Fahad Afroz »

A good leader, in my opinion, not only inspires his followers but also guide them when needed. Because without guidance some may take the wrong path or shortcuts to achieve their dreams and some may never find a path.
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Vidhi Adhikari
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Post by Vidhi Adhikari »

Dzejn_Crvena wrote: 01 May 2021, 06:48 I disagree. I leader should also know what his/her followers need. You can be inspired to do things but feel lost along the way.
To me, it also depends on what kind of followers a leader has in order to know how to make them work together as a team. Some followers need guidance while the others are self-sufficient enough.
I somewhat agree. Although I've always believed that we influence more with our actions than our words. But you're right that some people do need some guidance during their journey and it's good to lead them. But passive inspirational is something I always prefer over actively teaching someone.
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Post by Ousebian Nicholas »

Sushan wrote: 01 May 2021, 00:10 "Even looking at our expert leader, Jesus, whose Word is life, we can see this lesson lived out. Jesus is not merely an itinerant preacher who directs our steps. He is a soul-stirrer who invites us to walk with Him. If our master, Jesus, leads us by walking with us and stirring us to discover, then these earthly leaders must learn to come alongside and help others discover their own best answers."
(Chapter 2, Page 9)

Most often we compare how a boss will treat his subordinates and how a leader will treat his followers. Upto now I had the idea that a leader should guide his/her followers. But this author has given leadership a new meaning claiming that it is not the leader's job to show the path and guide his/her followers towards a specific goal, but to inspire them to find their own answers and be their own guidance.

Do you agree with this 'job description' of a leader? If a leader is guiding his/her followers, will it make he/she a 'not so good' leader?
Yes, leaders should also inspire their subjects, that's what Jesus did, he inspired his followers to do good deeds. I may find it hard to accept to be guided by someone who doesn't inspire me positively. So, leaders inspiring their subjects is part of their role as they guide/direct their subjects.

I don't understand why the author made the two qualities of leaders seem different. They go hand in hand.
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Post by Durga MS »

I think both of these go together. A leader can only inspire his/her followers if he managed to give them proper guidance. The leader's way of life, the things he/she preaches, the lessons he/she teaches, everything shows how great of a leader someone is. Inspiration happens on its own if the leader does his/her job respectfully and with an open heart. I think the leader needs to gain the confidence of the followers and make sure they don't feel lost.
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Post by Ashley-Osuna »

I agree. I think that a leader who truly cares about their followers should prefer to inspire them more than anything else; the leader should want to see their followers succeed in whatever it is they want to do, even if it means that they will stop "following" the leader. I feel like when a leader puts guiding above inspiring, it can stop them a bit from allowing the followers to be independant and from letting them follow their own path.
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Post by Adeyemi Oluwasayo »

I disagree, I think a leader should guide the followers, and also live by example, because we have people That might see you doing something as a leader And take it for your hobby, therefore guide and show them by example, This style communicate more effectively.
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Post by Neshboy Aburi »

I strongly disagree. Let's first think of the learning process. We learn something new by trying to do it. This means we have to fail or be able to do whatever we are trying to learn. If we are able, it means we haven't learnt anything new because we already knew about the subject. This leaves the only conclusion that we learn through our failures. From failure we gain experience. We gain experience by observing. We observe a mentor or leader so that we know how to do what they do. From the above I can say that a guide is an essential requirement for learning to occur. While I also agree that a leader should inspire his/her subjects, he should also guide his/her subjects so that they can learn from him. This means that these two should go hand in hand and should not be separated so I strongly disagree.
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Post by Mrunal Tikekar »

I believe in a combination of guiding and inspiring. I have been a team leader for several years now and I can say with confidence that more than often my team members are inspired but need guidance to follow their path.
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Post by Peace Chux »

No, I don't. Good leadership incorporates both. While a good leader leads by guiding and setting examples for others to follow, he has to inspire them enough to want to follow. Jesus' method of leadership very well displayed that. Inspiration and guidance should be two peas in a pod.
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Post by Courtney Hughes »

I think that there has to be a balance of both. Leaders should inspire their followers while guiding them to a common goal. Without a common goal, there is no need for a leader.
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Post by S T »

A good leader can lead only by example. Otherwise he can’t be christened to be a leader. It is important for a person of such stature to motivate and inspire his team towards excellence. People’s intrinsic abilities vary but by means of proper guidance and advice, even an average person can achieve great heights. Thus, it is extremely important for a person to have such a guiding light in his life and it will be best if he can find it in his boss or his leader.
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Post by Tarie07 »

I completely agree. A good leader should be an inspiration. If they guide their followers, it means that if they ever stumble or take the wrong step then their followers will go astray too. But if they're inspiring instead of leading, the followers can learn from their leader and avoid going off the rails.
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Post by Lucy Maseko »

I think these two qualities need to be used at the same time,let's look at parents as another example. Parents have to guide their children towards the right path in order to help them become a good influence of the future society, whilst doing so they also inspire the same children to follow their passion and not the crowd. They do all this based on individualized observation, in overall I don't think you can guide always but you have to blend in inspiration to balance the relationship.
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