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REAL LEADERS HAVE FOLLOWERS
The concept of “followers” is now a familiar part of the social online world. This will soon be true at work too, where your ability to get things done will be down to the size and strength of your networks.
“The good news is you have 200 people working for you. The bad news is they don’t see it that way.” In that old joke lies a seed of truth about social media. We are all afraid that no one will follow us. How can you be a leader if you have no followers? How can you be a manager if no one hears what you say – how can you be an Internet guru if no one cares what you say – or buys your book? This is possibly the biggest hill to climb when it comes to social media, whether it is the lone manager opening up in writing for the first time, or a large corporation deciding to have a Facebook page. What if no one comes? What if no one finds us interesting or attractive?
Part of the problem is that in the online world your failure is quantifiable. We can all see how many fans your Facebook page has and how many flock to your competition. Anyone who cares to look can see that the numbers reading my blog are minuscule compared to the likes of Robert Scoble or Seth Godin. But does that stop me? Does that mean that my blog has no value? No. In fact you wouldn’t have read this far in this book if what I said had absolutely no value. Wiley wouldn’t have published it and you wouldn’t have bought it if someone, somewhere hadn’t found me interesting enough to pay ...
