Doing The Chores

09/12/2025

If you open Webster’s Dictionary via the link below and look up the word leader, you won’t find the word manager or leadership listed, not even as synonyms. Yet the training and development industry uses it that way all the time. Why? Because it makes people feel good—and it sells. This has turned leadership training into a $2.6 billion-a-year business in the U.S.

The truth is, leader skills, follower skills, and collaborator skills are all the same. They are really people skills. We all perform all three roles, not just managers.

If you’re interested in training that is affordable and impactful for everyone, start doing the chores with your team today. Free study guides are on my website.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leader

Order a book today. https://a.co/d/idP1HkD

www.doingthechores.com

something that leads: such as; a primary or terminal shoot of a plant; tendon, sinew… See the full definition

09/12/2025

I have taught leadership for almost three decades in the corporate world. I didn’t discover Followership until 8 years ago. I know it makes people scratch their heads, but I can honestly say if you study it, practice it, and learn it, it is powerful.

Merriam-Webster defines a follower as “one that follows the opinions or teachings of another.”

When you understand and apply this in a professional sense, smart followership becomes a powerful purpose — not a weakness.

I believe it is the reciprocal of management or supporting a leader or learning from an authority figure such as a parent, teacher, coach, etc. But it is not the reciprocal of Leadership.

21st Century Leadership has four elements to be considered as such according to Joesph C Rost.

https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-department-management/before-firefighters-can-learn-to-lead-they-must-learn-to-follow

Sound confusing? It's not. Learn more by reading my book found on amazon via link https://a.co/d/fY4guJ6 or my blog found on at www.doingthechores.com

A good follower makes the entire crew stronger

09/11/2025

September 11, 2001.

We will never forget.

I captured this photo in 2013 at the final resting place of Flight 93, nestled in the quiet hills near Shanksville, in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

09/10/2025

This is such a great article on follower styles that highlights the emerging trend of followership and the power it holds.

If you want to read it through the lens of 21st-century Talent Development, just swap the word leader with manager. Remember, leader and manager are not synonymous — anyone can be a leader.

Also, when they refer to leadership, swap it with the word management and replace the word follower with contributor.

Smart Followership is the reciprocal of management, not leadership. There is no followership in leadership - smart followership exists when authority is present, like with a parent, teacher, or manager.

Leadership is an interactive influence relationship among collaborators who intend and enact meaningful change for thier mutual benefit.

Think about working on a farm: when my grandpa or grandma, as managers of the farm, told us it was time to do the chores - feeding the steers, harvesting the crops - we wisely followed their direction because they carried the authority of the manager.

It’s a simple but powerful picture of how smart followership works in everyday life.

I share more of these farm-inspired lessons in my book Doing the Chores at www.doingthechores.com.

https://www.cmfleadership.com/post/what-if-follower-style-was-the-only-difference-in-a-leadership-complaint

When organizations struggle with leadership challenges, the immediate assumption is often that the leader’s style is at fault. We hear statements like, “People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers.” We have been conditioned to apply the Fundamental Attribution Error and assume it is...

09/10/2025

I really appreciate David Traxler for displaying some of my books alongside his incredible metalworks at the Williams County Fair in Montpelier, Ohio. You can find him under the grandstand all week — be sure to check it out!

You can order a copy on amazon or via www.doingthechores.com

09/08/2025

Talent Development is changing. Catch a glimpse of it by reading my book. Get a copy via amazon or at www.doingthechores.com

09/07/2025

I'm just sitting here thinking up another

Feel free to private message me with suggestions that you would find impactful.

www.doingthechores.com

09/07/2025

Follower styles are just as important as leader styles when learning how to collaborate better at work.
www.doingthechores.com

09/03/2025

www.doingthechores.com

09/01/2025

Happy Labor Day! Especially to those who are probably still laboring today - Farmers!

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