“TED Talks and why I listened.”

I was introduced to TED Talks when I sat down with the principal of my hometown high school just a few months ago.  My high school, Johnstown High, is one out of a hundred high schools across the globe to have a TED ED club and I was asked to be on a committee to help organize their TEDx event.  When the principal first explained to me the concept of TED, he presented me with a short video by a guy by the name of Derek Sivers.  I found the concept of TED Talks very intriguing and Sivers’ presentation even more fascinating.  Sivers’ TED Talk was titled “How to start a movement.” I felt that this talk was very interesting because it not only explained how to start a movement, but it also showed the importance of the first follower.  In life we are told to be a leader and not a follower.  In school we learn about leadership skills.  As children we are asked by our parents “If your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you do that too?”  We are programmed to almost believe that leaders are winners and followers are losers.  However, after watching Sivers' video I realized the significant importance of the first follower. 

It is the first follower who actually makes a leader the leader.  Wow!  This now makes the first follower as powerful as the leader.  As I watched this video the principal was using to explain the concept of  TED, I kept thinking to myself how this was such a valuable lesson in leadership.  As a leader you need to be aware of the importance of your followers and more importantly your first follower.  Leaders must embrace their first follower as an equal.  “The first follower is actually an underestimated form of leadership in itself,” Sivers said.  The idea of equal importance between the leader and first follower is so powerful.  With gaining the first followers the leader has now gained credibility and as Sivers’ says, “it becomes less risky for others to join.” 

Let’s face it.  We all cannot be leaders.  We need followers.  Sometimes the person with the must guts is not the leader at all, but instead the person who decided to follow that lone person and make them a leader.