It’s impossible to be interested in leadership and followership without being riveted by what’s happening and not happening during these first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. It’s not like being unable to look away from the proverbial car crash. It’s more like being unable to look away from a series of car crashes, a sequence that’s rapid-fire and never-ending.
This post assumes that what Trump – along with Elon Musk – has done and not done since January 20th is “bad.” Objectionable or even highly objectionable to some considerable part of the American body politic. It asks what if anything those who object, but who have less power and authority than Trump and Musk, can do to stop the two men from continuing what many consider their unconstitutional power grab.
It’s a question I’ve struggled with for years. How when the need to do so something as opposed to nothing is urgent, do people from all walks of life and every station take on the high and mighty, especially if the high and mighty seem virtually impregnable, untouchable?
There’s a body of literature that addresses this question. But it’s small and it’s not a magic bullet. For once people are in positions of power, they can pull the levers of power. This not only makes it difficult to stop or even slow them, but sometimes it puts those who try to do so at risk, even great risk.
Trump was inaugurated on January 20th. For some unfathomable reason, during the first few weeks of his presidency the opposition, most obviously the nation’s leading Democrats, seemed stunned. As if they’d been hit on the head with a two by four. Why? They knew damn well what was coming – and if they didn’t, they were idiots.
First, we knew what we were getting. Trump never hid who he was, or with whom he was politically aligned, or what he intended to do if reelected. Moreover, for years we’ve had the evidence we need to know that Republicans, especially but not exclusively congressional Republicans, would virtually without exception be supine. Second, while Inauguration Day was in late January, Election Day was in early November. In other words, Trump’s opponents had not weeks to strategize how they would take him on, but months. Three months! What took the Democrats so long even to begin to get their act together?! To start to figure out how to take on two men in positions of great power who, to boot, have access to two of the biggest bullhorns in the world? Trump the bully pulpit. Musk X.
This post cannot possibly be all-encompassing. For those who want to take on Trump I cannot in a several paragraphs prescribe a course of action. What I can do here, however, is to provide suggestions for followers who want to fight. And what I can do here, however, is to recommend books on how followers – those with less power, authority, and influence than others – can take on leaders they think are behaving badly.
Seven Suggestions for Followers Who Want to FIGHT not Follow
- Remember: speed is exceedingly important. The longer people wait to object – whether in the streets or in the halls of Congress, whether in a court of law or as a member of a union or any other organization, whether as an individual or part of a group – the deeper their slog, the steeper their climb.
- Remember: numbers matter. Usually, though not always, the larger the protest, the better.
- Remember: first be strategic, then tactical. Develop a plan, then decide how to implement it.
- Remember: organization is important. There are protests – however defined, whatever their form – that are spontaneous and without an obvious leader or organizer. But in general, these are less long-lived and successful than their more disciplined and coherent counterparts.
- Remember: embrace anger. Some of the most successful protests ever, anywhere, everywhere, have been notable for their levels of rage and outrage.
- Remember: words matter. Don’t shoot from the hip. Think about how to express, how best to communicate, that which aggravates, even infuriates you. That makes you so unhappy and upset that you feel you must express yourself publicly, not just privately.
- Remember: symbols speak volumes. These include signs, slogans, logos and songs. These include names and nicknames and whatever gimmicks send the message you intend.
Seven Recommendations for Books about Followers Who Want to FIGHT Not Follow
Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro, Power for All (Simon and Schuster, 2021).
Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower (Berrett-Koehler., 2009).
Ira Chaleff, Intelligent Disobedience (MLF Books, 2021).
Ira Chaleff, How to Stop a Tyrant (Wonderwell Press, 2024).
Barbara Kellerman, Followership (Harvard Business School Press, 2008).
Barbara Kellerman, The Enablers (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Barbara Kellerman, Leadership from Bad to Worse, (Oxford University Press, 2024).