In his electric TED Talk from 2010, Derek Sivers names the missing ingredient from the common articulation of leadership: the first follower.

Leadership literature likes to focus on the stuff we can control. This is essentially self-help, after all. Control what you can and ignore the rest.

Most people, however, don’t think of themselves as leaders. We want to be followers.

Of course, we also won’t just follow anyone. And we won’t follow when it is socially dangerous. We like fitting in. Even if it is fitting in with a trend.

What our popular understanding of leading and following doesn’t account for is the bravery and necessity of the first follower. The one who sees a leader and chooses to follow them.

Good leaders recognize these people as leaders as well. Partners in a mission to do something new.

The world, however, thinks of these industrious leaders as followers. Early adopters, perhaps, but not leaders. It is as if we have to pick between the two identities because certainly no one can be both.

This is a profound miscalculation from every direction.

As Sivers deconstructs the anatomy of following, it becomes clear just how important the first follower is to any project.

While leaders get the accolades or blame for every group’s experience, the first follower is the lynchpin.

In a culture in which everyone is looking at someone else to lead, it is worth noting how many are also looking for someone else to follow first. Which makes all leaders seem inadequate. And all followers feel lost or misled.

The answer? Become more engaged followers.

Check it out:

The short video Sivers famously shared at TED.