The word "follower" has been bugging me for some time.  I've pondered coming up with an alternative word/distinction but have been coming up blank until this post so thanks so much for a rich discussion on this topic.  To me this is one of the biggest opportunities of a community like Lead Change.

Taking that idea a step further... perhaps we are identifying the 3? C's of Followership -- Champion. Catalyst, Connector, ?.  If you can come up with any other "C's" let me know and I will write a post for this blog, building on your post and this conversation and linking back here.  What do you think?  Ultimately what I'd love to settle on is another word without so much baggage that has the power to transform how we think about "followership" as you so aptly called it.  But who knows where this conversation will lead us.  I'm in for the process of discovering this together though!