I have assumed several leadership roles in my nursing career and have taught undergraduate and graduate leadership. Although I agree that leadership competencies are essential for nurses, I am concerned with our message that "every nurse is a leader" since it ignores the other role in this relationship, that of the follower. Nursing's preoccupation with the leadership role is inconsistent with our current understanding of the partnerships required to produce safe and successful organizations. Our efforts to prepare effective leaders are doomed to fail without also focusing on the role of followers. As a result of our discounting of followership, there is a lack of nursing literature and research on this topic. My goal in this editorial is to clarify the concept of followers/ followership by highlighting the myths surrounding this essential nursing role. I also hope to spark interest in fellow nursing clinicians, educators, and researchers in the concept of followership and to raise awareness of what it is and what it is not. To this end, I have compiled a list of nine common myths that I have summarized from my review of the literature on this topic.
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