I used to be fascinated by M.C. Escher’s art. I’d look at an image he created and be completely certain that the pattern was directed upward, and then in a blink or with a quick change of mind, it was heading downward. Or the image was going away from me or going toward me, simply from the way I thought about it. Wondering whether to be a follower or a leader is a similar experience of dichotomy and perspective. We all wrestle with this conundrum. Say we believe in an idea, meaning we trust it: then we’re followers. But when we want to persuade other people of it, we become leaders. When I was 
teaching, I’d “follow” the research of many other scholars, and then I’d be able to confidently “lead” a class on the topic. I think we all need to be both leaders and followers. We are all each other’s teachers, friends, loyalists, admirers, and skeptics. In order to find out who we are, we need to find out who other people are and what they know. We also need to be discerning, thoughtful, compassionate, and bold—our influence may be greater than we know.We learn about ourselves through wrestling with thoughts and feelings, arguing, listening, being curious, and taking time to be still with it all.