Leader Rotation as a Model for Intergenerational Leadership and Followership

This chapter explores leader rotation as a model for intergenerational leadership and followership. Drawing on personal experiences, research on band societies, and contemporary examples, it challenges the idea that leadership is a fixed role held by an individual with authority. Instead, it shows how leadership naturally rotates within groups as people take turns leading and following depending on the situation. The concept of collaborationship is introduced to describe how groups achieve shared goals by following the person whose skills, knowledge, or perspective best fit the moment. This perspective highlights the active role of followers, the interchangeability of leadership and followership, and the way even children can step into leadership when their contribution matters. The chapter also examines reverse socialization, where younger generations influence older ones, especially in fast-changing cultural and technological contexts. In this way, intergenerational leadership is revealed as a reciprocal process, not a one-way transfer of knowledge. By comparing natural leadership with structural models, the chapter argues that leader rotation offers a more accurate and inclusive framework for understanding how different generations can collaborate. In doing so, it points toward a vision of leadership as dynamic, participatory, and shared across all ages.