Don’t Be the Leader

Years ago, I saw a video I never forgot.
A shirtless guy dancing like a maniac at a music festival.

You might have seen a TED Talk about it.

It starts with one guy dancing alone.
Then someone joins. Still just weird. Still easy to ignore.

But then—
Guy #3 steps in.

And that’s when everything changes.
Suddenly, it’s not two weirdos.
It’s a movement.
People join. People follow. People copy.

And here’s the punchline:
People don’t follow the leader. They follow the followers.

It reminded me of the urban legend of “Red Bull vodka” I remember from my Red Bull years.

Back in the ’90s, Red Bull tried to break into the U.S. party scene but the rave crowd wasn’t interested.

Until they teamed up with a now-legendary bar in San Francisco, run by promoters who were the scene.

That’s where the “R.V.” was born—served in Mason jars, listed on menus, even painted on the walls.

Suddenly, from Seattle to New York, every club was pouring Red Bull vodkas like it was religion.

And just like that, a completely new category opened for Red Bull.

Not because a founder came up with the idea.
But because of momentum.
Because of that third, fourth, and fifth person who said: “Let’s go.”

It was never the loudest voice that changed things.
It was the third.

The one who wasn’t trying to lead.
Just brave enough to follow the right thing at the right time.

This might sound weird but:
You don’t have to be first.
You don’t have to be loud.
You don’t have to be “the leader.”

You just have to be the one who makes something worth following.
Or the one who says: Yeah, I’m in.

Because movements don’t start with one.
They start with three.

Tino

PS: The TED Talk with the video is here: Derek Sivers - How to Start a Movement.