It’s easy to follow the latest leader. They’ve made a splash in the blogging world, a major business success, or all your friends are talking about the guru. You quickly begin to follow them and you think that you’re learning and growing. You believe that you’re being led by someone worth following.

But are you? Are they?

We often begin to follow someone only to realize they’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’re not who they say they are. Their personal lives don’t align with what they’ve said publicly. Or you can’t repeat their success.

That’s why we’ve got to ask questions before we begin to follow someone. Whether this is a leader at your organization or someone you’re following online. These 6 questions will help you follow the right people.

6 Questions To Ask About Those You Follow

Can I emulate what they’re doing?:

You may see someone doing great things. They have the time, resources, and money to get things done. Or they have a large team running the show behind the scenes. Everything looks so perfect, so inspirational, so desirable.

But, when it comes down to brass tacks, you discover you can’t emulate what they’re doing. Your stars haven’t aligned. You’re not where they were. You don’t have the connections to make it happen.

That’s okay. You don’t have to follow everyone. You don’t have to be like everyone else.

Instead, find someone whom you can emulate. There’s someone who’s one or two steps ahead of you. They’re doing the things that you can do. Follow that person until you’ve leveled up. Then you might be able to go and look at that leader you so badly wanted to follow but knew you couldn’t emulate.

You now have the skills, talent, and energy to do what they did.

Why do I want to follow them?:

A huge question to ask yourself is Why do you want to follow the leader… Are they ethical? Moral? Successful?

When you ask yourself why you want to follow someone, you will discover the motivation behind it. Is it because they’ve experienced the success you’ve desired? Have they built something from nothing through the grit of their teeth? Did they display unwavering ethics and morals in the course of creating what they did?

When you know the why, you can put your effort and energy into following them. You’ll know they’re worth following.

Do their values align with mine?:

We just talked about this but it is so important. You have to find and follow leaders whose values align with yours. If they don’t, you will find yourself pulled in directions you don’t want to go.

If someone cheats on their spouse or has had multiple wives, does that lifestyle value align with yours? If someone treats their employees contemptuously, is it someone you want to follow? If they’re willing to cross ethical lines, are you okay with that?

The people we follow will influence us. They’ll begin to impact our values and morals. We must ensure we’re following people whose values align with ours.

Would I be proud to be compared to them?:

Similarly, whether or not your values align with theirs, would you be proud to be compared to them? What were their accomplishments, and what did they give up to reach them? Family, friends, loved ones?

Often, we see successful leaders who have given up everything that truly matters in life to claim success. If you’re okay with that, follow those leaders. If you’re not, don’t follow them!

How would I reproduce what they’re doing?

A great question to ask as you’re looking for leaders to follow is How would you reproduce what they’re doing. For me, I wanted to blog. I found leaders in the blogging world who I could reproduce their actions. They helped guide me, showed me the way, and encouraged me.

Look at what other leaders are doing. How would you reproduce their success?

Are they doing good in the world?

I think this may be one of the most important questions to ask about those you follow. Are they doing good in the world?

Sure, money, fame, and success are all good and dandy. Yet, if they’re not improving the world, is it really worth it?

Find out if they’re doing good along the way. If so, they may be a leader worth following.