Leadership is much talked about, written about, researched and celebrated. But followership seems to be leadership's forgotten companion, ignored, an embarrassment. It is true that dissent is an important element of followership and leadership. But the ethics of followership can only be understood if the 'direction of support' is recognised (leaders care for the led) and accepted by nominal leaders and nominal followers. Research on leadership needs to articulate the leadership elements in every role and also needs to articulate the followership elements in every role. The ethics of followership and of leadership are co-dependent, and in a culture that fails to recognise good followership and seems to recognise only agency-free obedience, it is most important to be clear about followership before we get on to leadership. In this article, the author explores the ethics and the politics of followership because, without it, leadership cannot be justified.