Can there be leaders without followers?

If there aren’t followers how can leaders exist? How can we determine if someone is a leader if they don’t have followers? Aren’t the followers that determine if someone is a leader? If there are no followers, how can someone show they are a leader? I don’t think it is possible for leaders to exist without followers, followers are what makes the leader, without followers there is no proof of the leader’s quality. Followers make the leader and followers are the power of the leader, without them a leader is no one. If a leader can’t get any followers, is he really a leader?