see Rob we've got this issue that in the

Western world thats everywhere touched

by capitalism trust indices there are an

all-time low

made worse by the recession you know we

don't trust our lawyers we don't trust

our accountants because they shred

documents we don't trust our politicians

we increasingly don't trust our banks

and this is a real problem because if we

really really will have a crisis so I

think this research that we've been

doing on what the followers want is very

relevant I mean and so on

and a sage numbers of followers what

they want in a huge variety of context

you know in pharma companies and

professional services companies and

banks and universities and hospitals and

so on and they say a bewildering variety

of things but but the good news is it

looks like it's beginning to cohere

rather clearly and the first thing they

say they want this community they want

to belong to something which I suppose

fits the literature produced in America

you know epitomized by Bowling Alone

part in the putnams book which gets its

title from bowling has never been as

popular in America as it is now

the bowling leagues have collapsed and

those informal institutions of civil

society in decline which he thinks is

bad news of course for smart

organizations it's it's an opportunity

because leaders in those organizations

can become community builders and I

think a really tough thing of course is

to say what does it mean to be a

community builder as a leader in your

organization whether you're in a bank or

a hospital or a university or a school

so hopefully in this workshop people

will get a real chance to think about

that question I think not surprisingly

what we've also discovered is that

people go to work and want to have a

sense of authenticity they want to be

led by people that they can believe in

led by people that they feel they can

trust led by people that they feel

operating in they're into

as well as as their own and that they

feel there's a shortage of this

authentic sense of individuals and

organizations so what we seem to

discover when we talk to followers is

they want people who are comfortable

revealing some of their differences that

they have which are strengths and which

can excite others and they're also

looking for individuals that up to a

point reasonably comfortable with some

of their shortcomings some of their

weaknesses and some of their

fallibilities sometimes these things

make people look even more human and

attractive paradoxically and clearly

when individuals go through 360

assessments this is often a really rich

source of getting to know how to others

see how to followers collie see you and

what what have you got that you can use

that is authentically yours and

absolutely clearly what people don't

want when they go to work is to see

someone impersonating Jack Welsh or the

boss or whoever it is is that you know

the latest hero in the organization they

want to be led by someone who expresses

some personality and is able to

demonstrate differences which will

excite others and and are authentically

theirs and clearly the best leaders are

those who who get some sense of what

they've got and then show it skillfully

they know themselves and they and they

show themselves well with others I think

that's clearly a big theme I'm often

reminded of Epicurus is remark is asked

what are your assumptions and he replies

real men I think he means women as well

spending on the round earth breathing

out breathing in and out all the powers

of nature real people doing stuff and of

course real people have weaknesses and

strengths and differences and foibles

and and I think that the problem is when

we seek to try to seek perfection you

know we get measured on all the

competencies and try and score 10 out of

10 on all of them and the reality is I

want to be led by a person you know not

the perfect being so clearly we want to

see individuals in you know as they are

but clearly there's also scope for all

of us to sort of Paul

those differences which are positive and

and and expressed them skillfully it's

also interesting I think what came out

of the research is that how much

followers wanted significance I wanted a

sense of significance a sense that their

leader appreciated their contribution to

the whole I remember when we wrote that

little article followership it's

personal too we tell the story of the

late President Kennedy visiting NASA and

he sees a man sweeping the floor and he

says hi I'm President Kennedy you what

are you doing and the guy replies I'm

putting around on the moon I have no

idea if the story is true or not by the

way but if it's true someone had done a

great leadership job with that guy

they've taken a lowest level participant

and connected them to the loftiest

ambitions of the organization since we

wrote that by the way I've got

interested in in reception staff and

because they're often aren't they an

organization's window onto the market

and I'll tell you two contrasting

experiences one is in a hotel where I've

arrived without my phone charger so I

got and reception so I'm awfully sorry

to trouble you but have you got Sony

Ericsson chod no well I saw slink away

and you know I'm shocked and so on well

guess what I'll never stay in that hotel

again

I'll never stay in that hotel chain

again by the way so they've lost a good

customer no contrast it with a rather

glamorous private bank I've been working

with recently and it's been quite a lot

of their time in their head office in

Switzerland and I arrived at their

rather grand head office and it's got

marble horn and so on and I'm greeted in

a rather formal swiss-german way good

morning professor Jones he knows my name

I have a copy of your itinerary let me

take you to your first meeting well

makes me feel like a million bucks

now what bank are private banks in what

business of private banks in the

business of making people feel special

so actually I think the idea of giving

people a sense of significance is one of

the ways in which you can produce

exceptional performance I think there's

a problem

Northern Europeans often are not very

good at this they're a bit mean with

significance you know I think you and I

Rob know too many people whose partners

say to them you never say you love me

anymore and they reply you were informed

20 years ago there's any change I'll

email you well what I think our research

shows is that leaders need to be sources

of significance and hopefully in this

workshop people will really get a chance

to ask that question am i source of

significance to my followers and the

last big theme from our interviews was

they need to be a source of energy and

an excitement you know people need to go

to work and feel that they go to a place

which is inspiring and they're going to

be lifted to higher levels of

performance and you know I think that

you've got to work haven't you somewhere

where there's a buzz you know and the

buzz is typically created by you know

the really good leaders what does the

buzz feel like that sort of excitement

feel like I think it often fills and

we've found in our interviews that it

it's sort of communicating a sense of of

edge and energy and and passion it isn't

always pleasant you know sometimes it

feels a little edgy and uncomfortable

but clearly that sort of communication

of a sense of excitement lifting people

inspiring people is is that the root of

you know the the great leaders that

we've seen and it's clearly a big theme

in all of those that we've interviewed

asking them you know what do they want

from their from their leaders so you

know fundamental question for all those

we've worked with you know when they

leave our programs or our training

events is you know to think when they go

back to their teams and the door opens

and their face comes through the door

how do their followers see them you know

do they do they do they celebrate that

this person's back this is an exciting

person or did they think oh my God he's

back she's back you know that we thought

the course was two weeks long it was

only a week you know it's back already

misery guts is back I think that sort of

sense of excitement is it's clearly

important and it often comes from simple

things like the sort of passion or

energy or devotion almost that people

invest in the task which they have it

isn't necessarily this sort of crazy

overblown

charismatic personality that sometimes

excessively celebrated in the in the

business literature so I think what we

found is always you know the good

leaders know where their differences

their unique differences our

distinctiveness and use that as a source

to excite others whatever it is and you

know let's stop using this big word

charisma maybe so that that leaves us

with followers wanting community yeah

authenticity significance excitement

case and over the course of the next

couple of days they've got a chance to

develop their own leadership case yeah

have you made it but it does leave them

with a couple of difficult questions are

you a source of energy to your team are

you authentic do you take your real self

to work I think you and I know too many

people who roleplay their way through

the week and try and rediscover their

humanity at that weekend well won't work

yeah I'm going to spend most of your

adult waking life at work it has to be a

place where you can be authentic and

then the final difficult question which

this workshop should help with this who

decides and of course the sad thing is

not you if you're followers who decide

whether you're exciting and authentic so

hopefully this will really help and the

case framework is a good way of thinking

about it