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 lose faith in the legitimacy of our political and economic institutions 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