Chapter One

Leadership Is a Relationship

“Although it was probably subconscious, I did not readily admit to my friends where I worked,” Beth Bremner told us. “I just used to say, ‘A big bank.’ ” The reason, she said, “predominantly had to do with the fact that I did not believe that our leaders were acting with the integrity and honesty that I hold so dear to my heart. I did not feel management set the kind of example that I wanted to abide by.”

Beth, South African by birth, was educated in the U.K. She holds an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and has worked throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.1 But Beth's sentiment is one that we hear time and time again all over the globe. Beth wants what the vast majority of people want from their leaders and their organizations: