I spent much of last week in Perth, Australia, on business. This was my first visit to this quaint and beautiful city, described by some as one of the most isolated spots in the world. My wife and I booked into one of its many hotels for three nights, unaware that during our short stay, we would be taught a most magnificent lesson in leadership and its relationship with trust. This is how it happened.

The morning following our arrival, we walked into the crowded breakfast room and, as there was no one at its reception to show us to a table, we picked our own and sat down. As it became obvious that this was a self-service place, we got up eventually and helped ourselves. The breakfast over, I looked for a waiter for the bill. When he arrived with his huge smile on his friendly face, I could no longer resist it and said to him: ?Could you explain what?s going on here? We walked into your restaurant expecting to be stopped at the door, to be asked to show our hotel guest card and to pay for breakfast before being allowed in ? as is usually the case throughout the world. Instead we found our own way to our table, ate whatever we wanted and could have just as easily walked out through the door without paying. Do you not control who comes in and who goes out??

His smile broadened even further. ?We often get asked this question, Sir ? you must be from overseas?? ?Yes indeed,? I acknowledged. ?It?s all to do with trust, Sir. We trust the client and we?ve found that in return he or she will trust us. There is no need for extensive control.?

As I walked out of the restaurant, I said to my wife, ?This man has gone gaga ? he lives in a fantasy world and if his boss were to hear him talk like this, he?d soon be out of a job!? Much to my surprise, the next three days proved me completely wrong. This

particular hotel has something extraordinary going for it. For example, on the first floor, they had a wine exhibition going and all night long, a dozen or so bottles of expensive red and white wine remained on one of the centrepiece tables, intact, untouched and unguarded. ?Nobody will take them,? replied the Floor Manager that I questioned.

Another example: When I went and asked Reception for an Australian adapter for my battery charger, no one bothered to take my name and room number. When I asked the lady why, I again got the same reply: ?We trust the client, Sir. We know that you?ll bring it back.? For someone like me who has spent so many years in Africa watching over everything and anything, day in and day out, this was an amazing experience!

On my last night in Perth, I recalled and reflected upon these incidents with two of our business hosts. ?What is truly fascinating,? I emphasized to them, ?is the cascading effect that this trust has over you. I could just have easily walked out of the crowded restaurant without paying, or taken the wine bottles or the battery charger ? but you don?t want to do it: you end up respecting their trust in you. You don?t want anything to destroy it.?

Trust is indeed the very pillar of any society, organisation or group. It lies at its very core. I have said it before and repeat it again: The day we trust our political, organisational or religious leaders on this island, great things will start to happen.

We?ll work harder, take smarter risks, sort out our disagreements and overall, function better as a society. We?ll believe that these various leaders do have the necessary strategic skills to lead us to better times; that they can display these personal qualities that we value the most, and, that they?ll be able to set up the necessary policies, strategies and practices to get us there.

We shall turn round to our families, friends and colleagues and say to them, ?Our leaders can be trusted ? they have integrity; they are competent at what they are doing. There is consistency

between what they say and what they do; they are loyal towards us, their followers, and above all, they are open with us and give us the full truth.? Integrity, competence, consistency, loyalty and openness ? these are the five well-known pillars of any trust-based climate. These were the ingredients that made that hotel in Perth such a great place to stay. And I?ll be back there.

Prof Eric Charoux Feedback: [email protected]