“The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader”. So says Derek Sivers in this excellent 3-minute TED Talk about starting a movement: https://youtu.be/hO8MwBZl-Vc?si=V5kx8OH_mtOEpl8G. It seemed very apt to use for the Decide and Provide session at the Annual TRICS User Meeting at The Magic Circle in London today. I stood up in my Megadeth t-shirt and wondered who would join me if I proposed getting a moshpit going at the front of the audience. I knew a couple of metalheads up on stage who might be keen.

2024 will mark 10 years since we came up in the New Zealand Ministry of Transport with the Decide and Provide approach to transport planning, indeed to Triple Access Planning: (i) vision-led; (ii) focused on the tripartite provision of access through physical mobility, spatial proximity and digital connectivity; (iii) and accommodating rather than concealing deep uncertainty. But were we lone nuts in suggesting this might be the new way forward? Would anyone follow us? Hell yeah.

Over the years it seems a movement has got underway – Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT), Lynn Basford, Stephen Cragg, Mott MacDonald, Paul Hammond, Ian Coles, Annette Smith, Kate Mackay, Charlene Rohr, Anna Rothnie, Will Pedley, Mike O’Dowd-Jones, Nicola Waight, Nicola Kane, Simon McGlone, Jack Snape, Richard Bradley, Rose McArthur, Jack Hubert Mayhew, Alex Greatholder MSci MCIHT MTPS, David Harris.

Today Will Pedley and Mike O’Dowd-Jones did the movement proud as they outlined the steps their councils have been taking to bring forward Decide and Provide for development planning.

“A leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed”

“here’s his first follower with a crucial role – he’s going to show everyone else how to follow”

“And notice the leader embraces him as an equal so now it’s not about the leader anymore, it’s about them”

“The first follower is an underestimated form of leadership…it takes guts to stand out like that”

“The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader”

“A movement must be public. It’s important to show not just the leader but the followers because you find that new followers emulate the followers not the leader”

“Now we’ve got momentum – this is the tipping point, now we’ve got a movement”

“As more people join in, it’s less risky, so those that were sitting on the fence before now have no reason not to – they won’t stand out, they wont be ridiculed but they will be part of the in crowd if they hurry”

“If you are the type, like the shirtless dancing guy standing alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals. It’s clearly about the movement, not you”.

“Leadership is over-glorified. Yes, it was the shirtless guy first and he’ll get all the credit, but it was really the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader”

“If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow & show others how to follow”

Hurry – join the movement!

#DecideAndProvide#TripleAccessPlanning