This dissertation is an arts-based research project into transformative followership – the complementary skill set to transformative leadership. The outcome of the research is a collection of stories – a fictionalized presentation of the findings. This research departs from the transactional view that most followers are cogs in the wheels of productivity who aspire to become leaders, arriving at the more recent view that followers are critical components of a transformative leadership dynamic.

Reframing followers as change agents that are effecting deep cultural transformation, it is suggested that our collective experiences generate contemporary cultural myths that are more suitably presented in a format that validates subjective experience – storytelling. The relationship between facts, fiction, and truth will be considered. Three recent social protest movements provide a context for observing transformational followers and how, or if, they can be categorized.

Acknowledging and honoring the impact of electronic media on the storytelling tradition, all of these elements – reframed followers, our collective experience, and modern-day storytelling – combine to create a new paradigm for looking at followership. Keywords: followership, change agents, storytelling