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LEADERSHIP
PLATFORM: Development through top leaders!
First
published in The Star Newspaper
Copyright © Adriaan Groenewald
Used with
permission of the author:
Author: Adriaan Groenewald
Leadership Coach and Author
www.leadershipplatform.com
26 July 2007
Newly
added interviews
Back to ... Workinfo.com Human Resources Magazine Volume 1 Issue
12, 2007
The Leadership
Platform is a vehicle through which the power of the media and
effective events are leveraged to develop ‘profitable’
leaders. We mobilize individuals that are at the peak of their
powers and facilitate their sharing of leadership and life wisdom
and experience. One
of the most worthwhile investments we can make in the
future of South Africa is to proactively develop leaders. We just cannot leave this
critical responsibility up to MBA programmes only! If we want to
develop future leaders they need to be exposed to top leaders! For
this reason we invite top leaders to join us on the Leadership
Platform.
List
of leaders interviewed
 Leadership
and Life Lessons from Gidon Novick
Joint CEO -
kulula.com
Start every day with a
mission
He is not an ordinary
Accountant, or certainly does not fit the description of that
perception of Accountants being boring and conservative. He wakes
up every morning with a mission in mind – be it to beat a friend
at golf that happens to be a scratch; be it to elevate his regular
swimming activity from exercise only to some challenge above the
ordinary; or be it to make kulula.com bigger and better.
In essence the man is
intense at what ever he does! He is simply not at ease with an
‘ordinary’ life. He admits it can be difficult for those
around him, including his family as he expects things to be done
sooner rather than later. However, it may be this very quality
that contributes towards him and his business having the edge in a
very competitive environment!
There are
entrepreneurial leaders (someone who started a business and grew
it successfully), organisational leaders (someone who built a
successful career within an organisation), and then there are
pioneering leaders - individuals who have pioneered a certain
product or service in the market place.
Successful people have failed
Novick is certainly
the latter, combined with entrepreneurial leadership! He believes
in a statement that “people who are successful have failed more
often”. He has pulled this belief through to the culture of the
business, so they simply are not fearful of failure! They keep
trying new things, exploring, like real pioneers! He says “when
things feel scary you may well be on to a good thing”.
He and kulula.com
changed the way people travel in South Africa, making it
affordable for ‘ordinary’ economically active South Africans
to fly all over this magnificent country! The percentage of South
Africans traveling by air 6 years ago was 4% and has now more than
doubled to almost 9%!
The kulula.com brand
stands for qualities like simplicity, ease, honesty, trust and
affordability. Although Novick may be an intense person one senses
these very qualities in him – he seems like a simple man; there
is an ease about him; feedback indicates he is honest and can be
trusted during negotiations and business dealings.
Over and above these
qualities they took a conscious decision that the kulula.com brand
had to counter the serious, stressful and challenging environment
South Africans find themselves in. So they decided to position the
brand as one where customers can relax and experience fun and
humor. According to Novick this culture is really a function of
the type of people they have in their team. They encourage staff
to have fun while interacting with customers and according to him
they do it brilliantly!
This culture is
effective when one considers that consumers out there are
bombarded by advertising from all angles. At kulula.com however
they simply try to bring a little fun into the customers
experience and are noticed in this way.
Watch out for the
‘ego-demon’
I quoted Brand
Pretorius who said that “good leaders disintegrate their egos
and build their characters”. Novick liked this quote and agreed
with it fully by responding as follows: “Just shows what a smart
guy he is and no surprise how successful he has been. It is not
about you but a much bigger group of people”.
I asked him how one
disintegrates one’s ego because when kulula.com was launched
they/he was all over the news and it was easy to fall into the
trap of thinking it is all about ‘me’. He says “it is easy
to let it get to your head so the trick is to be conscious of it.
Your ego is like this little demon that can take over. Be mindful
of it as it pops up every now and then, especially when things go
well, your name is in the papers and you think you are a hero –
just be aware of it.”
Of course the ‘ego
demon’ is not just prone to whispering in the ears of the
perceived ‘high and mighty’ but anyone that tastes some form
of positional power or success. Recently an attendant at a petrol
station filled my tank up with petrol instead of diesel. The
manager was called and in the end I sat chatting to him for a
couple of hours while the petrol was being filtered out.
He was a 30 yr old
(young) man and clearly very talented – a real people's person.
While visiting together he described how he had tasted success
very early in his life. He managed people and was married to a
great wife who spoiled him. However the power and influence seemed
to come too early as it went to his head, or he listened to the
‘ego demon’.
One decision and
experience after the other took him on a downward spiral and a
detour of a couple of years that humbled him and brought him back
to earth. He is now ready to move on, but he could have been
further ahead in his life if he was more aware of the ‘ego
demon’.
Leadership is not about you
and your power
Understand that
leadership is not about you and your power but about others and
helping them reach their potential! As Novick states it -
“leadership is not about leading people but about learning and
making excellent leaders of those around you”.
In essence leadership
is all about the principle of multiplication – multiplying
whatever is placed under your care, be it a division, business or
talents and abilities of people. Ironically this sometimes means
you have to get out of the way rather than trying to be in front
and wanting the spotlight on you!
Novick says it this
way: “Every single day I am amazed at the potential in people
that is unrealized. I see that in the people around us just
becoming so much more than what they thought they could become and
that is to me the primary role of a leader…. We regard everybody
in our business as leaders and they have to work with the people
around them to get that potential and explore that potential and
bring it to life. That makes not only a powerful organisation but
it unleashes power and happiness in people when they can be the
best that they can”.
Leadership is about vision
and obstacles
A way to do this is to
focus on helping your people understand clearly what the vision
is; where the organisation and division is going; to communicate
this all the time. Then Novick says the leader is to “make the
way clear and eliminate the barriers and obstacles that people
have.… Some of those barriers are difficult and sometimes they
are self-imposed – not believing that he/she can do the job. It
is really about removing the barriers constantly and then allowing
people to do their job – let them get on with it”.
When all is said and
done leadership is about two things:
-
Getting people and
the organisation to move towards some destination,
aspirations, and vision and
-
Constantly
removing barriers, obstacles, challenges, and problems so that
the movement can occur.
Novick understands
this as a relatively young leader, which means one can expect even
greater things from this South African Pioneering leader!
Summary of leadership and
life lessons
-
Wake up every
morning with a mission in mind
-
Ask yourself if
you are an entrepreneurial, organizational or pioneering
leader
-
“People who are
successful have failed more often”
-
“When things
feel scary you may well be on to a good thing”
-
Live the qualities
that your brand stand for
-
“Good leaders
disintegrate their egos and build their characters”
-
“It is not about
you but a much bigger group of people”
-
“Your ego is
like this little demon that can take over”
-
The 'ego demon' is
not just prone to whispering in the ears of the perceived
'high and mighty' but anyone that tastes some form of
positional power or success
-
Leadership is not
about you and your power but about others and helping them
reach their potential
-
In essence
leadership is all about the principle of multiplication –
multiplying whatever is placed under your care, be it a
division, business or talents and abilities of people
-
Regard everyone in
your business as leaders
-
Set the vision and
clear the path
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Back to the top
 Leadership
and Life Lessons from Nolo Letele
CEO - MultiChoice
South Africa
Make
the choice to know yourself
How
many leaders do you know that has the confidence to admit openly
that they are scared, terrified or nervous? Nolo Letele is one of
those leaders. You may not personally know many as in some circles
it is seen as a weakness, which in my view it is more often than
not a strength.
Right
off the bat I asked him how he felt about the new competitors
breathing down his neck; those organisations that were recently
awarded licences in the pay TV space? He did not go into the
standard, almost programmed response most leaders offer that
competition is good for the market; it keeps us on our toes; etc.
His first words were childlike and honest: “No, I am
terrified!” Thereafter he explained further that he/they “felt
like a sportsman just waiting to get into the ring and get on with
it. We have been waiting for competition for so long and now it is
finally happening. The adrenaline is pumping and we have been
getting ready for a long time; we are up for it.”
Letele
had the blessing of qualifying as an Engineer overseas. But, like
most leaders worth their salt he had the hardships that shaped his
character. He grew up without a father, who passed away before he
was one year old and his mother was only 29. Understandably, she
had a nervous breakdown at the time, but she recovered from it.
She got up again and leaned on her successes, which was that of
being one of the few graduate woman teachers in her time. So, in
Letele’s words “she just ran…” two sons and all. In fact
she ran so fast that they never stayed in one place for longer
than two years.
Letele
sees his childhood days as an experience that assisted him in
becoming very adaptable and acquiring excellent people skills.
While
in high school Letele expressed a desire to his mother that he
wanted to study overseas. So, his mother, being the ‘runner’
she was wrote to Prof Tucker, her late husbands mentor in London when he did his Doctorate. She then scraped around, saved and
managed to buy a one way ticket worth R205 for her son. Letele
flew over and met with the professor who courageously went into 7
Oaks passing his hat around collecting Letele’s high school
fees. He completed high school and went on to university to
qualify as an engineer, which qualification he put to good use in
Lesotho as a black man would not be allowed to operate in South
Africa at the time.
As
is the case with most leaders I meet, they have several talents
and areas in which they excel, not only business. Letele is no
exception as he is also a musician of note that plays the piano
and harmonica and early in his career was tempted to do it
professionally. His PA shared with me an experience where
MultiChoice employees were driving back from a company event late
one night, tired and probably irritated. Letele got up in the bus
and started playing the harmonica, which according to her had such
a soothing and relaxing effect on staff. Imagine one’s CEO doing
that?
Become
comfortable with yourself!
It
came out so strongly in my pre-interviews that he is a simple,
honest, open and completely approachable person that is secure
within himself – very comfortable with himself. This is most
certainly his strength as a leader!
Several
individuals told me that they just don’t feel threatened by
Letele, a sign of a person that is comfortable with himself.
Another sign is displaying a sense of humour, which is another
characteristic that he possesses. I experienced it while visiting
with him before the show. He says: “In life I inject an enormous
amount of humour, because that’s who I am, and that takes away a
lot of the stress….”
What
other signs may follow a leader that feels secure inside; that
radiates a quiet internal confidence as apposed to an external
facade? He / she will not motivate by fear but communicate by
persuading or ‘selling’ the message where at all possible.
This
seems to be Letele’s style or approach. He explains that when a
leader takes on such an approach “both parties come away with
conviction about a shared and common goal. For me I find that
works much better because the relationship is good”.
Internal
confidence will differentiate you!
To
sidetrack for a moment, but still on the topic of radiating
internal confidence, I recently sat on an adjudication panel for
Accenture where they asked us to find 30 high potential ‘future
leaders’. If you know their culture you will also know that they
employ really sharp, intelligent and well qualified young
individuals, so the task was really exceptionally difficult yet
highly motivational and stimulating. I was excited about the
future of our country with so many bright young minds around!
But,
let me tell you what I believe was the differentiating factor in
several cases between one bright mind compared to another? It was
the collective sense from the panel of the internal confidence of
individuals, which often surfaced not during their prepared
presentation but during spontaneous replies following unexpected
questions from the panel! In some cases it was clear that that
internal confidence was the result of overcoming hardships, like
loosing both one’s parents while studying or admitting that one
has made mistakes in one’s life. But in other instances it
developed because that young person clearly took time to get to
know him or herself!
After
this experience and interviewing Letele I was reminded that the
best investment you can make into your future as a leader is to
get to know yourself; get to know your strengths and weaknesses;
be comfortable and open about them and clear about what you are
doing to build on the strengths and improve or provide back-up
support for the weaknesses.
You
future leaders out there, learn to appreciate adversity and invest
time in getting to know yourself!
Letele
is comfortable enough with himself to the point where he would
call in one of his team members and openly and honestly ask:
“What am I doing wrong with the team? What can I do better?”
He may receive some excellent feedback there and then, or not.
But, such an action allows for a direct report to, even
subconsciously build the confidence or feeling that he / she can
comfortably approach his / her leader in the future about
something that he / she perceives to be ‘out of place’ in the
team.
Not
many leaders ask for such blunt feedback! Many would call you in
and almost in a clandestine manner ask your opinion about other
team members, making you believe that they trust you more than the
others and that they would never do the same behind your back.
Watch out for this!
Not
that it is necessarily wrong to ask the opinion of one leader
about another. But, it should be done with pure motives,
sincerely, in an environment where there is a culture of existing
respect and openness and where the leader allows for him to be
scrutinised as are the other team members. If not done in such an
environment the culture becomes one of fear, dirty politics and
even hostility!
Combine
external success with internal significance
I
discussed with Letele and my panel how one gets to the point of
feeling comfortable with oneself – internal confidence. Letele
felt that achievement played a role. When you achieve your
confidence increases. He added that one should not neglect the
spiritual component, not necessarily in the sense of Bible
punching or attending church specifically, but being
‘centered’ and comfortable inside
about one’s spiritual values.
Sean
Donnelly’s commented that sometimes one needs to fix something
in one’s life that is ‘bugging’ one, before one will feel
comfortable inside – clear the conscience.
Grant
Ashfield felt strongly about knowing oneself in order to feel
comfortable with oneself: “The first thing is knowing yourself
– we can’t escape ourselves…look in the mirror and ask
‘who am I; what is my life all about; what are the basic
principles that guide my life’? We can’t escape that…We can
have external success, but do we have internal significance?”
Donnelly
added: “The challenge people have in feeling comfortable with
themselves is they compare themselves with other people…Don’t
do that as there will always be someone better…Know yourself; be
yourself;…do your best!”
Practically,
you can get to know yourself by writing in a journal regularly –
your thoughts, feelings, desires, and so on. Ashfield mentioned
that something practical to get to know yourself is to “surround
yourself with people you trust and can give you honest
feedback…”
Let
me just state for the record that all the above must not create
the impression that great leadership is just about being
‘nice’ and knowing oneself. In Letele’s case he has little
patience for non-performance, and has had tough conversations with
some reports, even letting some go. But the trust he has with his
team allows for strenuous targets to be set and then he ensures
follow through on those.
Letele’s
final leadership advice was that gut feel is incredibly important;
make room for it; unpack it but be sure to apply it!
Summary
of Leadership & life lessons
-
Work
hard at feeling comfortable with yourself by: getting to know
yourself – strengths and weaknesses; achieving without
comparing yourself to others; developing a spiritual anchor of
what principles guide your life (internal significance);
writing in a journal; ensuring your conscience is clean;
making adversity your friend.
-
Point
1 will help you become a simple, honest, open, completely
approachable, secure person. You will radiate an internal
confidence and not become easily threatened by for example
asking for open feedback.
- Be
tough on performance and follow through on commitments.
- Understand
that gut feel is incredibly important; make room for it;
unpack it but be sure to apply it.
Back to the top
Leadership and Life Lessons from Thoko
Mkogosi
CEO - Hewlett-Packard
Giving of yourself! - If
you give you get
A few weeks ago I found
myself next to the grave of a young cousin that I was very fond
of. He passed away tragically less than a year after he completed
Matric. He was an excellent rugby player and very fond of the
sport, so it was rather apt that his schools entire Rugby
First Team was there as well.
While it may have been like other
funerals, there were some moments that I savored from the
occasion. The one was my aunt, the mother of my cousin and his
three brothers who somehow managed to still give of herself, even
though it would be seen as normal practice for someone in her
position to sit back and receive love, support, caring, which she
did of course. But, she somehow managed to have the strength
within her to go up to those young, tough rugby players and give
each one of them a warm hug. To some it may have seemed like she
was simply saying thank you to them for being there, but I could
sense, and I believe those on the receiving end could sense that
they received something that went beyond a simple thank you –
‘strength’ passing on from one to another! This is leadership!
Someone said of Thoko Mokgosi that,
like my aunt, even in times of personal pain she manages to give
of herself, and believe me she has experienced her share of pain.
One example is the passing away of her first husband at a
relatively young age. She was left with two young children and
describes the period in her life as one of “the worst
experiences that I never wish on anybody. When it happened I never
thought I would live to see the next day. It was so difficult to
even see beyond a day. It got better and better with the support I
had around me.” She learned that support structures are
important and that we cannot go through life alone.
The core attitude or belief
underpinning her attribute of giving is that “if you give you
get”. When she grew up her mom always said: “If you open up
your hand and give, then there is room for someone else to put
something in it so that you can get”.
Even when asking her what it means
to be the Businesswoman of the Year she turns it away from herself
and explains that the title brings more goodwill her way and she
needs to “use that positively to actually influence and
contribute even more to our country”. A great leader “seeketh
not her own!”
Let your demeanor and attitude stand out
In approximately 1995 Mokgosi went
for a job interview at Telkom. The post would require her to work
with mostly white Afrikaans speaking males that were more
technically skillful than she was. Imagine this situation in 1995,
not now in 2007! Add the fact that when she went for the interview
she was eight months pregnant.
I had an interesting discussion
with the man who employed her. Of course he had some resistance
amongst his colleagues for selecting her! Mokgosi believes, and
she is also correct, that she was employed because they were not
looking for an Engineer but a business person, a marketer that
could help grow the business, and so on. But, in speaking to Ben
he said her “demeanor and attitude to life just stood out above
all the other candidates”.
So, here was someone who seemed to
have everything going against her, in the corporate landscape at
the time – young, black, woman, technically inferior (was not an
engineer) and eight months pregnant, yet the situation turned her
way. It happened because of her attitude to life and the courage
of another leader that remained true to his "instincts"
or feelings, which ultimately is a higher form of integrity!
Mokgosi says “he gave me an opportunity and for that I am
eternally grateful because I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t
started there”.
One’s attitude and demeanor makes
it easier for others to open doors to opportunities. She now
believes in opening doors for other people, who in turn will
hopefully do the same for others! This is called multiplication, a
principle touched on in last week’s article.
What is Mokgosi’s attitude in
life? She believes “life is about challenges and what makes you
stand out is how you handle those challenges … I always try and
see some positives in every bad situation.” She teaches
principles to those around her like "At the end of the day,
all you have is your soul" and "life is a God given
gift". Mokgosi explains further: “I always say that
whatever happens to you, you are in control of who you are, your
soul, even if bad things happen to you, and people do bad things
to you sometimes, but they cannot touch your soul unless you allow
them to.”
Learn to trust your intuition, your gut
Back in her Telkom days there were
times that she would go home and say to her husband that she was
fed up and she would cry and say she was not going back there.
But, she learned some hard life and leadership lessons, like
needing to "do one’s time" before gaining the respect
of colleagues and staff, and trusting one’s intuition.
On her first day she called a staff
meeting to introduce herself to her predominantly white male and
clever audience. She explains: “I walked in and everybody
ignored me while chatting in Afrikaans about their business. I
instinctively acted by taking an empty glass and a teaspoon and
banging the glass. Everybody heard that. When they looked at me I
introduced myself in Zulu, so they stopped and listened, of course
thinking it was odd. When I had everyone’s attention I simply
announced that I was going to my office and that when they were
ready for me they could come and call me. I went out. Believe me,
as I went out I thought to myself ‘what have I done’. I
realized that if they didn’t call me back I was doomed and I had
to resign because they would never respect me. I was in the office
for about ten minutes, which felt like a lifetime. Someone then
came and called me so I went back in, introduced myself and we set
a few ground rules about how we should behave in meetings, etc. It
could really have gone wrong!” There were times in her career
where such instinctive actions did go wrong, but most of the times
she got it right.
Sean Donnelly, CEO Moditure
believes that this kind of behaviour “illustrates a new
generation of leader and the new currency of leadership, which has
to do with intuition, and it does not mean they are soft and push
overs…” Nicola Tyler CEO Business Results Group added:
“Trusting your gut is a process of experience in testing it out.
So how do you get to know whether you are making the right
decision is not until you actually make one. Often we would act
out of an intuitive response and then only in hindsight be able to
assess whether it was the right response or not”.
Inspire by connecting with
values, spirit, soul
I asked Mokgosi if she
believed she was an inspiring leader. Her clever response was that
she is the wrong one to ask and that her staff would be in a
position to say. But, she seemed more of an "in the
background" inspiring leader, as opposed to "in the
forefront" or "in the public eye".
I asked
my panel to describe an inspiring leader. Tyler commented: “…Inspiring is perhaps more related to your own set
of values and you will determine who inspires you. So if you have
a set of values that I am inspired by, then I might find you
inspiring”. Donnelly added that “there is nothing boring to
the right audience…. At the root of the word inspiring is the
word spirit, so when the leader stands up there and communicates,
something touches you, your spirit, your soul”.
Several
individuals I spoke to mentioned that Mokgosi managed to hold on
to her femininity while climbing the tough corporate ladder. So I
asked her if this was important to her; was it something that
should be important to other woman? “I would like to think that
it is important to everybody to remember who you are, not even
considering the gender issue for the moment. If you try to be
someone else it is not sustainable… Woman should not try to be
like men. But even as woman we are all different. All human beings
are different. You should just be yourself”.
Mokgosi’s
final tip to leaders is “focus on winning the war, but
understand that you lose some battles in the process. But, ensure
that those battles you lose are not the strategic ones. It is okay
to allow yourself to lose here and there. Don’t get hung up on
winning everything. Focus on ensuring that you win that war.
Whatever your objective is stay focused on that”.
Summary
of Leadership & life lessons
- Leaders
manage to pass on "strength" that helps others to
cope and get through difficult times
- A
great leader "seeketh not her own" even in times of
personal pain
- Your
attitude and demeanor communicates more powerfully than your
mouth or even your qualifications
- Remain true to your
"instincts" or feelings, which ultimately is a
higher form of integrity
- Make the best of
opportunities and in turn give others opportunities
- Life is about challenges
and what makes you stand out is how you handle those
challenges. See some positives in every bad situation
- What ever happens to you,
you are in control of who you are, your soul
- To
earn respect you often have to "do your time"
- Learn
to trust your intuition, your gut
- To
be inspiring you must connect with your audiences' values,
spirit, soul
- Be
yourself
- Focus
on winning the war; reaching your objective. Do not get hung
up on winning every battle
Back to the top
 Leadership
and life lessons from Helen
Zille
Leader - The
Democratic Alliance
Leader
of the Democratic Alliance!
Several
individuals who heard about my up and coming interview with Helen
Zille compared her to Margaret Thatcher, the Iron lady from Britain. Well, while I can understand to some degree why they would do
that, after meeting her for an hour before the show and then
interviewing her I suggest, as a somewhat informed person, that
you erase most of that perception from your mind.
Her
parents raised her to take responsibility very seriously; to learn
to defer gratification – not to do what you feel like doing but
doing what needs to be done. In her own words: “I’ve never
asked myself whether I feel like doing something or whether it is
not more expedient to do A rather than B. If something has to be
done it has to be done”. Combine such an outlook and value
system with the ability to work extremely hard and to act tough
when required, and then throw in the factor of being a woman, and
it could be easy to fall into the trap of drawing comparisons with
Margaret Thatcher.
In
a nutshell though I would summarise Zille as someone that was
raised and almost programmed to act on a sense of justice, doing
what’s right, who wants to, has to, and feel’s compelled to
make the world a better place, driving towards solutions that
improve people’s plight.
While
preparing for the interview an attribute that stood out very
clearly was that of empathy. She feels for people and the
conditions under which they suffer. This empathy drives Helen to
action; almost triggers something inside her that she herself
can’t control. She moves into gear, like a robot on a mission,
to create movement, change, and improvement! Energy comes from
somewhere inside her and she bites into the problem like a bulldog
and does not let go. I am even willing to stick my neck out and
state that ‘winning votes’ hardly crosses her mind when she is
in this mode, if this is at all possible for a politician.
Zille
believes that “diagnosing a problem is the key to solving it”.
One cannot find the desired solution when the problem was
diagnosed incorrectly in the first place. She believes many people
make this mistake and it often is the “fundamental mistake that
is made in policy formulation in SA and also in interventions.
People define the problem incorrectly and then, like the age old
example of a doctor that does a heart transplant instead of taking
out the appendix, they implement the wrong solution”. She
further believes that when one diagnoses a problem, especially
when it is a big one, the next step is to break it up into smaller
components that can be solved.
One
of the greatest quotes I heard of late is by Dr. Gary Hamel and it
says: “The future begins not at the core but at the fringe”.
Great leaders don’t just manage from the core, or they don’t
simply remain in secure territory, the way things have always been
done. They move out to where the fringe is, where there is a
clearer view of the real and often daunting challenge. When they
have the challenge clearly defined they come up with pioneering,
innovative, ground breaking ways to overcome the challenge. This
takes courage and fearlessness, because the solution is almost
always unpopular and controversial! One thing I believe is that if
the DA wants to make a significant impact in South African
politics, Zille will most probably have to be a ‘fringe’
leader. So I asked her what she is. Her answer: “…‘fringe’
leaders are people who think ahead and look back from a vantage
point of ten or twenty years into the future. They say that on the
basis of that perspective what will have been the right decision
now? So you are not thinking from the core where you happen to be
now but you are thinking from a very different perspective,
looking back over history as you think and anticipate it may
unfold, and say what will have been the right decision today. That
is why I got so involved in the Black Sash and other organisations
many years ago. It certainly wasn’t core then but very fringe
… The hallmark of a leader is to decide what the problem is,
what you have to do about it, pointing in a direction and then
being decisive and having the courage to do it…”
When
Zille moves out to the fringe of South African politics the real
leadership challenge she sees “is to overcome race and ethnicity
as a mobilising factor. We have to get to the politics of shared
values, shared policies, trumping identity. At the moment it is
the other way around… We will never grow as a party if we
can’t get support from black people, and we can only get support
from black people when they feel we are articulating their ideas
and their values, which we are in many instances, but the power of
race holds people in to voting in a certain direction. It is as if
certain parties own certain people on the basis of their race and
ethnicity. Unless we can crack that we are going to have permanent
built-in majorities and
minorities in SA. We will never have a viable democracy because we
can only have a proper democracy when government can change hands
through the ballot box”.
Interestingly
enough she says such a challenge has never been overcome in any
other country with deep ethnic divisions. So, what is the DA
leader going to do? To try and buck the trend, Zille is bringing
some of the world experts on the matter to SA next year;
individuals that have studied the phenomena and specific
challenges that have been identified. A conference will be held
and this issue will be placed on the agenda of South Africans. She
believes “there are no silver bullets here. We have to keep on
keeping on, showing people that we care and that we are absolutely
committed and that our policies are best for all South
Africans”.
Talking
more about her leadership style she says “the issue is not
having one style but having good enough judgment to know what is
appropriate in different situations. That is the key test of a
leader – to have the discretion and the judgement to know what
is appropriate in complex situations and move forward to a new
level. This can only be developed over time and with experience
and with good capacity to reflect on your mistakes – to
understand what went wrong and why, and then to be able to draw on
that experience in the next situation.”
Like
many leaders she works on her weaknesses, like for example being
untidy, which leads to often having to look for things. She
diagnosed this issue and realised that a reason could be that she
always moves forward and never looks backwards. When she has done
something she moves on to the next thing and does not look back
long enough to ‘file’ the paper component of the situation,
which can lead to problems in the future.
Despite
her incredibly pressured schedule, which she is comfortable with,
she seems to have a sense of gratitude about life. Her Mayoral
Bodyguard asked her fairly late one evening, following a hectic
day how she was doing and her answer was something along the lines
of: “I am very happy and blessed”. I asked Zille to explain
this answer: “I suppose I do feel blessed because so many things
are right in my life. I have an extraordinary husband; I have two
wonderful children; I have a dry home that does not leak when it
rains; I have extraordinary colleagues; I have an excellent team
in the Mayoral office and in parliament; I have a family who
really cares for me and I have good friends. So I feel deeply
blessed all the time”.
When
all is said and done, is Zille the leader that is going to change
the face of politics in South Africa? Is she going to be the one to change the up to now unbreakable
pattern of voting across traditional, racial, ethnic lines? Is
this the leader that can combat the ANC strength of possibly being
able to change traditions or voting patterns through creating
icons like Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, Trevor Manuel, Matthews
Phoza for whom many white people will vote? Is she what SA needs
right now?
Could
I vote for her? Yes! Will I vote for her? I will have to wait and
see… Could I vote for Matthews Phoza or Trevor Manuel? Yes! Will
I vote for them? I will have to wait and see… I guess the scale
is balanced! Give me more reason to tip it one way or the other!
Summary
of Leadership & life lessons
- Learn
to defer gratification – not to do what you feel like doing
but doing what needs to be done
- Allow
empathy to become a spark to action
- Take
time to diagnose a problem accurately, and then break it up
into smaller components that can be solved, then
be decisive and have the courage to do it
- “The
future begins not at the core but at the fringe” – As the
leader, move out to where the fringe is, where there is a
clearer view of the real and often daunting challenge and then
come up with pioneering, innovative, ground breaking ways to
overcome the challenge.
- To
help you think ‘fringe’, think ahead and look back from a
vantage point of ten or twenty years into the future
- Keep
on keeping on
- Reflect
on your mistakes – to understand what went wrong and why,
and then draw on that experience in the next situation. This
will assist you to acquire good judgement that is so critical
in leadership
- Develop
a sense of gratitude in life
Back to the top
 Leadership
and life lessons from
Ingrid Kast
CEO
- D A V Professional Placement
Group
and colleagues;
Lusanda Mbane
Head of Internal Recruitment: Technical Divisions
Andrea van Olst
Manager:
Technical Operations
A Pledge to Your Country!
A Pledge to Your Country!
“I
pledge my loyalty and devotion
to
the flag of South Africa .
My
heart belongs to the
magnificent people for which it stands.
My soul to the inspiring beauty of our land.
I
promise to stand up for this nation,
to care for its diverse languages and cultures.
With
all my heart, wisdom and courage
I will support South Africa's freedom,
her justice, peace and progress;
so that she may increase in beauty and prosperity
and
become the nation that I dream of.”
What
you have just read is the product of a united effort from staff of
the current Deloitte/FM Top Company to Work For in SA – DAV
Professional Placement Group! When I heard for the first time that
they had come up with a pledge I thought it would be towards their
company, so when I read this it touched me even more because it is
in fact towards our country.
I
further discovered that once a month at a company meeting, which
is held weekly, they read the pledge. I decided to go and watch
this as a simple spectator. Let me tell you, it was an
unforgettable experience! The reading of the pledge by three staff
members in front of the entire company, with quiet and reverent
music in the back ground was just one of the activities that blew
me away entirely!
I
thought to myself that they are truly ahead of the pack, which
they should be as they are the top company to work for. Most
organisations struggle just to make ends meet and here they are,
finding the time and energy to develop a pledge to their country!
It inspired me so much that I decided to invite the CEO Ingrid
Kast and three of her colleagues to join me on the Leadership
Platform.
I
explored why they did it? Kast, also the founder of DAV explained:
“The
idea came up when one of our Directors returned from a Jamaican
holiday. She could not stop talking about their ‘giving’
personalities and she picked up that this was not just one or two
Jamaicans but that they were all so giving. She noticed that
they approached all the tourists in this giving manner and then
realised that in fact this seemed to be the norm in the way that
they treated their fellow citizens as well. It was as though each
Jamaican formed part of a puzzle whereby each person had something
to give – piece by piece - and that each person was a piece of
this generous nation.
Our
director then came across the Jamaican pledge, and I quote: ‘I
pledge my love, my loyalty and skills in the service of Jamaica and my fellow citizens. I promise to work diligently and to
help build a prosperous and peaceful nation.’
When
our director shared this with all our staff at our weekly company
meeting – everyone at DAV was so touched by the spirit of
Jamaica and it was then that we realised that Jamaica has a
pledge, America has a pledge but that as South Africans we don’t
have one.”
Ingrid
further explained that often when we South Africans speak about
our country we discuss all those negative elements like crime,
poverty, HIV Aids, and so on. In certain circles the option of
emigrating is a standard item for discussion on the social agenda.
As Sean Donnelly (CEO Moditure Group) one of my panel members said: “I am worried
about the culture we are developing as a nation; it’s quite a
negative, aggressive, brutal one. Our brand that we are developing
is kind of violent and around crime. It needs to start changing
before it is too late!”
There
are such remarkable angles to this land – magnificent people;
inspiring beauty; diverse languages and cultures; freedom; peace
and in many instances unexpected progress!
What
difference can a pledge really make? Do we need one as a country,
especially as we move closer towards 2010? What role can a pledge
play if a leader utilises it effectively?
I
opened the lines to ask for some views from listeners. The lines
lit up like I haven’t seen it do for a while! The following is a
summary of some listener comments: “… It is absolutely amazing
to hear that pledge. In local government, of which I am a City
Councillor in JHB, we have got a policy that is called ‘Batopile’,
which means putting the customer first …I think a pledge of that
kind would certainly give new meaning to the policy of
‘Batopile’ in the City of JHB.”
Another
caller commented that “Ingrid is doing a fantastic job …
Personally I think it is a wonderful pledge …”
Yet
another listener said that it was a “heroic pledge and I think
we are all innately heroic. I think it is something all South
Africans should try and participate in … In the run up to 2010
it would certainly bond us.”
Peter
(a caller contributing to the show) thought it is a magnificent idea and that “the value lies in
formulating the pledge. It should be done at every level in an
organisation – government, private sector…”
Someone
referred to their past school days at a well known Boys School
in Pretoria where they had a code of honour that had a profound impact on his
life. They even signed a document in which they committed to
certain behaviour. Many years later he can still remember those
commitments.
The
point came out strongly that having a pledge is one thing, but
there should be plans that support or substantiates how and what
one is going to do to live up to the pledge.
Another
principle for successful implementation of a pledge is that all or
most parties should feel that they own the pledge. My wise
father’s definition of ownership is ‘mental and emotional
possession’. People must feel that it is their own – they own
it logically (mentally) and they own it with their hearts
(passionate commitment)! As with an organisational vision and
mission, placing the words on the wall is not enough. Employees
have to feel that it is theirs!
Kast’s
final comment about the pledge concept was: “I would love it if
everybody felt encouraged to think in terms of creating a pledge
and be so proud in terms of who we are in South Africa, what we have achieved and where we are going to.”
Grant
Ashfield, one of my other panel members from Leadership
Works
during the show,
made an interesting comment: “The document itself is not that
important, but it’s the dialogue that comes before that, the way
we find one another through the discussion that ultimately
manifests in the pledge. That’s the real value for me”.
Sean
Donnelly (CEO Moditure) added
that “a pledge is actually a physical thing you do, you pledge,
which is a verb”. Another very powerful underlying principle of
a pledge according to Ashfield is also that one focuses on giving
rather than taking. He further suggested that one should actually
have four pledges – a pledge to ourselves – “we have talents
and abilities that we allow to lie dormant for whatever reason”;
a pledge to our families – “a family is the basic structure of
our society and holds society together”; a pledge to our
country; and a pledge to our organisation where “we spend one
third of our adult lives”.
As
for me, I am happy to accept the DAV Pledge as my own, when it
comes to my country! Why don’t you take ownership of initiating
a ‘Pledge Movement’ inside your organisation? I challenge you
to be a leader by courageously approaching your ‘powers that
be’ about creating your organisations own pledge towards our
country! You may even work from the DAV Pledge that is on the leadershipplatform.com
website. What the heck, your organisation may even accept the
pledge as is!
If
you work for a Government Department, take on this challenge and
make a positive difference! You can do it! Someone has to, so it
may as well be you!
Now,
one more thing – read the DAV Pledge again before you go on your
merry way. Feel inspired and follow the example of the Top Company
to Work For! Join our national pledge competition! Remember that a
good leader is always a good follower!
A Pledge to Your Country!
“I
pledge my loyalty and devotion
to
the flag of South Africa.
My
heart belongs to the
magnificent people for which it stands.
My soul to the inspiring beauty of our land.
I
promise to stand up for this nation,
to care for its diverse languages and cultures.
With
all my heart, wisdom and courage
I will support South Africa's freedom,
her justice, peace and progress;
so that she may increase in beauty and prosperity
and
become the nation that I dream of.”
Summary
of Leadership & life lessons
- Consider
developing four pledges –
- A
pledge to yourself
- A
pledge to your family
- A
pledge to your country
- A
pledge to your organization
- Ensure
that you have believable plans in place that assist in living
up to the pledge
- All
or most parties should feel that they own the pledge.
Ownership can be defined as “mental and emotional
possession”
- Remember
that when it comes to a pledge it is not the document
that is so important but it’s the dialogue that comes before
that, the way we find one another through the discussion that
ultimately manifests in the pledge
- Yet
a pledge is actually a physical thing you do, you pledge,
which is a verb
- Remember
that a good leader is always a good follower! Now follow the
example of the Top Company to Work For!
Back to the top
 Leadership
and life lessons from Paul Harris
CEO - Firstrand
Limited Group
Liberating
one’s people
Although
he says he cannot remember it, the story is told that Paul was
voted by his fellow matrics as the student most likely to succeed
in life. Boy oh boy, were they right! Today he is a shareholder
and CEO of First Rand Limited, an organisation with a Market Cap
of more than 140 billion! Successful? I would think so! However,
although society at large may judge Paul by the size of his bank
balance, the title behind his name and even by the 34 000 people
he has working “under” him, he judges himself and those that
work with him by “how many people they liberate rather than how
many people they control”.
The
essential leadership principle of needing to empower (liberate)
those around one is truly part and parcel of Paul Harris’
leadership philosophy and certainly the organisation's! He further
says that in First Rand they “believe
in accountability struggles not power struggles. In power
struggles you want to dictate things to people who know that what
you are doing is wrong, but will do it anyhow because you are the
boss. In a case where you liberate people and let them take
accountability those people will put energy into the system and
not take the energy out of the system.” Ask yourself to what
extent those around you are doing what must be done in your way as
opposed to doing what needs to be done in their way? Coaching a
Financial Manager yesterday she told me how one of her staff
wanted to do something in his way and she simply told him to ‘go
for it’! She was liberating him rather than controlling
him!
Although
Paul attributes the remarkable success of First Rand Limited to
him and his partners being at the right place, at the right time,
their business philosophy of striving to create an environment for
people to manage their divisions or business units as if it’s
their own, is probably the greatest contributor to their success.
An illustration that epitomizes this philosophy is when a
reluctant Michael Pfaff was offered the job of leading Rand
Merchant Bank, Paul said the following to him: “We appoint you
to do what you want to do with the business, not what we want you
to do”. Once again, can one only say this to someone that is
about to be appointed as CEO of a major organization? This
statement can easily be adapted to: “We appoint you to run this
department in your way, as if it is yours and you need to tell us
how you intend on contributing to the region’s targets.” In
fact, go so far as asking staff what they need from you in order
to feel liberated.
Even
when I discusses the expansion of First Rand from a strategic
angle Paul’s answer was steeped in the liberation theory. I
asked him if his greatest strategic challenge was that of
international expansion: “We
believe in de-centralised models… If some of our business units
believe that their growth comes from doing business
internationally, we would encourage it.
We have 160 profit centers thinking of how to grow and
that’s good enough for me.”
Lessons
from the crime saga
I
asked Paul what he learned from the ‘run-in’ with Government
and perhaps other stakeholders a couple of months ago, from a
leadership context: “I think the first thing is that if you want
to make a statement, and it is something you feel strongly about,
you have to be prepared to stick your neck out, and if you are
not, invariably you won’t get the message across. So you have to
have some courage. The second lesson is that you don’t want a
win/lose situation, you want a win/win situation. You don’t want
one party or group of people to feel offended and feel like they
have lost…, but sometimes one must personally be prepared to be
the loser by taking it on the nose.” Because of this attitude he
eventually backed off and the campaign came to a sudden end. Do
you have opportunities within your work environment to make
statements about something you feel strongly about? Think it
through and make sure your motive is a win-win one and then have
the courage to say it boldly and as tactfully as possible. You
will be surprised at the positive reaction! But, if the reaction
is not as positive as you may have hoped for then ‘take it on
the nose’ and move on!
Did
you act somewhat impulsively and not consult widely enough in this
instance, I asked Paul? His answer highlighted another possible
leadership lesson: “If you consulted widely enough with business
as a whole you probably would agree that air should remain free,
but you are never going to agree on anything that is remotely
contentious. Why not? Because everybody has so much vested
interest. So, individual companies have got the right to stand up
and say things that they believe in, and they don’t have to go
and consult with everybody …. Do they need to talk internally?
Obviously they do … but if there is something that could
potentially expose them to reputational risk then they should
consult more widely outside the organisation.”
Minister
Charles Nqakhula told me the learning point was that “we need to
speak to each other more as South Africans”. Paul agreed with
this conclusion but added that “we need
to trust each other; we should trust the motives are genuinely in
the interest of the country. Another thing around leadership is
that we should support issues, not people – I can agree with you
today and disagree with you on something else tomorrow.
That type of environment is a productive environment.”
Guarding
against mediocrity
When
Rene Otto, now CEO Channel Life set up Outsurance several years
ago he sat down with Paul who then proceeded to counsel him about
guarding against mediocrity. Rene was slightly taken aback by the
comment, but the way Paul described it resulted in this principle
staying with Rene up until today, and he has quoted Paul many
times since. He said one has to guard against mediocrity for two
reasons:
-
mediocre
people are boring, and
-
mediocrity
casts a shadow.
I
asked Paul to expand on point two and he explained as follows: “If
you have a mediocre person at the top of the organisation think of
it as closest to the sun, it will cast a big shadow… If you have
a mediocre person at the bottom of the company, it casts a very
small shadow. If you
get the wrong person high up in the organisation, it casts a
shadow and they will surround themselves with other mediocre
people.” Ask yourself what kind of shadow are you casting –
mediocrity or excellence?
Summary
of leadership
& life lessons
- Judge
yourself by how many people you liberate rather than how many
people you control
- Focus
on accountability struggles and not power struggles - Create
an environment for people to manage their divisions or
business units as if it’s their own
- Have
the courage to make a statement about something you feel
strongly about
- Strive
towards win/win situations. You don’t want one party or
group of people to feel offended and feel like they have
lost…, but sometimes one must personally be prepared to be
the loser by taking it on the nose
- Individual
companies have got the right to stand up and say things that
they believe in without consulting with everybody, but they
need to counsel internally. However, if there is something
that could potentially expose them to reputational risk then
they should consult more widely outside the organisation
- Support
issues, not people
- Mediocrity
casts a shadow – guard against it
Back to the top
 Leadership
and life lessons from Prof. Nick
Binedell
Director - Gordon
Institute of Business (GIBS)
Managerial
skills, entrepreneurial abilities and understanding people the key
to successful leadership in SA
Nick
Binedell – well travelled; well qualified; well respected; well
connected; and a man that passionately loves this country and
truly wants to make a difference! This must be why I like him! His
purpose: “To energise and motivate people to unleash their
potential”.
He
believes that “to be successful you have to know who you are and
understand yourself well enough to understand other people
properly; you have to be comfortable with yourself; you have to
have the insights into your own behaviour by listening to
feedback!” Some authors refer to this concept as the
‘mirror’.
We
had Dr. Kwame Amuah on the show some time back. He is the
son-in-law of Mr.Nelson Mandela and a successful business man in
his own right. He quoted someone in saying that the first law of
leadership is: “Know thyself”. I cannot agree with this more
and the principle blends well with Nick’s advice!
According
to Nick you need at least three broad skills to be a successful
leader in SA:
-
the
managerial skill, which is often quite boring – drawing up
the budget; the financial knowledge of the business; operational
knowledge - knowing the business inside out and making sure people
do what they say they are going to do – the skill of ‘getting
things done’. It is so easy to get carried away with the vision
and the strategy, the sexier stuff;
-
entrepreneurial
abilities – being able to spot the gap, to see what others
haven’t seen; having the better insight and reacting faster than
anybody else, and to understand it in a realistic way – realism
is a very important part of being a good entrepreneur. We talk
about dreaming, but then there is the realism;
-
understanding other people in a realistic and useful way -
culturally, ethnically, in gender terms, generationally. This is
going to be a huge attribute of leaders. We are going to
experience far more change in the next ten years than the last,
coupled with this country’s history, multi-culturism and
cultural dynamism… Nick adds: ”In the excitement of leading you
have to be open to that, together with the social idea that you
are right for the time you’re in – that’s a critical quality
of a leader”.
As
you read this article I challenge you to consider whether you
believe you are “right for the time you’re in”? Are you made
for this new South Africa? It is no coincidence that you are here, I believe! Find your
place within this remarkable country!
The
earlier 3 points Nick mentioned were in my mind perhaps the
‘bricks’ needed for someone to build leadership capacity in
SA, but what about the ‘cement’, the finer skills, the ‘inbetweeners’?
His view is that every organisation has different realities, and
every person brings different ‘inbetweeners’, but some key
one’s are:
-
"the ability to look a bit over the horizon; to
always think about what is next and try and anticipate that as
best you can;
-
to be outside the organisation, to step outside
your own reality and look at your organisation coldly,
objectively, from the outside and ask some questions;
-
being the
product or the customer … bringing that quality of understanding
consumers, like Raymond Ackerman and others. This is a quality
that most entrepreneurs understand.”
Transfer
leadership skills through direct experience, formal training and
quality contact
It
is rather easy to talk about such leadership skills, but how does
one transfer it to future leaders? Nick believes most of it is
done through direct experience where you are in a job and you have
a task to do - you learn by what works and what does not work. The
other way is the more formal side through Business Schools where
they can fast track some of the experience.
I
made the point that one of the best ways of transferring
leadership capability specifically, is surely to organize
productive contact between a future leader and a current great
leader. We do this on the Leadership Platform show and with our
mentoring competition and monthly leadership chats (see leadershipplatform.com). I was impressed with an up and coming
conference that GIBS and Leadership Works are organising for 10
July. On the day there will be a session where about 20 top
CEO’s will each work with a smaller group of people for a few
hours on sharing their personal leadership habits. As Nick says
“a lot of effective leadership habits are personal,
idiosyncratic and true to that individual; so we asked them to
come and share their best practices because we now need to dig
beyond the broad theory into the real practices of effective
leadership”.
Well,
how is Nick doing on the issue of preparing his next level at GIBS
for that time when he – the heart beat, the founder, the man
with the vision, leaves? “… One of the things I was worried
about in the early days was the difference between an organisation
and an institution. In an institution there is a set of practices,
a culture that isn’t about the person that is the leader; it
goes beyond that… Today the depth of management at GIBS is
strong – there are a lot of younger faculty members at the school for
example who I think share the same broad ideas that those of us
who were there at the beginning share, and they are coming through
the system… I think it is an institution and even if I got hit by
a bus the place would fly.”
Leaders
must be involved in political life
Nick
often says “we can get SA right”. I asked him to describe this
‘right SA’: “It has to deal with this question of poverty.
You cannot live in a democracy where one in three people are as
poor as some South Africans are; we have to unleash the
entrepreneurial spirit and continue to do that – this country
has a remarkable history of entrepreneurship; we have to have good
government – the state makes or breaks the nation and politics
drives economics in an emerging country, and in this country there
is no doubt about that. One thing that worries me is that the
middle class may not be sufficiently involved in political life,
which is a great danger to business in SA. Our fate rests on the
quality of leadership in the state and therefore we need to engage
more; to not be involved in political life is a dangerous dynamic
in this country. We tend to talk of politics in a specific way –
‘them’ and ‘they’. We have a mutual interest between
business and government, between politics and economics, and great
nations marry that interest in a powerful way.”
Never
stop asking questions
One
of the best lessons he learned from another business leader was to
‘never stop asking questions’. Nick tells how in his early
days he “worked with a remarkable man Simon Dockerty and he was
an extraordinary listener; he always asked questions of people
outside their portfolio. As a consequence he built a team that
reinforced each other instead of running in silo’s. The
questioning and digging in to find out what’s behind what they
say is a great way to understand the business and Simon practiced
that magnificently!”
Prof
Nick Binedell, all I can say is go, go and go! You are a valuable
asset to
South Africa! Don’t get hit by a bus! If you do though I am sure GIBS will
run, but I doubt it will be ready to fly yet. They and the country
still need you!
Summary
of Leadership & life lessons
- Be
comfortable with yourself - have the insights into your own
behaviour by listening to feedback – “Know thyself”.
- Acquire
and develop your managerial skills,
entrepreneurial abilities and learn to understand other people
in a realistic and useful way - culturally, ethnically, in
gender terms, generationally.
- It
is no coincidence that you are here in SA! Find your place
within this remarkable country!
- Point
2 are the ‘bricks’, so acquire the ‘cement’ or ‘inbetweeners’:
- looking over the horizon into the future;
- stepping
outside your organisation and viewing it objectively;
- really understanding the product and customers; and so on.
- Good
institutions are made by leadership.
- Transferring
leadership can be done in three ways:
- Direct experience;
- Formal approach;
- Bringing about quality contact between top
leaders and future leaders.
- Create
an institution with a
set of practices, a culture that isn’t about the leader.
- Our
fate as a nation rests on the quality of leadership in the
state and therefore we need to engage more.
- Never
stop asking questions of people!
Back to the top
Visit
www.leadershipplatform.com
to:
- View the panel
discussion atter the Thoko Mokgosi interview
- View the panel
discussion after the Helen Zille interview.
- Participate
in our National
Pledge Competition!
- View
comments from our expert panel members on the Ingrid Kast, DAV,
interview – Sean Donnelly CEO Moditure
and Grant Ashfield – Leadership Works.
- View
our expert panel
analysis of the Paul Harris interview by Professor Gustav
Puth (Independent Leadership & Strategy Advisor) and Athol
Williams (MD Taurus & Associates).
- View
our expert panel
analysis of the Prof Nick Binedell interview by Sean
Donnelly (CEO Moditure Group) and Prof Shirley Zinn (HR
Director Nedbank and President IPM).
Visit
www.leadershipplatform.com
to:
- Order
CD’s
and/or DVD’s of
Leadership Platform programmes.
- Contribute
with questions.
We interview great, interesting and successful leaders on our
weekly radio show (Classic FM 102.7 every Thursday 7pm) that
also broadcasts weekly on Summit DStv Friday mornings 8am and
Mon afternoons 1pm. We would like you to put forward questions
that we can ask these leaders.
- Attend
our monthly
Leadership Chats where we facilitate a discussion between a
top leader and a small audience at a smart venue.
- Find
out about exciting
seminars and leadership events
for rapid personal growth and movement!
Adriaan
Groenewald is the presenter of the Leadership Platform
Radio Show, which broadcasts on Classic FM
102.7 every
Thursday evening between 19:00 and 20:00 and on Summit DSTV
twice the following week. He is also co-author
of the 'CEO Leadership Handbook', the author of a weekly full page
article in the Star Workplace and Executive Director of Moditure
Group. Adriaan has interviewed on and off air top
leaders like Paul Harris, Charles Nqakhula, Mark Lamberti,
Phuthuma Nhleko, Gill Marcus, Mbazima Shilowa, Tony Leon, Wendy
Lucas-Bull, Thoko Mokgosi, Adrian Gore, Herman Mashaba, Patrick
Lekota, Russell Loubser, Ian Cockerill, Alan Knott-Craig, and many
others. In 2005 Adriaan was one of the 8 Judges on the prestigious
Boss of the Year panel. On the sporting front Adriaan proved his discipline and drive by
achieving his junior
provincial colours
and later on a second
Dan Black Belt in Karate. He
completed a Bachelor
degree in Psychology as well as diplomas in
various other fields of interest, including a Post Graduate Diploma
in Strategic Marketing from the University
of Hull
in the UK. He has also studied business
on a Masters Degree level.
Because of his leadership abilities he was appointed
as a manager in an international organisation
within two years, despite competition from several individuals
that had been in the organisation for many more years. He was then
head hunted by an international consulting firm where he consulted,
trained and coached nationally & internationally
in organisations such as Vodacom, Standard & Poors,
Investec, HP, Huntsman Petrochemicals, and so on. Subsequently
he has consulted in many other organizations such as Nestle,
Siemens, SABC, Standard Bank. Adriaan has published
articles in CEO
Magazine, Management Today, Leadership Magazine, Succeed
Magazine, Journal of
Marketing, Argus, Star Newspaper, Business Day, and Sunday Times.
Short summary
Adriaan Groenewald interviews leaders in South Africa and reports
on their opinions and theories on leadership.
Keywords and relevant phrases
AA, accountability, achievement, action, affirmative action,
affordability, approachable, attitude, barriers, battles, business
deals, challenges, coaching, commitment, confidence, contribution, corporate culture,
defer gratification, demeanor, develop, discretion, diagnose problems,
diversity, ease, EE, ego, "ego demon", emotions, empathy, employment equity, empowerment, entrepreneur, ethics,
exploration, failure, feedback,
fringe, fun, gender, gift, giving, goodwill, government, gut, honesty,
humour, identity,
individuality, influence, insight, instinct, integrity, intense, interests,
introduction, intuition, involvement, judgement, justice, leadership,
loss, loyalty, manage, mentoring,
mission, morals, motivation, multiplication, negotiation, opportunity,
people potential, people
skills, pioneer, politics, positive attitude, potential, power, pregnancy, problem solving, qualifications, reputation,
responsibility, self-awareness, self-knowledge, shared values,
sharing, simplicity, skill, soul,
spirit, spiritual values, strategy, strength, support, support structures, successive
planning, transfer skill, trust, truth, understanding, values, vision,
weakness, winning, working environment.
Back to ... Workinfo.com Human Resources Magazine Volume 1 Issue
12, 2007
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