Entrepreneurs can certainly be admired, quite apart from any injection of personal cash, for the courage, zeal and creativity they invest in a start-up company. Hours of tenacity-characterised effort and many late nights working on administration often mark the long day of the entrepreneur. As the company grows and gains more clients, however, there is…
A friend of mine told me about one of his employees who repeatedly came late to work. The young man was hard-working and focused, so performance was no issue. He just started work late each day and if unaddressed by management, would send all the wrong messages to the rest of the staff. His manager…
There have only been a few of them – country leaders who have managed to impart vision to the people to bring changes to attitudes and behaviour and thus create a better life for all citizens. Maybe selfishness, power and greed have stood in the way of most of the others attaining lofty impact. In…
Businesses exist to get results, make profit and deliver value for shareholders. Anything less than this means a lack of fulfilment of the business dream, inadequate execution or a strategy that is not effectively aligned to the money-making model of the industry in which the company finds itself. In my exposure to many hundreds of…
I used to work for a banking corporation in South Africa. As part of my role of leadership and management development for the bank, I travelled all over Southern Africa, visiting branches to train and coach current and future leaders. While visiting a branch in an outlying town, I happened to walk in on a…
Many years ago, I had the privilege of working in conjunction with the UNDP in Namibia as part of a team who took the government ministers away for a weekend to Walvis Bay on a leadership development exercise. The Prime Minister, ministers and all the deputies were present at the venue at this coastal town….
I had the privilege of a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early 2012, to coach some managers whom I had trained on a previous workshop. On an off day, sitting at a roadside café drinking coffee, I noticed about 65 high school students walking past on their lunch break. What was surprising about this…
1. Absent leadership can’t address important issues. I was fascinated reading a tweet recently regarding the lack of visible and relevant leadership by the president of the country and I quote from David Kibuuka: “It is sad that I have to get inspired by other peoples’ presidents, ‘cause our guy is busy at Builders’ Warehouse”…
I enjoyed playing golf in earlier years and attempted to swing the irons at least twice a month. On one such occasion, I played at a club in a mining area of South Africa, a picturesque layout with long fairways, surrounded by tall trees and occasionally bordered by large lakes. After completing about a third…
One of the most impactful African words that I have ever come across is the North Sotho word “seriti”, meaning breath, spirit, presence or “shadow”. The word, in one of its renderings, refers to a person’s “presence” or the shadow that is cast by the character and personality of the person. This shadow is unique,…
One of the more “revealing” experiences that I have had upon arriving in my mid-life years is that of realising that the 20/20 vision that I had as a younger man is not going to last forever – a visit to the optometrist is becoming a necessity. Imagine for a moment that you need to…
I love watching soccer and religiously follow my favourite club’s exploits – FC Barcelona is “my team”. Their style, skill, finesse on the ball and the brand that they represent seem to lift the game of football to new heights. I am generally proud of them. Imagine, however, this scene– Lionel Messi scores a magnificent…
