Nelson Mandela: his choices, our future
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela — an Icon, our hero. We will be eternally grateful for the choices Madiba made in his life. As with all of us, some of those choices would have been regretted, some would be questionable, some would be just plain wrong. But the choices that shaped his life, and ultimately shaped this…
Read More...Leadership: a journey begins
Leadership has been the subject of study at least since Plato in the fourth century BC. Since then, various theories of leadership have been developed. Some examine what a leader looks like, others what a leader does, while others, how he or she manages people. Modern studies tend to focus on the impact leaders have on…
Read More...Mandela secrets and your business
It is frustrating that the government conspires to keep us in the dark about our Tata Madiba. They simply cannot bring themselves to trust us with information. If that frustrates you, as a grown man or woman in charge of your own business, trust me, our employees are just as frustrated and insulted when we…
Read More...Cher or Thatcher: Does grammar matter in the workplace?
Why bother with grammar? Why do we need it? It’s too complicated. Who cares anyway? With Twitter and Facebook and SMS-speak, people understand what we are saying without our having to get all that grammar stuff right; and, of course, spelling doesn’t matter any more. Or does it? Well, Twitter exploded in a frenzy on…
Read More...Managing discipline: a foreign country?
Is the disciplinary process a foreign country for you? Owners and manager of small to medium-size organisations often keep away from discipline until an impossible employee needs to be fired. By then it’s far too late. Too much damage has been done. The employee has perhaps damaged relationships with clients, the manager has been driven…
Read More...It’s not my fault: employees and managers missing each other
South Africans have a blind spot when it comes to understanding the difference between fault and responsibility. “It’s not my fault that my car’s brakes failed,” we say, and we think that’s the end of the story. If it’s not my fault, somehow I don’t have to take responsibility. I have found this to be…
Read More...Taking employees with you
One of the trends in customer service to which the gurus are pointing is an employee-first, rather than a customer-first approach. Ivana Taylor from DIY Marketers writes, “It looks like the tide is shifting away from putting the focus on the customer, to putting it on the employee who delivers that experience.” As I mentioned in…
Read More...Customer Service: Finding the Key
The quality of a customer’s experience has a direct bearing on sales and profits: insights from local companies
Read More...What your boss wants?
In a recent survey top South African CEOs were asked for three things they most valued and three things they least valued in their employees. Passion, boldness and a positive, can-do attitude topped the list of valuable traits. A strong emotional intelligence and a willingness to work hard were also valued attributes. Skills and qualifications…
Read More...Entrepreneurs and lazy thinking
I have heard it said by a CEO, as an excuse for his own attitude, that great entrepreneurs are lousy with people. Steve Jobs comes to mind, and his name is often used by those who wish to justify their own disinterest in people management skills. The reality is that such comments represent lazy thinking.…
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