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296: We Bake Brownies to Hire People
Good morning dear friends “All acts of kindness are lights in the war for justice.” These words are part of Joy Harjo’s Reconciliation, A Prayer included in How We Became…

295: Lebo Diseko’s The House at 6001
Dear Friends Last week I said we would visit Lebo Diseko’s memoir The House at 6001, and that is where soul and self will go. /strategy Two weeks ago,…

294: Ek speel net vir julle: Abdullah Ibrahim reminds us of what’s what
Dear friends I woke on Tuesday to the news that the great Abdullah Ibrahim had passed on the day before. False Bay was wind-whipped; the Cape howling its grief. Bruised…

293: Remembrance via Langston Hughes
Dear friends Today is quieter. The other day, I remembered your wide smile and short dreads, the dreads that disappeared with age and title. Then, I remembered you are no longer…

292: How We Murder Our Dreams
Dear Friends For several years, I have told you to buy Banele Vakele’s Tembela wines. Despite my wine vocabulary consisting of yum, meh and never again, it appears my advice is…

291: Executive Transitions: From Zhuangzi to Michael Watkins
Dear Friends Thank you for your generous messages after last week’s letter. If you enjoyed it, you might also appreciate The Power of the Powerless, Self-Doubt and Success or Being…

#290: The Strategy Thinker You Haven’t Yet Read (but should)
Good morning, dear friends Today’s letter is more essay-like than letter-like, so pour the coffee or the tea (or the wine, if it is time) and settle in. A few…

289: Obliquity: Strategy is not a straight line
Good morning friends /strategyThe strategy industry and its remoras too often create caricatures of strategy. Strategy is not a list of goals. It is not how it is measured. Nor is…

288: Angel or Devil? We choose.
Good morning, dear friends You may find today’s letter a little heavy, so we’ll start with two babies to make you smile: a Cape leopard cub and a rescued orphan…

287: Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026
Dear friends The month’s writing break is done, and we are back. Apologies if you joined this community whilst I was away. I should have set up an “out-of-office doing…

286: The Gifts of Reading
Dear friends Before we get to this week’s letter, a quick reminder of last week’s announcement that for this year, we will have 8 weeks of letters, followed by a…

285: Hope and Freedom
Dear friends Yesterday, 21 March, was South Africa’s Human Rights Day. It commemorates the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, when armed apartheid police opened fire on an unarmed group of protestors. 1,300+…
