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 hippo. If they don’t work, then Bouwer Bosch and Themba…
Tag Leadership Examples
264: Helen Lewis. Adam Grant. The Genius of Relentless Execution.
Good morning friends /strategy Helen Lewis is the author of The Genius Myth. She argues that we should speak not of geniuses, but of moments of genius. This formulation, she says, recognises that those acclaimed as geniuses operate in systems…
#207: Leadership Lessons from Caster Semenya
Dear friends Today’s letter meditates on leadership lessons from Caster Semenya’s The Race to Be Myself. It breaks format and is longer than usual. I think it’s worth it. In ordinary circumstances, Mokgadi Caster Semenya would be a name known…
#197: Leadership Lessons (from Colonel John Boyd)
Dear Friends On 6 March, one of my teachers, Prof Edward Webster passed on. This weekend was his funeral and memorial service. It is said that when an elder dies it is as if a library has burned down. In Eddie’s…
#188: A Love Letter
My dear friends This is our last letter for this year. I will return on 21 January. We started the year reflecting on The Power of the Powerless and here we are. As the world weighs on our souls, I…
#185: Leadership Lessons (from Dr Imtiaz Sooliman)
“Don’t underestimate the value of a good deed. It comes back to you in a blessing – not necessarily material, but in ways you can never imagine”Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman Dear Friends A while back, Mr. Siphiwe Mpye, editor of BusinessDay’s…
#182: Rugby, wine & Aliens
“If you don’t know who you are, anyone can name you”Michael Meade Dear Friends Last week’s Rugby World Cup win gave South Africa and Africa much joy. Today’s letter includes two more lessons from Rassie Erasmus’s Stories of Life and…
#181: Leadership Lessons (from Rassie Erasmus)
“If you want to achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you have to do something you’ve never done before” – Rassie Erasmus Dear friends This Simons Town week has been somewhat surreal. The bay has been still, so still that…
#179: David Sengeh’s Radical Inclusion
The more inclusive a society, the more it is perceived as a just society; and just societies are safer for everyone. Simply put, the pursuit of inclusion is in everyone’s interest” – David Sengeh Good morning my friends We live…
#177: Leadership lessons (from Siya Kolisi)
Dear Friends First off, please take a moment to congratulate Cape Town author, CA Davids, whose intelligent, life-complicating, and therefore enriching and expanding book, How To Be a Revolutionary, this week won one of South Africa’s most prestigious literary awards,…
#176: Leadership Lessons (from Beatrice Tollman)
Good morning friends If you’ve had the kind of week I had, then you’ll appreciate this baffled tiger and this curious baby elephant. In fact, even if you’ve had the best week of your life, these snippets will make you even happier. If…
#159: Reflections on Rwanda
Good morning dear friends I have just returned from the Africa Impact Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. The Forum is a biannual gathering of ALI fellows from across the continent. In the room were people from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania,…