Dear Friends First, an announcement. From Thursday, my parents are visiting what is a currently a windy Southern Peninsula (the whales seem to be hiding out or have left) and so I am taking a break from writing to spend time…
Dear Friends Today’s letter is a little different. Over the past few months, I’ve seen some spectacular musicians perform. I thought we’d reflect on the leadership lessons they teach us. Before we get started, there are a few things worth noting.…
Dear friends On 30 June, President Ramaphosa announced South Africa’s new Cabinet. This Wednesday, I posted my Cabinet Reading List. My coaching practice birthed the idea. A central component of coaching is expanding clients’ possibilities. Carefully curated reading is a…
Good morning friends Thank you for your generous comments and reflections marking the fifth anniversary of my coaching practice. Today, we’ll get straight to it. /strategyLast week, I introduced you to Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up. You’ll remember he recommends business leaders focus…
Dear friends Ten days ago, whilst working in the pre-dawn – that sounds hard-working, but in truth, winter sunrise is only at 08h00 – I heard a familiar yet always thrilling sound. A sound somewhat like a water-logged digeridoo being…
Good morning friends Today is more essay than letter. It’s a bit long. I apologise, but is about your self-care, about self-care for leaders. It needed the words. I’d love to know what you think. You can find me on LinkedIn…
Dear friends Apologies to those of you who missed my announcement that I wasn’t writing last weekend, I was flattered to know that you missed our letter. I was speaking at Interconnect Systems Strategy Conference and Standard Bank Group’s Software…
Dear friends Thank you for your generous comments after last week’s leadership lessons from Caster Semenya’s Race to be Myself. I appreciated them. Before we start, a quick public service announcement, my favourite wine merchants, The Wine Cellar, have a…
Dear Friends Just four years ago, most of the world was in lockdown. In the next twenty-four months many of us lost loved ones, and some of us were grievously ill. In February 2021, I turned to physician and sociologist Nicholas Christakis’s…
Good morning good people Unless you’ve been heavily sedated for the past two weeks, you know that Ms. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has released a new album, Cowboy Carter. What you may not know is that she watched many different Westerns for inspiration…
Dear Friends I hope you’re enjoying your long weekend. Thursday night took me to Swedish alto-saxophonist Fredrik Kronkvist gig at The Olympia Bakery. If you’ll allow me some stereotyping, I love the contradiction of Scandinavian jazzmen. Invariably they arrive tightly…
Dear Friends After last week’s letter, I received several emails sharing memories of other grandfathers who’d served in WW2 and other conflicts. Each email reflected on the pain that lived on decades past the war. William Bird alerted me…