“You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.” Chekhov’s words have always resonated with me. And yet, I often encounter leaders whose mantra is that trust must be earned. In the cut-and-thrust of corporate life my turning…
Hello friends Today’s letter is coming to you from Schuilhoek Cottage. Thank you to Defijn founder, Eckardt Kasselman, for introducing me to this place of quiet beauty. I am staying mostly offline, so will share some pictures with you next…
It’s been a week! I hope that you’re well. If you’re feeling like you need a wry smile, you’ll love Reza Farazmand’s dry sense of humour. While parts of the world were being weird about South Africa’s scientific excellence, the…
Good morning friends Today is the fiftieth and final letter of this year. In my first letter of the year, I wrote “This will not be an easy year.” In the second, a week later, I said “This year will…
I hope that January has treated you well. It’s over tomorrow. That feels ridiculous to say, but it is. At some point, I will write to you about time, but that’s not today’s journey. As you may know, I live…
This delicate sculpture by Atang Tshikare will make your heart smile. He created it in the heart of lockdown. It speaks of life, of growth, of the possibility of renewal. I thought we all need to be reminded of that possibility.…
Good morning friends In Good to Great, leading business thinker Jim Collins developed the concept of the flywheel. In an accompanying monograph he writes, “No matter how dramatic the end result, good-to-great transformations never happen in one fell swoop. In…
Good morning everyone In last week’s letter, I included quotations about love from Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul. Thank you to Maryse Barack who shared this quotation from Chilean biologist, Humberto Maturana, “Love, allowing the other to be a…
Happy February Everyone Thank you to everyone who has reached out in the past week to send me suggestions for this letter. I have been moved by the generosity with which you have taken time to share your knowledge with…