Good morning dear friends This is 2024’s final letter. This year’s favourite letters were How To Listen Better, Love &, Stay in Your Comfort Zone and How To Be Effective, Part One and Two. I will return on 19 January.…
Good morning good people Yesterday, after months of rain (for which we are grateful) and weeks of wind, summer arrived on the Cape Peninsula. Gaudy neon ribbons of runners and cyclists wove their way around the coastal road. Happy swimmers…
Dear friends During the pandemic, I received an email from one of my favourite independent bookstores, Cape Town’s The Book Lounge, with an unusual proposition – ‘send us an email telling us what books you’ve enjoyed, and we’ll make a…
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 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…
Dear friends It’s been some time since I shared art, food and wine with you. Let’s go… I love LA-based ceramicist Jonathan Yamakami’s little walking vase, one of my favourite artists Matthew Hindley’s work now beautifies these magnificent wines and…
I apologise. I know that all effective conversations have four components – establishing relationship, deepening understanding, exploring possibilities, and agreeing action. Last week, I ignored this. It was a month since I’d written to you, and I felt pressured (my…
“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…
It’s the 16th of October. We’re approaching the end of an arduous three years. Last year, Nicholas Christakis’s Apollo’s Arrow helped us explore the coronavirus context. As a reminder, Christakis is the director of The Human Nature Lab at Yale…
I loved artist Simphiwe Ndzube’s posts honouring the great South African sculptors Noria Mabasa and Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi (You can read more about Sebidi here). It is wonderful to see someone who is experiencing contemporary success express gratitude for those who have influenced his way…
Good morning You’ll remember that earlier this year I dived into the basics of running effective organisations. I did so because we are all confronting profound uncertainty. And, in uncertainty, the most powerful strategy is to build resilience, to ensure that…
Good morning friends If this is the first time you’re reading this letter, you can subscribe here and learn more about my coaching practice here. This week The Doc, a documentary about one of the pioneers of rap, D.O.C., was released at the…