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…
I started building my coaching practice a mere six months before the pandemic hit our world. It’s meant that I have had this peculiar experience of creating a new way of living and working during an extraordinarily unstable time. All…
This has been a hard week. And so, today’s letter is much more personal than any I’ve ever written to you. I hope that’s okay. I still haven’t got the intellectual resources to dive into James Suzman’s book, but in…
I guess I was tempting fate with the subject of this week’s letter that had been inspired by Will Santino’s cartoon that I thought captured what we are all feeling. The plan was to explore that whilst the mental health and resilience…
Good morning friends Earlier this year the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired one of South African ceramicist Zizipo Poswa’s works. This followed a 2019 purchase of two of her works by the LA County Museum of Art. On 25 March, Poswa’s debut exhibition…
Good morning everyone We’re in March. I had planned this week’s letter to focus on the tweaks we can make to our work-lives to alleviate stress and burnout. However, I think we’re all a little gatvol of feeling gatvol (my international readers, please ask…
Good morning everyone Thank you for all the messages I received in response to last week’s letter on burnout. It is clear from the number of messages that I received that everyone is taking strain. I will take cognizance of this…