Category Archives: Talking business

Aristotle said: “Trust allows groups to flourish, to achieve excellence”. And yet, as I found out in conversation with Roger Stewart, trust is in short supply in business today. ROGER Stewart reminds me of my grandfather. We’re discussing trust in … Continue reading →

WHEN last did you have a truly stimulating and fruitful conversation that generated thought and/or inspired action? How often do you really engage with your colleagues and feel that you have learned or conveyed something new and useful? The truth … Continue reading →

MOVE over management consultants and executive coaches. Here come the sangomas. In their animal skins, feathers, beads and Gucci glasses, bones are thrown, ancestors consulted, business and career problems diagnosed, advice and medication dispensed, and MasterCard accepted. With some, you … Continue reading →

French scientist, Alexis Carrel said, “All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know.” Recent studies among leaders confirm this and underscore the value of developing intuition. BUSINESS is all about … Continue reading →

In case you missed it last year, here’s a copy of my exclusive interview with Santa Claus, which was originally published in Business Day in December 2010. This year, I interviewed a number of his helpers. The article will be … Continue reading →

Frederic Chopin was seven years old when he composed Polonaise in G Minor. Winston Churchill was 84 when he ran for (and won) a place in the House of Commons. And yet, the value of age diversity is yet to … Continue reading →

ONE of the first lessons in exporting maintains that successful international dealings call for more than just commercial expertise. Ignorance about a customer or supplier’s culture can lead to misinterpretation, frustration, and sometimes even acute and costly embarrassment. You surely … Continue reading →

FOR many of us, abalone (or perlemoen) is a word that haunts newspaper headlines, typically accompanied by the words “poachers”, “illegal”, “ban” and/or “extinction”. Here then, is a headline that may surprise you: South Africa (SA) leads western supply of … Continue reading →

A VERY wise man – so wise, in fact, that I married him – taught me that when you trust people, they honour that trust. One of his most convincing lessons in this regard goes as follows: Approximately 16 years … Continue reading →

THE practice of ‘poaching’ employees from other companies and matchmaking people with employers can be traced back to fourteenth century Germany. Headhunting in the modern-day corporate jungle however, only showed significant growth in the early 1990s when conventional recruitment methods … Continue reading →