Jim Collins, in “Good to Great” suggests that it is imperative for one to select the right people or “get the right people on the bus” as a means of developing a great company. In a South African economy where legislation like BEE is enforced, it is important to understand this process and be rigorous about selection. Is then the new black talent is a highly sought after commodity in the workplace today?
As a black South African there are often numerous offers to form part of Business boards all in the name of BEE. Skin colour, it seems, is now at times a greater competency than skill. I wonder what the price of all this is going to be?
In the new economy, relationship building with staff will be critical. There is a new black kid on the block who does not want to be insulted by all these extravagant offers in the business world. The deal and warning to companies is that it is still essential that the right people come on board than just on the merit of skin colour. It is still about skill and deliverables. Younger X’er South Africans still want to be valued for their deliverables. It is an educated group of individuals who model boomer values in their drive and need for achievement in the highest level. In some ways this group of South Africans is now entering the market and revolutionising the way business is done in the quest to remain African yet competent and competing with the best in the world. The come armed with credentials and connection with senior members in established companies and government.
Continue reading ‘Just because they are black does not mean they are right’
Aloysias Maimane asks what makes someone an African. Part of the answer relates to African celebrations. In this article, Aloysias explains what celebrations mean to Africans, and what implications this has for companies and leaders. Anyone who needs to attract, retain and inspire African staff members, whatever their cultural background, would do well to consider the importance of celebrations.
Older supermarket workers, at Britain’s Tesco, are being given a guide to youth slang to help them understand younger colleagues and customers, in the form of a pamphlet handed out to staff. The pamphlet is being tried out in some of Tesco’s 1 500 stores with a high proportion of employees over retirement age.
For those who travel regularly to different cultures, you know the nightmare of arriving in a new country and realising that you don’t know some important local customs. I’m not talking about the customs officials at the airport, but rather issues like do you tip the taxi driver, and if so, how much. Do you tip the porter at the hotel, or the waitress at the restuarant?
I have been black for as long as I can remember, yet it would seem of late with the introduction of technology, education and westernised worldview, that reality is consistently being challenged. I grew up in Soweto with the values of the struggle being continually reinforced along with those of simply living in community with others. I guess you can call that Ubuntu but that term is undergoing huge fatigue and is progressively losing currency.
In the past two e-zines, John Maxwell has 
A great article in the latest Economist magazine looks at the issue of corporate locations, and where you place your key executives. The subtitle asks: “Does the location of a company’s headquarters matter any more?” Read the article, from the 8 March 2007 editiion, 
One of TomorrowToday’s bright young stars, Aloysias Maimane helps us to understand some of the unique drivers and motivators of young, black talent. His insights will assist those who are battling to attract and retain these “black diamonds”.
A hot-off-the-press study by the UCT Unilever Institute and Research Surveys has found that 49% of Black Diamonds feel that they are misrepresented in the media by local marketers and advertisers. One respondent summed up the feeling of almost half of the respondents by saying: “South Africa has had the political revolution, we’re in the midst of the economic revolution, but we have yet to see a media revolution!”
While watching the first episode of Survivor South Africa last night, Sam and I wondered how the series would differ from the US version and whether we’d see a distinctly South African flavour come out of the tried and tested Survivor script and screenplay. At first we reckoned that we’d see how much more tolerant South Africans are of our fellow earth-inhabitants than those of our American compatriots.
The difficulty is that the starting point is within us. Most of us are not even aware of our discriminatory bias. Ask yourself: “when a taxi drives like a maniac and pulls in front of you, nearly cutting you off the road, who do you mentally picture is driving that vehicle?” Depending on your city, you might answer: Johannesburg: young, black male (unlicensed, arrogant, rude, and probably armed); Sydney: middle-aged, Asian (can’t speak English); London: middle-aged, Pakistani; New York: unknown origin, but “not from here” and can’t speak English (maybe even an alien?). In each case, we might be right, but we could also be hopelessly wrong. Yes, we can have a bit of fun with the issue of discrimination… But, lets be aware of our own latent prejudices. That’s the starting point, and its more difficult than we can ever know to overcome them.
Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, has been sacked by his employers, Ten Sports, after calling Hashim Amla a ‘terrorist’ on live television during the fourth day’s play between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Colombo. When Amla, who is a devout Muslim, complete with full beard, took the catch to dismiss Sangakkara, Jones was heard to say “the terrorist has got another wicket”.
Last week, the USA Supreme Court ruled on the matter of Burlington Northern v. White, a sexual discrimination case. Basically, the woman involved had been verbally harassed by a male supervisor in front of her all male colleagues. When she ultimately complained, he was discplined, but she was essentally demoted, and trumped up disciplinary charges brought against her (she was off work for 37 days without pay). For details of the case, 
To build a better work space, consult the worker bees. In a poll conducted by Knoll, a furnishings maker, and research firm DYG, 850 workers at companies with 100 or more employees were asked what surroundings made them productive. Some 45% said they work best in private offices. The rest prefer collaborative spaces (16%), their homes (18%), or other sites outside the office (22%). 
All around the world, it is becoming clear that a diverse work environment is a helpful environment for fostering innovation, global awareness, emotionally healthy workplaces, creativity, resilience and tolerance. Its becoming clear that diversity is an essential ingredient for sustainable competitive advantage.
When the Secretary-General of the United Nations makes official mention of your newspaper, its either very good or very bad. For the Danish newspaper, 
they increasingly have to deal with winging moms and dads. They can expect to receive calls concerning anything from a promotion that didn’t happen, or review that was ‘not a fair reflection of my son’s perfomance’. In the US where Baby Boomers are now having their 20 year olds in the world of work are treating their kids’ employers the same way they have dealt with their Kindergarten Teachers, Baseball Coaches and University Professors.
When the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off on January 28, 1986 who would have known that, out of the 4 publically listed contractors to the shuttle, the Dow Jones market singled out the party responsible prior to any investigation into the infamous O-ring that caused the explosion? This is one of the many case studies and examples that James Surowiecki lists in support of his premise in The Wisdom of Crowds (Buy it at 
One of the major problems of the AIDS epidemic in Africa (and soon in Asia, Russia, China and India, too), is that it hits the middle age people most (mainly because in Africa, AIDS is sexually transmitted between heterosexuals). This has the effect of removing parents from society. Its hard to write that blandly, without feeling the impact of it in your gut - especially if you live in Africa at the moment. For example, 
“According to the philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle, chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.� (Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett)
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