What made SABMiller a world leader?“ someone asked in the Q&A part of one of my presentations recently. It requires a bit of explanation. Each of the many mega-successful South African companies that have taken their smart ideas global have done something particularly well. Nando’s created casual dining in the UK and took its superlative…

“South Africa is that peculiar kind of place where things are never as good as they should be, but never as bad as they could be.” The founder of some of South Africa’s most successful companies over the past five decades, swore to me it was Jan Smuts, the South African statesman whose presence loomed…

No-one likes mistakes, but here is something I have learned from one of South Africa’s most ambitious companies about how to tolerate risk-taking and deal with mistakes which inevitably will happen from time to time.   How tolerant are you of mistakes in your business?   I was having a meeting in the staff dining…

How much better would our businesses be if we paid attention to the little people, those in most organisations who are sometimes seen but seldom heard? Too often, junior employees are not deemed worthy of the attention of those in the C-suite who dictate strategy from the ivory tower for implementation without question.   Fortunately…