By Peter Laburn November 15, 2023 My leadership journey began early in my life. It was kickstarted by various opportunities from captaining sports teams to participating in student leadership activities and reinforced by serving in leadership roles at church, in charity organisations and on school boards. As I took on these roles, I believe
By Wilhelm Crous October 25, 2023 New work arrangements, technologies, automation, and now Artificial Intelligence make it challenging to predict the future, let alone discern which jobs will persist and which new roles will emerge. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of “I Human: AI, Automation and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique”^1, and Chief
By Wilhelm Crous October 20, 2023 Sound research on the advantages and disadvantages of new work patterns (hybrid/remote/in-office) remains limited. In many cases, the research points to contradictory findings. Findings from the 2023 Gallup State of the Workplace Report(1), conducted by Gallup across more than 140 countries, are highly insightful. Employees working remotely and
By Wilhelm Crous October 11, 2023 This week, Mpho Makwana resigned as the chairman of Eskom. The reasons for his resignation remain unclear, but it followed the rejection of the Eskom Board’s recommendation for the vacant CEO position by Minister Gordhan. In recent weeks, media reports have been replete with stories of executives resigning
Chat GPT and other generative AI are having a growing impact on the world of work. Decision-making can be enhanced, and applying AI to Human Resource Management can improve both its efficiency and quality. For many years, conventional wisdom dictated that to survive AI and Robotics, one must equip oneself with creative skill sets.
By Wilhelm Crous August 25, 2023 How do you handle an employee who consistently fails to meet expectations and continually offers excuses for their shortcomings? Liane Davey, a Toronto-based management consultant, recently shared insights in the Harvard Business Review¹ on how to tackle this challenge. She emphasised that hoping for a spontaneous change in
By Wilhelm Crous August 11, 2023 In a recent Harvard Business Review article Prof Mark Mortensen from Insead warned that if unchecked, certain hybrid/remote work practices can lead to toxic workplaces.¹ As a start Mortensen refers to Donald Sull’s five attributes of a toxic culture i.e., disrespectful, non-inclusive, unethical, cutthroat and abusive. He also
By Wilhelm Crous February 17, 2023 Most organisations were forced to pivot to a hybrid working model during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the majority of those having maintained or modified those arrangements in the past year. Employees have generally experienced this new work style favourably, as they appreciate the additional flexibility and autonomy, being
Harvard Business Review recently released an article by Hubert Joly, former Chairperson and CEO of Best Buy and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, where he discussed the interaction between strategy, purpose, and culture. When these factors align, Joly contends, “magic happens”— and it is this magic that make companies like Microsoft, Netflix and Best Buy
Hybrid work, while initially an anomaly, has now settled in to be a permanent fixture in the working world. With 90% of business leaders opting for a hybrid working environment and 75% of survey respondents believing that flexible working models will become standard practice within the next three years, the time to “wait and
