August 2020 Issue

Transformational leadership

As we celebrate women this month we have dedicated this issue to inspirational women who are not only wonderful
leaders, but who also are actively involved in projects to make the world a better place.

We show you women who have challenged, questioned and propelled themselves forward in an environment where people
haven’t always been ready to hear what they had to say. But that hasn’t stopped them and they have made a tremedous impact. These are women who are committed to pulling others up with them and who will not rest until they’ve made it possible for the voiceless to be heard. Read their stories on page 14.

We also take a look at seven young females who are ‘seeing the bigger picture’ and have blown us away with what they are
doing to make South Africa and the world a better place – and in doing so they’re educating others to also get involved in solving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article it was written that one of the qualities that women leaders have that sets them
apart is that they motivate through transformation. Studies show that women lead through inspiration, transforming people’s attitudes and beliefs, and aligning people with meaning and purpose. Transformational leadership is linked to higher levels of team engagement, performance and productivity and is a critical path to improving leaders’ performance.

It is such a powerful lesson that if we spend more time trying to win people’s hearts and souls, and lead through both EQ and IQ, as opposed to leaning more on the latter, we will nurture change in beliefs rather than behaviours; we would all be better leaders.

As Joanne Ciulla quotes: ‘Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion and a shared vision of the good’.

Happy women’s month to all the strong women: May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.

Gerinda Engelbrecht, Editor