Editor’s letter Purpose of life As another year comes to an end, you might find yourself thinking about your life’s purpose – and everything you still want to do, but haven’t had time to do. Self-help books usually offer predictable steps to finding your life’s purpose: consider your dreams, clarify your values, set some goals,…
Hope and pride During visits abroad, and especially to First World countries, one always draws comparisons between what ‘they have’ and what ‘we have (or don’t have)’. Then, sometime during your trip, you realise that yes, they have amazing public transport networks, no power cuts or water problems, and a strong currency (among many other…
Being courageous Editor’s letter When asked to define the ideal leader, many of us would highlight qualities such as intelligence, strength, determination, and vision – all the qualities typically associated with leadership. Often forgotten, or completely left off the list, are softer, more personal skills, but they are also essential. Although a certain degree of…
‘Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.’ This quote from Winston Churchill aptly resonates with the words of Professor Jonathan Jansen (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State) at an event I attended recently. He spoke about why people fail in certain circumstances, but when put in…
A catalyst for change They say that there are two ways to change the world – with the pen (the use of ideas) and the sword (the use of power). Quite understandably, it has been proven that using ideas to foster change is more effective than using the sword. While change is not as simple…
Embracing change Do you often look at people who make a difference, or people who are really successful, and wonder how they do it? I recently read an article by Victoria Rabin, the founder and CEO of Behind Every Leader. She writes that the difference in people’s lives is the difference in the standards to…
Economic emancipation will determine our future June is celebrated as Youth Month in South Africa, and on 16 June we pay tribute to the school pupils and ordinary citizens who lost their lives during the 1976 uprising in Soweto. This year marks the 39th anniversary of the Soweto uprising and to commemorate this, the National…
A world of possibilities South Africans recently celebrated Freedom Day, and while our country is still in transition and the journey is full of hurdles, we always have high hopes and work together in creating a better tomorrow for all South Africans. Unfortunately the celebrations came at a time when we are trying to put…
Are we losing touch? The numbers are mind-boggling. Google logs more than a billion searches every day. On YouTube, 63 hours of content gets loaded every minute and on Facebook there are more than 800 million updates every day. The average smartphone user checks his or her phone 162 times per day. We can all…
Ever wondered how you find peace in a stressed-out, digitally dependent world? Well, it may just be a matter of thinking differently … Mindfulness … Google the word and you will find articles about it everywhere. Time magazine even had a cover about it last year and companies like Google and other Fortune 500 organisations…