People always want to know how I found the courage to start an organization while in university, and how I aggregated the resources. My answer is simple — just start. When I started, I had no idea what was required to run an organization and I received advice from nobody. I simply wrote down my ideas in a journal, introduced those ideas to a few friends, invited them for a meeting and took their questions.
I am convinced that there are no disadvantaged people in life. There are only people who refuse to make the most of the resources available to them. I know that there are people who have had it far worse than I have in life, but I have also seen people from much poorer backgrounds who have achieved far more than I have. We need to stop complaining about what we do not have and start maximizing what we do have.
As I have found myself in positions to mentor others, I have devised a theory of my own – that everyone is qualified to be a mentor. I believe that even if you are only one step ahead of another person on the ladder of life, you have a responsibility – an obligation – to reach behind you and help them up with a combination of your experiences and your wisdom.
Public leadership must always be held in trust. The privileges that we hold today must never be equated with lifetime mandates. Individuals who have been called to serve must truly approach their tenure with an element of humility and a commitment to decisiveness. In these uncertain times, people cannot afford many apologies. Who knows what new challenge lurks around the corner?
In this podcast, I discuss a wide range of issues with Stephen Grootes, ranging from the impact of COVID-19 on the world to the June 2012 ruling of the South African Constitutional Court allowing for independent candidacy in elections, the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of colonial statues in the USA and the UK, and the poor legacy… Read More »SA FM Sunrise with Stephen Grootes – 12 June 2020
Our world has changed forever, and we may not even realize the full extent of that transformation for a while. When news broke about a new virus from China early in 2020, it felt so far away from the rest of the world. Three short months after, the entire world had ground to a complete halt. Never in recent history,… Read More »The New Normal is Here. Embrace it.
What excites me today is that I am not making the same mistakes that I made last year. With each new advancement comes different challenges, but I have learned focus, empathy, stress-management, delivery, and a quality-first mindset from some of the managers with whom I have been privileged to work. I can only hope that I have done a good enough job of passing off some of these lessons to my teams as well.
In this interview with Ashraf Garda on SA FM (South African Broadcasting Corporation), I discuss the rising wave of populism around the world and the future of politics in South Africa. I argued that while the rise of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) as a political party is impressive, the world is yet to get a firm grasp on what… Read More »SA FM View Point with Ashraf Garda – 13 Nov 2018
At its core, populism seeks to polarize populations and utilize the tactic of fear to pursue narrow-minded objectives. Populism has fuelled some of the worst episodes of subjugation that the world has experienced and it is sadly making a comeback. Some argue that it may not last long as the world moves in waves, but could this be the beginning of the end of rational politics?
When I was in university some years ago, I was primarily involved in journalism. I loved it. I was also a part-time Geography teacher in a private high school while running tutorials for my peers and juniors. Then I took on debating and public speaking in my second year and won a range of competitions; I then interned as a… Read More »For Discovery, Before Purpose
The first time I met him was in March 2015, and at that time he was remarkable in an unremarkable way; he was a chubby little boy with a curious dress sense and an eagerness to stand out. We later joked about his checkered shirt and tie combo on his first visit to South Africa to participate at the second… Read More »He Taught Me Leadership: Mubarak Adetunji
“I am a Nigerian going to school here in the US, but I’ll like to eventually have some impact in my home country, and I’m just not sure how to go about it. Do you have any advice for me?” The question was asked by a young lady named Simi, after I had delivered a talk to a room full… Read More »Before Opportunity Strikes