Management

As a society, we are on the precipice of The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and we are only just beginning to understand the radical effects it will have on the way we communicate, live and work.

An often-used metaphor to describe the concept of business is the armed forces. You have the general at the top and a series of levels of hierarchy below – right down to the lower ranks who go off to fight the war as soldiers, sailors or pilots.

When Finance Minister Tito Mboweni gives his Budget Speech for the 2019/20 tax year next week (20 February), I hope to hear examples of how the government will work towards boosting South Africa’s ranking in The World Bank's annual 'Doing Business Report'. Given that India climbed 23 positions in this year’s ranking and that South Africa ranked 32nd just a decade ago, this goal is highly achievable.

Corruption is a reality throughout the world. For any organisation, the financial and reputational risks that follow incidents of corrupt activity can be quite severe.

South Africa’s current woes are in large part a result of a large-scale breakdown in ethics (both personal and professional) and good governance practices. One only needs to look at the goings-on at Steinhoff, KPMG, Eskom, SARS and VBS Bank to see the impact that unethical behaviour, large scale looting and unchecked business practices have had on the South African economy and on South Africans, whose confidence in the leadership of this country and those in business is at an all-time low.

Remuneration and performance of boards of directors has been the subject of extensive conceptualisation and empirical research over many years. Internationally, most of this research has dealt with European and American based companies.

Leading organisations can be lonely and a coach and mentorship make a real difference. This is especially true when you are an inexperienced CEO in a small start-up or a fledgling scale-up.

New research shows a firm’s competitive advantage can last more than three times as long as previously believed and that companies with 'higher-order' resources can greatly outlast their competitors.

Recent news reports relating to the withdrawal of a non-executive director up for re-election due to his non-attendance at meetings for four years by Purple, a JSE-listed company, highlight one critical area of a director’s responsibility: the necessity to attend board meetings.

Every loving son ages with the same question on his mind: 'What are we going to do about my mom?' This question follows from some lessons I learned from an interview with Jason Calacanis, an American internet entrepreneur, angel investor, author and blogger and Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor which is a business in the USA focused on private Home Care for the elderly.