Tag: leadership

From the Stoics and Ancient Egypt to Rome and Artificial Intelligence (AI), perhaps the greatest wisdom lies in learning to distinguish appearance from reality

I was promoted three times before I ever asked for a promotion. Each time, it happened because the person above me left. Someone needed to hold the work together. I stepped up, and I didn't campaign or pitch myself for the role. I just did the job that needed doing. Eventually, the title caught up with the work.

For boards of listed companies, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) succession is often framed as a debate about background. Finance or operations, commercial flair or financial discipline? The tendency is to treat the top job as the natural culmination of a particular functional path. The evidence suggests that this thinking is increasingly outdated.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from novelty to everyday business infrastructure. It now sits inside email platforms, document systems, customer service channels, finance tools and analytics environments, influencing how decisions are prepared and how work gets done.

From the sawdust-covered floors of a small Krugersdorp joinery to Johannesburg’s boardrooms, Forged in Grit tells an extraordinary story. Barry Philip Lok, founder of William Tell, traces his journey from humble beginnings in the 1970s to building one of South Africa’s leading publicly listed manufacturing businesses.

The Golden Thirteen were the first African American men commissioned as officers in the United States Navy. Their story is more than a historical milestone. It is a powerful example of how teams can perform under pressure, overcome systemic barriers and create lasting change.

For years, one question has dominated the conversation around women ascending into leadership positions - how do we enable more women to reach the top?

If there is one compliment South Africans hear more than any other, it is this: "South Africans are so resilient". We wear it almost as a badge of honour. We have endured economic uncertainty, political shifts, load shedding, global disruption and constant change. Furthermore, we adapt because we have to. But I often wonder whether we've misunderstood resilience.

When COVID-19 emptied offices in 2020, remote work wasn't a carefully designed workplace strategy. It was an emergency response. Kitchen tables became desks, meetings moved online, and businesses adapted faster than many thought possible. In the years that followed, flexibility became a defining feature of many workplaces. But for some, the pendulum is swinging back globally once again. Amazon introduced a five-day office expectation in January 2025.

Read our exclusive cover story titled Mission focus – does AI enable strategy or create distraction? by Steven Ambrose, CEO, Strategy Worx Consulting, plus a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics.