Exploding Leadership Myths - Convention aims to chart the way forward
News
Some of South Africa’s most eminent leaders are to address a major leadership convention in March, at which crucial questions around the country’s corporate future will be discussed.

The Tomorrow’s Leaders Convention will be addressed by, among others, ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa, former DA leader Tony Leon, Head of Anglo American SA Kuseni Dlamini, CEO of Business Unity SA Jerry Vilakazi, Foschini Director Shani Naidoo and Craig Yeatman, CEO of WorldsView Consulting.

The Convention, at the Sandton Convention Centre on March 10, will see six hundred of South Africa’s top young business leaders gather to address key leadership issues facing the country today.

Hosted by Leadership Magazine and Anglo American South Africa, the event brings together young managers destined to lead their organisations in the near future.

It provides these innovative young leaders with a rare opportunity to meet each other and discuss crucial opportunities in their business lives.

Kuseni Dlamini, Head of Anglo American South Africa, says the event is an important one on the country’s corporate calendar.

“Now, more than ever, South Africa needs to identify and reward leaders of true excellence. The Convention does this in a unique way, and it also affords our young leaders a perfect networking opportunity, which is crucial to success in business today,” says Dlamini.

Phosa says the Convention will give young South Africans “the space they need to demonstrate their unique leadership qualities”.

He praises young South Africans for exhibiting the calibre of leadership their country needs and deserves.

“The ANC has always believed that at the heart of good leadership lie three essential qualities: innovation, courage and perseverance. The current crop of business leaders in our country displays all these qualities, and many more,” says Phosa.

He says South Africa needs quality leadership more than ever. “The tough economic times we are living in call for leadership of a rare kind – pragmatic, disciplined and brave,” says Phosa.

Tony Leon, meanwhile, says inspirational corporate leadership is very important to South Africa’s future. However, he adds, recent events in the world economy “have imploded the myth that corporate CEOs are decisive in an environment of deteriorating economic conditions and circumstances”.

“Napoleon wrongly assumed that he directed the course of the Battle of Borodino, because objectively none of his battle orders were carried out. Likewise in business – one time innovative corporations, from Enron to Lehman Brothers, who were hailed for their innovation, in fact spread risk and instability,” says Leon.

The most important leadership essentials, he adds, are sound preparation, courage, integrity and learning to deal with failure.
But it is important to remember, says Leon, “that even the great leaders of history, from Churchill to Steve Jobs of Apple, in the words of the Financial Times’ John Kay, “tend to go on winning until they lose.”

He says mentoring of potential young leaders is a crucial, often missing element of leadership training and the Convention will play an important role in this regard.

“I think South Africa and the world are facing the worst economic conditions we have seen in perhaps four generations. This is both a threat and a challenge. The environment in which young leadership finds itself is harsh and exacting, but it’s an opportunity for true excellence to shine through. It is easy to break through when all the stars are in alignment, but more challenging when the path ahead is less clear. Optimism and perseverance are the keys to navigation now,” says Leon.

South Africa’s democracy and democratic endurance, he adds, is far from assured. “Our economy has not generated sufficient growth or jobs and my vision for our country is that it will reconnect itself to its best instincts and traditions and, in the words of US President Thomas Jefferson, prefer ‘the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.’”

Foschini Director Shani Naidoo says corporations are going through more change than ever before.

“The business paradigms and age old beliefs that supported leadership in the past are being challenged. The territory for leadership is now less known than ever before and leaders cannot fake good leadership - their capability is visible for all to see from day one”.

She believes the most important ingredients necessary for young leaders in South Africa today are “understanding self, examining core drivers of behaviour, establishing your relationship to power, thinking about thinking, having the courage to move forward, integrity and delivering results”.

Naidoo says corporates need to “immerse young leaders in situations where they are challenged to think about how they problem solve and think, how they react to others and where over-emphasis on one right way is discouraged”.

She believes lack of access to role models due to poor succession in large corporates is a key challenge facing business in South Africa today, and it is here that the Convention can play an important role.

“The Convention will showcase role models with real experience and integrity and allow them to have meaningful conversations about success formulas,” says Naidoo.

She would like to see South Africa become “a place where honest dialogue occurs on critical topics, which results in resources being assigned in the right direction and applied with honour and integrity”.

According to event director, Dylan James, the nomination period is still open for the 2009 Convention and organisations have been invited to nominate their future leaders to attend, at no cost. “South Africa has an abundance of highly talented leaders and the best way to ensure their future role in our country can be summed up in one word: recognition,” says James. “The Convention is the perfect opportunity to do just that”.