IT WAS BACK in 2010 when Adriaan and I first mooted the idea of doing something unique to foster a national conversation on leadership. Wherever we looked, it seemed as if every aspect of leadership had become an afterthought.
Not long after our initial discussion a bi-weekly feature on leadership was born, with Adriaan as a lead contributor. This platform found its way into Business Report, the national financial daily that I have had the privilege of being its editor.
At the onset, our goal was to push the boundaries and bring South Africans and the world, an unvarnished dose of interviews and insights from leaders from all walks of life.
From politics, to business, to sports, to academia, to the arts – we said no leader should be off limits. And this is because, we thought, South Africans deserve to know what stuff their leaders are made of.
We also wanted to go back in time to reflect on the leader’s life story – where they come from, what obstacles they have had to overcome, and how do they hope to inspire the next generation of leaders.
These and many other questions are what has catalysed into this pertinent and timely book – Seamless Leadership: Universal Lessons from South Africa.
Generally, what is often unappreciated is the fact that South Africa’s legacy is about nothing else but leadership.
That legacy is borne out by the contribution that leaders like Nelson Mandela made to bring about change by heeding the call to rise above themselves.
And yet, so little attention is given to leadership milestones that have taken the country from a hopeless state to a hopeful future. In so many ways this book is about revealing the untold story of South Africa to the world.
Put simply, that story is about the fact that South Africa is endowed with a diverse tapestry of leaders whose life experiences should inspire hope about our future as a nation. Where else in Africa do you find four Nobel Laureates? – Chief Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Only in South Africa!
In bringing out this book, Adriaan has provided a mirror through which the current generation of South African leaders can look at themselves through the experiences of those featured within these pages.
One of our first interviews that Adriaan and I did for our leadership conversations project was with President Jacob Zuma in August 2010.
In that interview, we got a rare glimpse at what was not generally in the public domain about the President.
Such is the nature of the collection of the conversations contained in this book.
Not only has Adriaan provided a treasure trove of insights about leadership from the South African context, he has also put together an illuminating spotlight about what may not generally be widely known about the leaders covered herein.
In any other country Herman Mashaba would by now be a household name. Not in South Africa. But here is a man, whose life story brings to light the ingenuity of an ordinary entrepreneur, who built a black hair care company out of nothing.
How about Michael Jordaan? For a long time, he held the sole title of being the most active South African chief executive on Twitter. This is someone who knew and understood what social media is, way before other business leaders did when he was at the helm of First National Bank.
In the book, Adriaan also showcases a conversation that we both had with Dr Iqbal Survé. He is one of South Africa’s leading businessmen. His 2013 purchase of Independent Newspapers, the largest publisher of English newspapers on the African continent and the owner of Business Report, has not only made him a media mogul, but a transformative force in what is still a highly contested space in South Africa.
This book gives you as the reader an adulterated view into what has shaped some of the country’s contemporary leaders, and that is the reason why the scope of the book is not confined to business, but it also featured luminaries who have excelled in many other endeavours.
Gill Marcus, the former governor of the South African Reserve Bank, also gives us a closer look at what constitutes her leadership philosophy.
The conversation with swimming sensation Chad Le Clos provides insights that were little known about this young man who shot into the spotlight at the London Olympics in 2012 to grab the baton from the American swimming super-hero, Michael Phelps. So, from the boardroom to the swimming pool, this book goes wherever there is leadership.
Insights from all the stories contained inside the covers are, by and large, an acknowledgement of the breadth and scope of leadership experience that is found in South Africa.
It is my hope that it will form a timeless reference for anyone seeking to understand why leaders are the way they are or are not the way they are supposed to be.
I believe that inside each one of us there is a leader, waiting to seize the responsibility to build, inspire and challenge the status quo. These three tasks may seem so simple, yet they constitute some of the first things that leaders forget. In this book Adriaan answers the question why leaders become leaders in the first place.
Adriaan’s admiration of Nelson Mandela flows in part from a realisation that Mandela spent his life relentlessly pursuing to bring about a new reality as a leader – replacing despair with hope, and selfishness with magnanimity.
This is what leadership meant to Mandela. In this book you will also learn how Mandela’s leadership journey has helped shape the leaders profiled herein.
I know that this work merely marks the beginning of a long conversation about leadership. Therefore, this book should make it possible for you to start asking big questions about how you can contribute to this conversation.
I realised back in 2010 that the stage was set for a new conversation about South Africa’s leadership legacy.
So I it is a great privilege to introduce this work to you. Take time to immerse yourself in it, and it will provide you with more than just narratives about leadership but real, practical and privileged understanding about Seamless Leadership.
Ellis Mnyandu is the editor of Business Report. Follow him on Twitter: @Ellis_Mnyandu