my views

Life lessons we can all benefit from Hot off the press, ‘An Ode to My Mother-in-law, Winnie Serobe… a mentorship of love and honour’ written by Gloria Serobe launched on National Women’s Day (9 August 2023) in South Africa. This auspicious date also marks the 10th anniversary of Winnie Serobe’s passing. Gloria’s book reflects on her relationship with her mother-in-law, the lessons Mama Winnie imparted to her and how the application of these lessons has improved the lives of so many people that Mama Winnie has touched. Gloria credits a big part of her success to Mama Winnie’s networks that she exposed her to very early on in her career. And the lessons and learnings around caring for the community, lifting as your rise, the true meaning of living a life of service and asking the question, “Is what I’m doing good for all South Africans?”, is some of the things we can all apply in our daily lives.  In the book, Gloria reflects on her journey with the Serobe family, and they are nothing sh

Beaten but not Broken by Vanessa Govender I voraciously consumed Vanessa Govender’s story ‘Beaten but not Broken’. I hung onto her every word. Vanessa is an amazing storyteller, a journalist by profession, (you will probably remember her as the eTV news reporter). Her story is well-written, eloquently articulated and she weaves the intricate tale with such detail that it transports you to that place and memory, where you feel what she felt and experience her hurt, heartbreak, disappointment and longing for love and acceptance. I saw the book on my friend, Kim Langley’s Instagram post and she offered to borrow it to me. When she handed me the book, I asked her if it was going to bring me down. If it was difficult to read about Vanessa’s experiences even though I had no idea what the book was about. Kim assured me that it would not.  The title alludes to one of abuse but it also speaks to the strength of the human spirit and our innate ability to survive and even thrive.  This is

From Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office By Lois P. Frankel  Do you work hard but are struggling to get ahead in your career? Do you look at women who have reached the pinnacle of their careers and wonder what their secrets to success are? Do you wish there were more female role models who could mentor you? Do you wonder what you can do to make people take you more seriously in the workplace? If these questions have crossed your mind, you are not alone. Lois P. Frankel, author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and its sequel, is an executive coach and has helped many professionals for over 20 years. In her book she explores 133 common mistakes women make and provides coaching tips to rectify the behaviour or attitude. While we explore 10 of these tips, the book is best used as a handbook to refer back to often. 1. Pretending it’s not a game   The workplace much like any other game has rules. Think of the popular TV series Game of Thrones which tells of warri

It’s been a couple of months since I blogged. I’ve been a bit preoccupied. A few weeks ago I attended our company’s awards evening where we recognised the work of our staff volunteers. I was privileged to meet one of the guest speakers, Professor Shirley Zinn, who shared a brief synopsis of her story. She has a book Swimming Upstream, which I read cover to cover on the Saturday after we met. Shirley’s story is both mesmerising and heart-breaking. As the reader you are taken along on her journey which was not easy but her attitude and perseverance resulted in an inspirational tale of how hard work is rewarded abundantly. Here are some of the highlights from Shirley’s book that stood out for me: 1. Where you start out doesn’t have to determine where you end up. You are not a product of our circumstance. Shirley was born in Steenberg on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape. It is an area that is consumed with socio-economic conditions such as gangsterism, domestic violence, poverty,

Insights from “Who moved my cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson  An amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life The word ‘change’ and its implications is debilitating to many. People are often afraid of change. The sayings “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or “A leopard can’t change its spots” are just excuses for not adapting or embracing change. There are also positive sayings for example “a change is like a holiday”.  Think about your current situation, your family, your circle of friends or the colleagues in your team. You all have different goals and motivations for why you do certain things. For some it might be ambition, money, family, material things, enjoying good health or developing a spiritual sense of wellbeing…  Everyone’s motivation is different and this affects how we deal with change. If we can read people well and understand their motivations, we can use our insight to manage how we position change and speak to different individuals

A review of Grey the latest book by EL James, author of the 50 Shades trilogy Grey released on 18 June (Christian Grey’s birthday) the latest installment from EL James, author of the 50 Shades Trilogy, is already topping the best seller charts but be warned that you’ll probably suffer from buyer’s remorse because it will leave you hanging. James claims that the fans begged for this book. Of course based on the sheer global numbers of people who bought the trilogy (around 125 million) and the additional people who contributed to the US$288 million in tickets sales for the movie, it is forgone conclusion that Grey would be a chart topper and an opportunity that James could not pass up even though her efforts disappoint. In Grey, Christian Grey comes across as a husk of a man, hollow on the inside. He has the same internal dialogue that Ana had in the previous books, clearly James’ writing style and although the book is marketed as the story from Christian Grey’s perspective, it

A modern fable on real success in business and in life by Robin Sharma  I attended Robin Sharma ’s presentation at the Cape Town Convention Centre in 2013, which was part of his promotional tour for his book The leader who had no title . I first encountered Robin as one of the ‘talking heads’ in Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret and again when a very close friend of mine gave me his earlier book The monk who sold his Ferrari as a gift. But meeting Robin, when he autographed the copy of my book, was surreal as he embodies what he ‘preaches’. He is unbelievably humble, easy to talk to and has no sense of self-importance. Much like The Monk who sold his Ferrari, The leader who had no title is written as a fable. Although the characters and story are fictitious, the lessons and learnings that are shared are true and 100% applicable to anyone’s situation. The leader who had no title is told through the journey of Blake Davis, the protagonist from New York, who had a good upbringing but

I was privileged to attend a presentation by Ian Thomas , author of The power of the pride and was captivated by the lessons we can learn from lions and how we can apply these to business. Ian spent a number of years as a game ranger at an exclusive game farm in Africa. He was often privy to the conversations of many business people and saw various correlations between business and how lions interacted. Ian’s presentation contains footage and sound clips of the animals he is talking about and it is quite powerful to hear the roar of the lions. The highlights from Ian’s presentation are: 1. Powerful teams are made up of powerful individuals Ian repeated this a few times before the audience fully absorbed the power of this statement. But essentially it is exactly what it says ‘powerful teams are made up of powerful individuals’. Individuals who are aware of their strengths and continuously nurture it will contribute better to the teams’ performance. According to Ian, lion