The 21st Century is the century of the individual. The most successful will be those that balance their talent thriving as successful, focused, fulfilled and creative beings.

African Leadership - Reflections of a South African Generation X LeaderWe are the Leaders weve been waiting forWisdom of African LeadershipJohannesburgP Mpho Makwana22 MAY 2014

Our Host My dear Sister Nene Molefi, My other dear Sister Nolitha Fakude, Alan Richter President of QED Consulting,

, distinguished guests, maAfrika dumelang, dumelang, abuxheni, ndimatsheroni, molweni, sanibonani, goeie more, good morning. it is a priviledge to be here this morning to share some brief reflections on Diversity & Inclusion in the context of the Global Diversity Benchmarks.

I have for a while now since 1999 been a student of intergenerational dynamics and how cross generational dynamics impact on the context within which we inspire people as leaders. It is Neil Howe and William Strauss in their authoritative work entitled, The Next 20 Years - How Customer and Workforce Attitudes Will Evolve; who inspired my passion when they made the assertion that, Generations are among the most powerful forces in history. Trackingtheir march through time lends orderand even a measure of predictabilityto long-term trends As a student of scenario thinking and strategic planning this made huge sense to me.

I agree with joel barker that a leader is someone you choose to follow to a place you wouldnt go by yourself.

The biggest challenge is that for centuries western civilisation and anglo saxon values as the dominant culture of the past 150 years or so of industrialisation has been premsed on a very strong premise of binary thinking. it was as corporations became multi-nationals and as they encountered other cultures through their expartriated executives that they encountered diversity, and on the shores of the African continent they encountered the spirit of Ubuntu. A spirit that was brished aside as timid and unambitious. a number of African scholars from South Africa raised this phenomenon of African identity and Leadership at prestigious schools like Oxford and Cambridge, however, Ubuntu became somewhat understood for the first time in the 1960s when iNkosi Albert Luthuli addressed it extensively in his let my People Go address on the occasion of him being awarded the Nobel peace prize.

In 1976 it was the founders of the BMF (a collective of Silent & Baby Boomers) who brought the spirit of ubuntu in South Africas Boardrooms as a spirit of celebrating diversity that could help transform south africas corporate culture towards a path of inclusivity. I define diversity as an enabling mindset of leadership and interdependence whose foundation is to celebrate the best in all humanity, especially ensuring a synthesis of the collective similarities and different qualities of a team or collective.

in 1994, as the founding father of our democracy, from the GI generation, uMadiba, uNqolomsila, the penultimate symbol of Ubuntu in Leadership, strengthened the Ubuntu brand of African Leadership from his strong value-system of Other Person centredness and high moral authority. President Mbeki took leaf of inspiration when as Deputy President of our Republic presented his I am an African ulogy in 1995 on the occasion of the adoption of the constitution of our democratic republic. President Mbeki (a silent - born between 19251942 generation individual) born on 18 June 1942, based his Presidency on Economics, fiscal discipline and the notion of an African Renaissance, in this period, scholars like Reuel Khoza published extensively on Ubuntu and African Leadership.

----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) ------ our first five years of Democracy were shaped by African Silent Generation Leadership values,- My Sister Nolitha, I am also encouraged by your legacy in terms of the SASOL Jouney of Transformation,- before I go into the rest of my slides i have brought some friends along to convey a message that i hope you will find as challenging and inspirational as i find it to be,

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None of us are free, one of us is chained motho ke motho ka batho

----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) -----None of us are free, one of us is chained raises a few thoughts,- leadership is impossible without moral authority,- leadership is impossible when the leader does not spread and perpetuate a core of co-leaders with moral authority,- leadership cannot be credible if the leader expediently turns a blind eye to intransigient behaviour in the organisation,2

Context #2Hypothesis

We are members of families, communities and community structures before we are employees OR Leaders of Organisations Dynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) -----The point of the Hypothesis is that we all have baggage, issues, perspectives and inspiration we bring with us into the labour market, in the South African economy, the dominant forces that shape the corporate cultures we find ourselves in remain inherently White Male and Eurocentric, including in some of the high profile BEE companies,3

Networking = Motho ke motho ka bathoA new world of new relationship patterns

Blind faithCollectivismCommandIndividualReasoned faithElective collectivismContractpersonalnetworks

CommunalHomogeneityDynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

4A shift from blind faith (or lack of faith) to reasoned trustWe will no longer be dictated to en-masse by companies.The critical filter for trust and brand/institutional acceptance are our personal networksOne of our major consultancy projects this year was to look at the changing icons of success for a financial services client, who wanted to understand the changing meaning of images used in their communications. An important insight was that icons of success have fragmented, it is more important for many people that their success be recognised by their elected group (not sure this fits here)----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) -----1. People coalese and rally naturally around power! Whilst it is imperative at a personal level to ensure that your own personal networks are enriched with diversity, the power dynamics are still shaping whether Diversity and Inclusion takes root or worse whether they advance or undermine diversity and inclusion, - this takes me to my Hypothesis #2

Context #3Hypothesis

Diversity & Inclusion hinges on leaders and their styles. Leaders like all human beings have neurotic tendencies and pass on their neurosis onto the organisations they lead.As a Woman Leader, your excellence is intertwined with mastery of your Neurotic tendencies Dynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

Success in Diversity & Inclusion requires conscious investment in meaningful strategic conversations

AssumptionsQuality of ThinkingReinforces values& Universal truthsQuality of Conversation(s)(Engagement)

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7M

COMMUNITY

LEADERSConstellation leadership is something which from a distance looks like one bright star, but in reality is an interplay of many stars. Courtesy of Mr Eric Mafuna, ESKOM Research on African Leadership, 2003

----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) -----Diversity and Inclusion continues to facilitate Non-Africanness in a country and continent that Africa is. As Africans i observe us as often exibiting a state of defeat and non-assertiveness about the inclusion of Africanness into the fibre of our corporate cultures, 7

8THE SPIRIT OF MOKOROTLODriven by a culture of rigorous, purposeful consultative processes (the art of getting work done with others)

Local level consultation

Mid level consultation

Top level consultation

The traditional Basotho Hat (or Mokorotlo) is the national symbol of Lesotho ( a small country that is totally surrounded by South Africa)

The pyramid-like shape symbolises collective wisdom as basis to sustain the existence and well-being of the community

----- Meeting Notes (2014/02/13 09:02) -----The spirit of Mokorotlo has yet to take root and be acknowledged for the value-add it brings or could bring to organisations8

Lets reflect on an important language of the 21st CenturyDynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement VAKOGSource Accelerated Learning in the 21st Century

Organisational Archetypes(Which archetype works best for you?)Dynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

Organisational ArchetypesUnleash your personal value-addsDynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

as we celebrate 20 years, we need African wisdom to thrive for another 20 & more

In closing, in Africa we dont have Icebergs as you are well aware, we have giants of the waters like HIPPOS, many an African traveller have mistaken the back of a HIPPO for a rock upon which to step on to cross a big river only to meet with fatal and deadly consequences, so I would hope we navigate the rough rivers well enough to not only just survive, but THRIVE12

Iceberg phenomenon

Looking at the world from a systemic point of view helps you uncover causal relationships that are often hidden from view. This worldview increases leadership effectiveness and learning. It provides a more natural sustainable way of dealing with the world. Faced with a problematic event we often look for the "part" that does not work. Systems Thinking encourages you to look at the whole not just the parts. It assists in making assumptions visible and enables you to determine the underlying influence and structure of a problem, avoiding symptom treatment. Source: CIL, Centre for Innovative Leadership

I committed to becoming a President of BUSA after a number of mutual commitments that I agreed to mutually with most of you sitting in the room today, my personal brand is now invested in BUSA, equally, the currency of that Brand is stake, so I am certain you would agree with me that you would need to grant me license to LEAD. To pursue a compelling vision for a dynamic, progressive and relevant BUSA whose members cherish it for its great value-add, strategic impact and meaningful influence. So my point of departure always will be to guard against being trapped in the ICEBERG PHENOMENON where we get trapped at engaging symptomatically at the events level; I would rather we create a robust culture of solving problems at the root cause level and changing the patterns, values, beliefs and the structures that shape the reality we experience at the above the surface events level.

What is the focusSouth Africa, like many parts of the world, is going through a process of generational change of guard.

New political, economic, social, technological, environmental, historical dynamics; require new dialogue, leadership and engagement.

Dynamic Worldviews Change | Inspirit Leadership | Life-changing engagement

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AFRICAN GENX LEADER (1961 1981)13 year oldsModel C, real beneficiaries of the first decade of democracyFew limitations almost limitless

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AFRICAN GENX LEADER (1961 1981)

The inspirational Vernice Flygirl Armour