Honesty, inspiration, humour key leadership traits
WHAT defines a good leader? Sometimes one of the most difficult concepts to define, leadership has different meanings – depending on the context and who is defining the word.
In business, a leader will not survive if he or she does not make a profit for the company, but he or she also needs to balance the positive bank balance with basic ethics when dealing with employees and stakeholders outside the company or organisation.
Earlier this month at the Nelson Mandela Bay Leadership Summit 2015, co-sponsored by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Business School and The Herald, among others, some of the best leaders in South Africa spoke on the topic of leadership.
Three of the take-home nuggets I valued about the summit were that good leaders should always arm themselves with honesty, inspira- tion and humour.
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University chancellor Santie Botha recalled a study where, among the key characteristics of inspirational leaders that their employees valued most, it was found that honesty topped all other traits. While Botha admitted that we are running out of honest, trustworthy role models in South Africa, she said it was important for leaders in Nelson Mandela Bay to focus on former president Nelson Mandela’s legacy and what he stood for.
“Think big, believe and do big, or don’t bother,” was another challenge she threw at the Bay business leaders.
She warned them not to fall into the pit of “auto-preemption syndrome” – avoiding risk in business by convincing yourself it is impossible to succeed.
Suspending the disbelief, Botha said, a good leader simply broke down the impossible goal into actionable tasks by doing thorough research and getting the buy-in from leadership and “support from the troops to make grand ideas come alive”.
One such leader, who has certainly made his mark, is Mercedes-Benz SA (MBSA) chief executive Arno van der Merwe, who was another speaker at the summit.
The East London vehicle manufacturer is exporting the C-Class to more than 80 markets across the world, with a production capacity of 100 000 units a year.
Van der Merwe resonated with Botha’s thoughts on leadership, by saying that South Africa was experiencing a leadership vacuum.
He said it was time for leaders to step into this vacuum by taking responsibility and being accountable, sharing their vision and overcoming the idea of what was perceived to be impossible.
The motto of MBSA is to be the best, which Van der Merwe said had been achieved more than once with the company winning international awards for top quality cars being produced in the Eastern Cape.
“We need to dispel the thought that we cannot be the best because it is often externally focused instead of getting our own house in order as leaders,” he said.
Ending off some heavy politically loaded debate for the day at the NMB Leadership Summit was University of the Free State vice-chancellor and rector Jonathan Jansen – who reminded the metro’s leaders to smile – with some of the toughest managing directors giggling at his jokes and sayings.
Jansen, who despite his humour is not blind to problems in South Africa, told the business leaders that if there was no investment in education in the country, the economy would fail.
Leaders needed to set an example and set clear and simple standards for behaviour, the professor said.
The animated Jansen told the business leaders that he was tired of fighting the system on his own and needed the private sector to become more involved in uplifting the youth of the country.