Alinda Nortje, colleague and Executive Chairperson of Free To Grow, during a presentation, related her experiences of facilitating a workshop for UNICEF in a country in the Middle East – as facilitator, there is always a steep learning curve when one gets to a new context. Upon landing, the facilitator immediately goes into learning mode…
Living life meaningfully in all the stages of life is perhaps the quest of many. People crave for significance and desperately want to leave an impact – something worthwhile for which you will be remembered. Being the best student, being the best mom or dad, being professional and growing in your career, being a grandparent…
A senior manager in a large corporation in downtown Manhattan was hosting a lunchtime business meeting in the boardroom of the company. At about 10:00 on the day of the meeting, he took the elevator to the penthouse floor, the same of which housed both the boardroom and the CEO’s office. He had gone up…
I have travelled on but a few of the great and sometimes famous rivers of our world – the Zambezi (near the Victoria Falls) and the Orange Rivers in Africa, the Colorado and Mississippi in the USA and the Thames in the UK. I still need to get to the Amazon, Nile, Volga, Danube, Yangtze…
I love stories and especially mythology. Myths may be seen as a compilation of well-chosen, but contrived characters, weaved into a story to tell of a foundational and even an eternal truth. The phrase “mythic reality” sounds at first like a contradiction of terms – “mythic” meaning by popular belief “not true” and “reality” meaning…
Employee engagement is essential to keep staff motivated, increase business results and enhance staff retention. When I worked for a banking corporation many years ago, I attempted to spend time with each of the individuals who reported to me, primarily to get to know them better and discover their passions, giftedness and unique characteristics. I…
I love December – the weather is warming up in the southern hemisphere; the year with all its hard work, problems and joys is winding down; family, wherever located, take on fresh significance; and secretly-held hopes and dreams for a better year to come rest in the hearts, minds and emotions of many. Some call…
When at home, and particularly in the spring and summer months, we like taking the dogs for a walk in the evening – the day starting to cool and the wind hopefully dying and coming to rest, probably to regain its strength for its onslaught during the following day. We usually walk on a nearby…
I have a whistle that has four notes, obtained in Chattanooga in the United States of America. There is nothing particularly special about these four different notes and they are almost weak-sounding, even when you blow on them individually with some force. When you blow them together, however, they produce the sound of the steam…
