What is Needed for Lasting Change in Your Organisation

September 22, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Rochelle Roos

If organisations want to compete and thrive in today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape - change is not only inevitable but essential. Change strategies are crucial in various scenarios, including when an organisation suffers from market disruptions, significant growth, or restructuring. Other common examples are businesses that want to foster new culture, enhance employee engagement, promote diversity and inclusion, or address performance issues like declining profitability, or decreased customer satisfaction.

How to Embrace Being Seen, Show up as Your Authentic Self, and Know You Are Enough

September 22, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

We tend to associate habits with self-care activities, such as drinking water, exercising, and sleeping well. What about the habits that play a role in your professional life? What if you mastered the habits of speaking up in a meeting, sharing your ideas or being seen? Why do we do things that are not in our own best interest and, over time, can sabotage our progress even though it's not our intent?

Let’s talk about payment, late payment or non-payment issues

September 13, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Teboho Seretlo

All in the day of a small business owner in South Africa.

It’s been a minute and my creative writing juices dried up while I was chasing some business opportunities and non-paying clients out there. So, these past few weeks, I have been finalizing some projects, dealing with good news of funding applications I submitted on behalf of clients being successful and all sorts of other things. My spirits have been high after landing these successes and I was excited at the prospect of my bank balance swelling, if only a little bit.

What Does Mental Health Cost Your Company?

September 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Sonya Skipp

Sapien Labs Mental State of the World report scored South Africa as the lowest in terms of mental well-being in 2022. Unaddressed mental health conditions among the workforce were noted as being the most concerning. Mental health issues in the workplace cost the South African economy more than R160 billion annually.

Why You Should Replace Perfection With Excellence

September 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Perfectionism is often worn as a badge of honour, something to strive for. The intention is that it makes you better, but the impact is devastating. In the words of Ann Wilson Schaef, "Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order”. Perfection is an illusion and stops you from your best work because behind the façade of being a perfectionist are the deepest fears of being judged, failing or not being enough.

Do You Find it Challenging to Find Good Talent?

September 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Phillipa Geard

If you find it challenging to find good talent, you are not alone. In my dealings with other CEOs and business owners, I often hear this statement: “There is no good talent out there”. Similarly, this Future of Jobs 2023 World Economic Forum report states that, on a scale from 1 to 7, the ease of finding skilled employees in South Africa is only 3.89. Despite the doomsayers there are ways to find and attract good talent.

How an Emoji Can Be a Contract

September 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nicolene Schoeman-Louw

As technology evolves, so does the way we communicate and conduct business. In today's digital age, emojis have become integral to our daily conversations. These little pictographs have played a significant role in modern communication, from expressing emotions to conveying complex messages. Surprisingly, emojis have even found their way into legal matters, with some jurisdictions recognising them as a form of contractual agreement.

Lifestyle Audits to Uncover Insider Threats

September 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Sonya Skipp

A lifestyle audit is a check that looks at the way that someone lives and compares that to their known revenue stream. These checks look at elements like home ownership, cars and vehicles, visible luxury items owned by the person in question, and more to determine whether that person is living within their means.

The 6 Habits of Calm and Content People

September 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Why do some people always appear to have it together? They are calm in the chaos and take life in their stride. They dance with life's challenges rather than go to war with them; it's not to say they don't feel stress, but how they navigate their days sets them up for success.

Do You Understand the Insider Threat?

September 3, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Sonya Skipp

In today's rapidly evolving landscape, organisations face a multitude of security challenges, one of which is the insider threat. The insider threat refers to the risk posed by individuals within an organisation who have authorised physical or cyber access to an organisation but intentionally or unintentionally misuse or compromise them. No company, regardless of size, is immune to this security concern.

Why You’re Not Getting the Opportunities You Want Even Though You’re Good at What You Do

September 3, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Thembe Khumalo

The truth is, being good at what you do is just the beginning — it’s like the minimum entry requirement. Many talented individuals like yourself often find themselves wondering why they aren’t getting the opportunities they truly desire, despite their skills and expertise. The answer lies in the importance of personal branding. Here’s why this might be happening and what you can do to unlock the opportunities you deserve.

The Success Is in The Succession

September 3, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Margaret Hirsch

As you know I am a huge advocate for family businesses. Where do they start? Well with a couple getting married and one or both deciding that they want out of the usual routine of working for someone else and making a living, they decide they want to work for themselves and make a fortune.

Three Questions to Create Clarity, Confidence and Courage

September 3, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Questions are a conduit to unlocking the resources within you. They are an essential coaching tool because they are a permission device between what someone already knows and what they want to acknowledge. Change happens when a client reaches a new insight, a perspective they never considered previously. However, the insight can only reveal itself when the person is completely honest with themselves.

What Banks Can Learn From Nurses

August 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Thembe Khumalo

In Africa, we talk a lot about the unbanked. In certain circles, this group is considered evidence of the opportunities for innovation that abound on the continent, and in others, they are considered a problem that we need to solve. What interests me most though, is looking at some of the reasons why these people are not choosing banks as their preferred financial partner.

The Power of Vulnerability

August 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Refilwe Sebothoma

Starting and growing businesses without many resources is very scary to say the least, and through my start-up years I learned the power of being vulnerable to the right people. Start-up businesses often carry the pressure of looking, talking and behaving like big businesses because they are worried that their weaknesses may disqualify them from opportunities. While this is true, I have experienced that there are corporates which are not looking for perfect suppliers and are willing to invest and support SMEs grow and become sustainable.

Happiness is not about positive thinking but creative thinking

August 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Your thoughts are the turbines that generate the energy of happiness. Affirmations and positive thinking are 'part of the furniture' of personal growth. You can tell yourself you're terrific, but if you don't inherently believe it, there's always an inner critic inside whispering to you – what a load of rubbish, no you're not. If you can't always rely on positive thinking when you need it most, what if you experimented with creative thinking instead?

Paving the way to a brighter business future

August 26, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Rochelle Roos

Ten important tips for women in business

Rochelle’s advice for other women looking to find their niche in the tech and business world can be summarised in these ten simple points:

Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Leadership: A Multifaceted Approach

August 20, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho

In May, I had the honour to speak at the 1st Annual Corporate Governance Triangle Annual Colloquium with the theme “Diversity and Inclusion; Adopting A Multi-Stake holder approach in the promotion of good governance”. I spoke on a panel with the focus on Breaking Barriers: Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Leadership Roles, which is a topic that is close to my heart both as a woman and as an advocate for equity and overall good corporate governance.

How You’re Stealing the Future From Young Women

August 20, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Thembe Khumalo

“Who me?” You might ask. Yes, you!

You’re stealing the future from the next generation of young women professionals by refusing to make yourself visible. Here’s the thing — you can’t be what you don’t see. So if we want our young women to become leaders in business, in entrepreneurship, in politics, or in the community, we need to give them the opportunity to see such people in action — people like you and me. We need to provide them with visible, accessible role models.

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