A favourite breakfast companion from America offered some useful insights this week. He operates at a rarified level where he gets to hear the brutal truth that’s significantly filtered by the time it reaches the rest of us. So is an extremely useful barometer of the mood among power mongers.
He told me about a dinner with some top South African executives. These captains of industry, he said, were scathing about the way his country (the US) is conducting itself in global affairs. But they were equally critical of South Africa and its leadership. My pal wondered how could they possibly be so universally negative. By definition, business leaders should be seeking growth – the remit of those with the glass-half-full mentality?
After giving it a lot of thought, I’m equally bemused. Many SA business leaders appear convinced their own country is being run into the ground. So they are shipping capital abroad at a rate matched only by the exodus ahead of 1994’s Elections. But this time around, pickings on the other side are even worse, doubling their misery.
Perhaps it’s time for traditional business to look at the local opportunities through different lenses? Something which could start here at home by listening and learning. They have much to learn about the changes in their own country’s economic transition. And the often overlooked opportunities available.
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