And get a better idea of company health than following the money. “Follow the money”, they say, “and you will get to the essence.” Do that with any company or business and you will confirm a self-evident truth: it comes from the customer. But here’s a more relevant proposition: follow the meaning! Do that and you are most likely going to arrive at the same point – the customer. Imagine, if you will, what an honest response would be if you asked any business leader: “what’s t

Where does business fit in our natural human instincts? It must be one of the most intriguing questions that have faced humanity over the ages – what is the nature of humankind? Until we really get to understand ourselves, can we hope to understand all of the social, political, and economic constructs that we have created as a species and which ultimately are all informed by the answer? In economics and business especially, it is important to have some sense of our basic natu

And its increasing relevance in our political and economic circumstance. “I don’t care!” That’s how Net1 CEO, Serge Belamant responded to a question on whether the national budget could accommodate an increase in their charges for extending the SASSA social security payments. “It’s not my problem,” he told an eNCA reporter. Those first three words not only tarnished his own brand, but added a further blemish to business generally. They were more harmful than the racial spats

Service lessons from a crisis. Rarely are so many profound lessons captured in one incident to risk being accused of displaying little more than consumer ranting in an otherwise sober column. But being market and customer driven has been one of my passions for a number of years. Indeed to the point of questioning the conventional understanding of what a market driven economy really means – service or self-gain. When things happen in my life that draw attention to these teachi