Ever since she had started Umsinsi Health Care (Pty) Ltd in South Africa in November 2008, Amanda Wilde’s vision had been to place the company, which distributed medical devices, in a trust for all of her employees. When this happened, they would become full partners in the company. However, by August 2013, Wilde was still the sole guardian of the Umsinsi Partnership Trust. She had postponed transferring the trust to her employees until the business was financially stable.

Matome Modipa, executive chairman and founder of the Sebata Group of technical engineering and management consultants, enjoyed coming to work. His offices in Midrand, near Johannesburg, had an open and friendly feel, and the pervading ethos reflected the African philosophies of ubuntu and letsema that he had worked hard to instil in the organisation. Sebata had enjoyed steady growth since its inception in 2006.

A few days before the JSE Limited (JSE) and the Bond Exchange of South Africa Limited (BESA) merged on 22 June 2009, Nicky Newton-King, deputy CEO of the JSE, –who had been tasked with leading the integration of the two organisations – reviewed what she had done so far and the plans she had put in place to ensure a smooth integration. A great deal of time and work had been invested in planning and organising the merger, and she did not want a misstep in the integration process to derail the entire merger. She wondered if she had done enough to ensure a smooth integration.

It was a Sunday evening in March 2004 and Sagie Pillay, chief executive officer of the Johannesburg Hospital, was reflecting on the progress he had made since his appointment in 2000. He had been instrumental in crafting the Hospital Strategy Project for the National Department of Health. He had been appointed to transform the Johannesburg Hospital in accordance with this strategy. Now, in 2004, he was as supportive of health and public sector policies as he had been when he took over as CEO, but had experienced the reality of implementation.

Thomas Bowler, MD of Pipeco, reflected on what had been an eventful, but unsatisfactory, 12 months. In October 1997, with the support of the Chemical Workers' Industrial Union (CWIU), which represented workers at Pipeco's plants, he had taken the company into the Workplace Challenge Project - a productivity improvement initiative devised by the National Economic, Labour and Development Council (NEDLAC).

Rod Burn, organisational performance director of PPC, looked back over the past four years with some satisfaction. Since 2000, when PPC had instigated an organisational transformation initiative known as the Kambuku Process, shareholder returns had improved, as had market capitalisation. The management culture had changed completely and there was a new level of energy in the organisation, with people at all levels taking pride in their work. But Burn did not want to take it for granted that this success would continue. It had taken hard work to get the Kambuku process to this point.

In February 2000, the Kambuku team of Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) got together in the Kambuku “war room” to plan the way forward for the project. Rod Burn, PPC’s director of organisational performance, had appointed them to work on finding a way to get more out of PPC’s people so that the company could reach the taxing cash flow targets that chief operating officer (COO) John Blackbeard had set. PPC’s performance over the preceding five years had been dismal and the company was feeling the heat of competition from two major international competitors.

PPC today is a professionally run company with motivated and dedicated people. This is reflected in the total shareholders’ returns achieved over the past few years and the increase in the market capitalisation of the company.” This was how John Gomersall, chief executive officer of Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC), concluded his review in PPC’s Annual Report 2003.

External changes in the banking environment, coupled with an increasing number of consumer complaints, prompted the need for new systems within the Office of the Banking Adjudicator. Neville Melville, who was appointed as the Banking Adjudicator in May 2000, had implemented fairly far-reaching changes to the office in order to comply with its new rules of procedure and to increase its capacity. Two years later, Melville wondered whether he had done enough to create an organisation that was as good as the best internationally.

In July 2016, MTN’s newly appointed CEO, Rob Shuter, was considering how it was possible that the company had been fined US$5.2 billion (R78 billion) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in October 2015. He also wondered what could be done to prevent a debacle of this magnitude from reoccurring. It appeared that leaders were not paying attention to the issues and, most importantly, had neglected and had failed to adhere to vital regulations. The transgression was clear.