Foschini Group’s (FOS) Shani Naidoo was in excellent spirits when she walked out of a two-day group strategy meeting in October 2009. As managing director for group human resources (HR) since 2005, it was evident that the changes that she and her team had implemented had successfully made HR a critical part of Foschini’s overall business strategy. In pursuit of their vision to get rid of the company’s silo mentality, the HR team had introduced a totally new, centralised HR model. Despite the shake-up, Naidoo believed there was still a great deal more that needed to change.

Enos Banda, the CEO of Eskom Enterprises, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity utility Eskom Holdings, considered the offer he had just received from financial services firm, First Africa, asking whether he would consider taking becoming CEO of the firm.

First Africa was one of the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisors in South Africa. With its strong commitment to developing Africa, and black Africans in particular, the firm’s philosophies dovetailed strongly with Banda’s personal mission.

“We cannot just sit by and do nothing!” said Sebastian Olofsson to his uncle, Dan Olofsson, a Swedish IT billionaire and owner of a private game reserve in Hluhluwe (northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). It was February 2003, they were both at the reserve and Sebastian had just returned from a guided tour of the vicinity that had exposed him to the dire poverty in the area and the human suffering there caused by HIV/AIDS.

It was nearing the end of March 2005. Dolly Mokgatle had surprised the nation by resigning as chief executive of South Africa’s rail utility, Spoornet, at the beginning of the year, only eighteen months into her five-year contract. The press had speculated wildly about the causes of her resignation. The words of the new Transnet CEO, Maria Ramos, had been particularly cutting. “We want people to be committed and work hard,” she had said. “There is no space in Transnet for ‘half measures’.”

It was October 2007 and more than 13 years had elapsed since South Africa’s first non-racial, democratic elections. Social entrepreneur Reverend Spiwo Xapile sat in his immaculate office at the J L Zwane centre, located on the corner of NY2 and NY7 in Gugulethu. He reflected with pride on what he had built up over the past 17 years. His congregation had grown from a handful of people to over 2000 members, and the centre attached to the church ran a number of programmes which benefited the Gugulethu community at large.

To the outside world, Sarah Visagie was a partner at law firm Bell Dewar & Hall (BDH). But those inside the firm knew that she was a junior partner and not an equity partner. This was largely because she felt unable to commit herself to earning the same fee targets as the other equity partners (all of whom happened to be men) on account of her family commitments and the ‘shorter’ hours she spent at the office. However, it had really hurt last year when a junior partner who was younger than her had leapfrogged her to the position of equity partner.

In July 2008, Brian Bruce, chief executive of the 106-year-old construction, mining, engineering and manufacturing giant Murray & Roberts, had been at the helm for eight years. His leadership has resulted in a steady and remarkable change in the character of the group, as well as its fortunes. At the time of his appointment in July 2000, the share price had slumped 96% to 300 cents on the JSE Limited. In his words, “the company was dying.” Bruce embarked on an extended initiative, to reposition the group in the construction economy of South Africa and the world.

n July 2008, Brian Bruce, chief executive of the 106-year-old construction, mining, engineering and manufacturing giant Murray & Roberts, had been at the helm for eight years. His leadership has resulted in a steady and remarkable change in the character of the group, as well as its fortunes. At the time of his appointment in July 2000, the share price had slumped 96% to 300 cents on the JSE Limited. In his words, “the company was dying.” Bruce embarked on an extended initiative, to reposition the group in the construction economy of South Africa and the world.

My job is about creating harmony… It’s about coming up with solutions, keeping your eye on the bigger picture, and the often requires a lot of patience and putting aside your differences

My PDM at Wits Business School was probably my most memorable academic year of all, and that includes Harvard and Oxford... You were working with people very different from you, yet you were still expected to produce quality outputs