Leadership and talent retention often part of year-end business challenges
Against the backdrop of unending global economic and geo-political turmoil, the South African financial sector faces significant localised challenges. Asset Management firms have spent most of 2025 navigating the country’s modest economic growth as well as the significant demands from evolving regulatory frameworks, and ongoing investor demand for more innovative products. Without a meaningful economic […]
3 Leadership challenges SA Asset Managers face at the end of 2025, heading into a new year
Against the backdrop of unending global economic and geo-political turmoil, the South African financial sector faces significant localised challenges. Asset Management firms have spent most of 2025 navigating the country’s modest economic growth as well as the significant demands from evolving regulatory frameworks, and ongoing investor demand for more innovative products. Without a meaningful economic […]
Leadership adaptation amid disruption – navigating change
Leadership adaptation amid disruption is essential as organisations navigate rapid changes in technology, workplace dynamics and global challenges. The past few years have been among the most challenging in recent history. Geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures have surged. Disruptive technologies are pushing leaders to constantly reinvent themselves and their organisations to remain competitive and relevant. […]
Three leadership pressures that will only intensify for asset managers in 2023
In her last column for Citywire for 2022, Phryne Williams looks at the challenges facing company leaders. View this Article on LinkedIn Performance under pressure is a hallmark of the C-suite, but 2022 has been a relentlessly tough-all-round year. By many accounts, there seem to be some cracks appearing in the usually implacable facade of […]
Managing and Motivating a Multigenerational Workforce
Over the last five years, the composition of the workforce has undergone a significant change. For the first time in history – four generations (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y/Millennial) are present in today’s workforce, each generation with its own perspective, expectations, needs and values. This presents a challenge in that a “one size fits all” approach to managing such a workforce won’t produce a productive and collaborative team. What might work for a Baby Boomer may frustrate a Millennial and vice versa. It is thus important that leaders learn to understand the different generations and what drives them in order to ensure motivated, committed and productive employees.
New manager challenges – is SA any different?
The scarcity of talent that leads to fast-tracking leaders is a global phenomenon; however, South Africa has legislative pressure to transform organisational leadership in a specific way. Does this result in different or additional challenges for new South African managers? This was a burning question for me as I undertook a work-based project to gain my Masters in Coaching from Middlesex University.
Can you Change an Awful Company Culture?
So, you have realised that your organisation is actually a sub-performing ‘hotshot’ – behind the hype and pompous industry standing, your company culture actually sucks
Why Attitude Matters as much as Skills
When Mark Murphy, bestselling author and CEO of Leadership IQ, tracked 20 000 new hires over a three-year period, and then discovered that a whopping 46% of them failed within 18 months, he wasn’t telling us anything new. After all, as bad as that result sounds, it is consistent with the findings of other similar studies. Murphy, however, did offer something interesting when he went on to explain in his book, Hiring for Attitude, the reasons why those hires failed. Only 11% of them failed because of a deficiency in skills. The top four reasons for failure all had to do with a deficiency in attitude – 26% were unresponsive to coaching, 23% had low levels of emotional intelligence, 17% lacked motivation and 15% had temperament issues.