Louis Guelette, cited in:

We decided to make him responsible for the revenue target of the SMB sector in South Africa, an area with limited resources that needed cooperation with business partners - a complex world that he didn’t know very well. Complex because such relationships can be with both partners and competitors and very much depend on the right deal being struck. Such management requires maturity and diplomacy and I was surprised to find these qualities and characteristics in a young man with little practical experience of the business.

Mark Harris, cited in:

Leadership in a multinational company requires strong communication skills, forthright management styles, personal business drive and organisational development. Mteto was a very humble individual and was very quiet in his approach but he demonstrated an intellectual capability that clearly showed his talents.

Denzel Washington, cited in:

Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living - if you do it well I’m sure there was someone cheering you on, or showing the way. A mentor.

Before I made the decision to leave MTN and move to Altron, I spoke to Sifiso Dabengwa, whose wisdom I value. As usual, he helped me to connect with who I am. He guided me to find my own answers. We meet once a quarter and he gives me a fresh perspective, or confirms that I’m on the right track. One of the greatest values of mentors is their ability to see what you may not be able to and to help navigate a course. Meetings with Sifiso leave me motivated and that’s what mentorship is about.

We came to think of our audience not as the new leader but as the freethinking leader. A leader who embraces a world in which the weird uniqueness of each individual is seen not as a flaw to be ground down but as a mess worth engaging with, the raw material for all healthy, ethical, thriving organizations; a leader who rejects dogma and instead seeks out evidence; who values emergent patterns above received wisdom; who thrills to the power of teams; who puts faith in findings, not philosophy; and above all, a leader who knows that the only way to make the world better tomorrow is to have the courage and the wit to face up to how it really is today.