INTRODUCTION

I was called into the people development arena in 1999. Although the book by Malcolm Gladwell,Outliers, suggests that one becomes an expert in their field after at least 10 000 hours of focussed subject application, I feel as if I know less today than I did back then, although thankfully I have learnt along the way.

What I do know is that‘Everything Rises and Falls On Leadership’. This truth has been validated in my own life through numerous events and I have witnessed it while interacting and engaging with many leaders whether they were on the sports field, in the office, within their homes or communities.

So what then prompts one to write about something? Everyone has at least one book ‘inside’ waiting to be written. I just decided to follow through after being prompted and given a series of nudges. Besides, it is difficult to talk continuously about the three types of people you find in life without positioning yourself. You would be familiar with the three: namely, those people who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.

I felt uneasy when linking this classification to my current reality and so I adopted another famous sports brand slogan - Just Do It!

My wife and I were treated to a wonderful weekend at Kariega Park River Lodge in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, (www.kariega.co.za andwww.facebook.com/Kariega.Game.Reserve) and while we were enjoying the solitude of the bushveld silence and the magnificent splendour of a late evening sunset we heard the solitary call of a small bird. The bird was possibly a kilometre or more from us along the river although its call carried throughout the entire valley. The experience reminded me to shout it out-we all have a voice which we must use. We just need to know how and when to use it. One person with conviction is the majority.

People with a cause need voices - emotional pragmatism! Today’s highly connected shrinking world brings more questions than answers. Consider these factors - there are more than three sides to a story; there is black, white and grey, and then some.

Cultural paradigms are causing havoc within communities as people are continually being exposed to different thinking and behaviours; one’s gender is no longer an obvious physical attraction for how we were designed; individuals are feeling more isolated despite numerous connections through social media avenues and their potential influence is more powerful than ever before.

Contemplating the implications of only these few truths may cause you to wonder whether people will ever be able to get along. Historically, according to the book of useless information, in the last 3500 years there have been 230 years of peace. Presumably the peaceful times were used to replenish stocks.

So what’s been happening in your neck of the woods?

Are things trucking along pretty smoothly or is there any consternation? Were you affected by the FIFA and IAAF sagas in any way? If any of your leaders had been involved, how would they respond? Although we all have a tendency to err, it has been most interesting watching this unfold with accusals, blame and denials being thrown about.

Today most people attribute the demise of the rainbow nation to the leadership who are undermining our pot of gold, a common trait with self-serving leaders. We stumble from one crisis to the next without vision