Really assessing the value of a service is enhanced if you’re the one writing the cheques. Signing some big ones on behalf of my corporate employer a couple decades back, exposed me to the best – and worst – in strategic communications. It’s a pity that I got to know Tamra Veley after leaving that organisation. Her skills would have helped smooth a number of the major challenges. In this fascinating piece which she edited for Biznews from a longer one published elsewhere, Tamra shares her insights into the best leaders she has worked with and others closely observed. – AH
By Tamra Veley*
Over 28 years, I have advised business leaders under extreme pressure or facing crises and I have watched others as they have made extraordinarily difficult decisions with calm detachment and resolve. Some have achieved enviable success, some have failed when confronted with potentially calamitous predicaments, some have dropped the ball literally at the try-line and others have reinvented companies and emerged as respected players on the global stage.
South Africa’s business leaders have had to develop their skills in a country whose politics are rough and unforgiving, and where the instincts of commerce have been honed by years of sanctions and isolation. For decades, corporate leaders have confronted governments whose every impulse was hostile to the private sector, high levels of labour-related conflict, and disruptive technological advances that have been staggering in their complexity.
This history has bred a type of leader who is peculiarly resilient, innovative and skilled in navigating the often-treacherous shoals of political and economic forces.
Some leaders, unfortunately, have failed to develop the required levels of sensitivity. In 1992, the-then Chairman of the City of Cape Town gave the city’s communications account to a competitor because, as he told my partners, I hadn’t “bothered to wear a frock” to the tender meeting.
South African leaders must now be in a constant state of self-education – and often reinvention – or they will lose competitive advantage. Winning leadership thus requires not only extraordinary reserves of physical and intellectual energy, but the ability to manage stress and a career-long readiness to study and learn.
We worked very closely with Peter Bacon, then CEO of Sun International, as he led the company through tremendous change in the regulatory environment, with a degree of success that confounded all analysts’ expectations. He was willing to adjust quickly to a new way of doing things and was thus able to lead the invention of a new reality.
Successful leaders have gone out of their way to nurture mutual respect and trust across the company, aware that collective leadership has replaced the pecking order of old. The winning companies are those in which their leaders have succeeded in instilling a clear and compelling corporate vision and narrative as the shared objective of their entire workforce.
Raymond Ackerman, for example, has had his fair share of labour disputes, but has never lost sight of the value of his employees. In the mid-1990s, union placards during a Pick n Pay strike suggested to him that “Hitler missed you”. Ackerman turned to me and said: “Tam, that’s only one person. My people aren’t like that.”
Calm resolve and open communication are key to effective leadership. In 2007, SAB lost the licence to brew and distribute Amstel in South Africa when an arbitration decision went against them as a consequence of the Bavaria purchase in Latin America. Then-MD Tony van Kralingen handled this crisis – the loss of about 9% of market share but about 25% in EBIT – calmly, professionally and resolutely, and communicated comprehensively throughout – with consumers, the media, staff and all others affected by the change.
Not all corporate leaders have risen to challenges with the proactive sophistication demanded by the modern 24-hour news cycle. From such moments of crisis, some of the leaders I have worked with have discovered very quickly that if you are not communicating, you are not leading.
I had the privilege of working with Sean Summers when an extortionist threatened Pick n Pay in 2003. He displayed extraordinary leadership and communication skills, backed by his chairman and his team, and not only took the lead, but was seen to be doing so. He richly deserved every accolade he received for his handling of the crisis.
A new emphasis on sustainable corporate governance has also imposed new demands and duties of social and environmental care on leaders. Raymond Ackerman got this right from inception – he has always insisted that doing good is good business, a maxim he has lived up to today, as does chairman Gareth Ackerman. The sheer depth of leadership shown in SABMiller’s expanding to becoming the world’s second largest brewing company has been nothing short of incredible, deserving of far more admiration and national acclaim than they frequently get.
My disappointment with South Africa’s corporate leadership collectively, with few notable exceptions, is its reluctance to engage meaningfully with government and respectfully and vocally disagree when it needs to. As a result, many are getting the government they deserve.
Over the years, two leaders outside of the corporate arena have particularly stood out in my experience. I had the good fortune to meet Nelson Mandela twice – once before and once during his Presidency. His natural charm, grace, humour, humility and ability to put you at ease made me a committed admirer for life.
The second is John Boehner, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, with whom I spent time in Washington. What I encountered was a man entirely at ease with his considerable power, full of warmth, good grace, astoundingly good manners and an acute intellect. While very different people in just about every way, both men shared two defining characteristics of good leaders: firstly, they treated their staff with warm respect, and secondly, for the time you were with them, they made you feel like you were the most important person in the room.
* Tamra Veley (Capstick-Dale) is the founder and owner of public affairs and reputation management company Corporate Image, which was founded in 1987, after starting her career with the SA Media Council and then the Public Affairs Department of Shell SA. She is client service director to a number of South Africa’s largest companies as well as three global corporations, together which have a combined market capitalisation of over R500-billion.
