FirstRand’s GT Ferreira: ‘Hire the person who can take over your job’

In a BizNews Noontime webinar hosted by founder Alec Hogg, the founders of FirstRand, one of South Africa's largest financial services groups, gave sound advice on hiring for the future. Known as the Three Musketeers, GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar and Paul Harris have been commended for their work ethic, corporate culture and their hands-on approach in building today's leadership. The men who took over their batons are the likes of former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan and FirstRand chairman Roger Jardine – all of whom made an appearance at the webinar, one of the most popular hosted by BizNews yet. Here, Jardine reflects on the impact GT Ferreira had in his career, while Ferreira shares advice on why it's important to hire someone to fill your own shoes. This is part of a four-part series (you can watch the full webinar below). – Nadim Nyker.Audience member: Laurie, Paul and GT, thank you for the inspiration. You guys have paved the way for us as young South Africans. We promise you we will continue where you left off and ensure our country strives for excellence. Thank you guys for all the hard work, opportunities and ensuring South Africa is a better country. .Alec Hogg: Talking about handing over the baton, I also asked the new chairman of FirstRand, Roger Jardine, to give us his thoughts. .___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Roger Jardine: I would like to share some of my personal experiences on my journey with each of you. GT, I will never forget the day that you called me over after a board meeting and said, young man, you are terribly under-utilised on this board. Then you proceeded to assign me to various board committees. This brief discussion after a board meeting undoubtedly set me on the path to becoming the chairman of FirstRand one day. .Paul, we often sat next to each other at board meetings and I enjoyed our shared comments and opinions on a range of topics, both on FirstRand and on the country. I am deeply influenced by your corporate courage and it shapes my approach to our role today..Read also: SA success story: FirstRand founders share how they forged a strong relationship.Laurie, I am forever thankful for your mentorship and guidance through my transition to chair, and your absolute confidence that I was up to the task. I watched you carefully in your role as chairman and your authentic leadership, your care for staff and customers which came naturally and your commitment to always doing the right thing, shaped my approach to my role, today. .Thank you to all of you as the founders of FirstRand and for substantively changing the corporate landscape of South Africa. The current generation of social leaders and the next generation to come will forever be grateful for your leadership and vision. Thank you. .Did you all have a go at being chair at FirstRand? .PH: No, I wasn't. .LD: We ran out of time for Paul. .GF: You were chairman of RMB..What about the future? What messages do you have for those like Roger Jardine and many others, for the way ahead for FirstRand and for South Africa. .GF: Just maybe something, maybe not directly what you asked, but some advice. People often ask me, how do you judge how or how do you find a good manager? I've always said you look at the people that that person surrounds him or her with. If they are good he or she is good. People are often too afraid to appoint the best people. You need to appoint a person that can take over your job. .Maybe not immediately, but later, even immediately, because that will also spur you to deliver a better performance. Try to spend more time when you appoint people. I also fall into that trap sometimes… you're a bit lazy to interview or select the right people, but that's a very, very important thing to do. .We've been lucky, we've been fortunate, but we've also concentrated on that. I would like to believe that the management that we leave behind is actually better than we were, as Paul said earlier, we would probably not have jumped through the hoops that they had.."We can, as a nation, compete with the best in the world and I'd like to see us get to that place as soon as we can." – GT Ferreira.PH: Something that we have often said is that we should create a culture where people sit around a round table. I really think we achieved it. There's not one person that dominates, the only thing that dominates is a rational argument. Think about it as a round table, if you do that and one of the things I always said and Laurie and GT, we want to get to a situation where we can tiptoe away without anybody noticing. I am comfortable in my own mind that I manage to achieve that. I'm proud of that because we left some fantastic people and we've tiptoed away and nobody's noticed. Which is fantastic. .Was it hard to tiptoe away? .LD: Yes and no. I think it's been coming a long time. It's quite important to realise that the handover took almost 10 years. I stepped down as CEO of FirstRand in 2005, and I only finally left the company two years ago. It's been a very, very evolutionary transition to the stage. .The one thing I suppose I really miss is as a banker, you're at the epicentre of what's going on and you're very well informed. I recently walked into FirstRand and was overcome by a feeling of nostalgia, the thing of being at the epicentre and knowing what's going on. It has been evolutionary and over a longer time, so relatively easy to deal with. .We are going to close off with your dream for South Africa. Again, this is something that has been asked by numerous people. Would you like to just in a minute or so, give us your dream for South Africa? .GF: My dream is that we can become a real non-racial society, that we come back to the point that Laurie originally mentioned, a meritocracy. There are a lot of things that can be done better and that we should assist certain members of the population that have lagged behind for a variety of reasons. I have seen it in the past, that South Africans can compete anywhere in the world. Sometimes you go to States and you hear these confident Americans espousing what they are doing and using terminology that you don't understand. After a week, you say, but we just use different words for what you guys are saying. I think we can, as a nation, compete with the best in the world and I'd like to see us get to that place as soon as we can..PH: I would say everything that GT said, I really believe that. The other thing is to unlock the unbelievable latent potential that is in this country and the people of this country. I always say that in South Africa, people have got a positive attitude. They want to achieve something. .There's nobody that doesn't want to improve themselves. We have to find ways to unlock the potential of people. If we do that, I think we'll create a country, as GT said, that we would really like to live in. Where we've got our grandchildren and other people's children and so on and families to live in. .LD: My dream is that we have a country where we all have confidence in all the demographic groups. That we have a future in this country and not think something to each other, but together. That means things like feeling safe, having access to good education, having access to good health care. The formula for a winning country is difficult to achieve but easy to write down. That we don't have this constant nagging feeling among many segments of the community of "should I stay?". If you're thinking of leaving, it's just purely on career considerations and not because you feel threatened..Read also: Johann Rupert joins BizNews webinar: SA after Covid; tips for 30-something entrepreneurs

FirstRand’s GT Ferreira: ‘Hire the person who can take over your job’

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