Syllabus Topics Archives - Page 14 of 29

Be a great leader

Marion Barraud for HBR
One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is the shift from doing to leading. As a new manager you can get away with holding on to work. Peers and bosses may even admire your willingness to keep “rolling up your sleeves” to execute tactical assignments. But as your responsibilities become more complex, the difference between an effective leader and a super-sized individual contributor with a leader’s title is painfully evident.

In the short term you may have the stamina to get up earlier, stay later, and out-work the demands you face. But the inverse equation of shrinking resources and increasing demands will eventually catch up to you, and at that point how you involve others sets the ceiling of your leadership impact. The upper limit of what’s possible will increase only with each collaborator you empower to contribute their best work to your shared priorities. […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:25:58+02:00November 15th, 2017|General management and CSR, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

The future of online shopping in South Africa is not quite what you think

Staff Writer 23 September 2017
This past week, Mastercard released its first South African SpendingPulse report. The report, which is published worldwide, is based on transactions across every payment medium – including cash, wire transfers and credit cards.
This equates to over 80 billion transactions processed annually in 210 countries, and provides an accurate representation of consumer spending habits.

Speaking at the report’s launch event, Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president and head of market insights for Mastercard, indicated that one of the biggest changes in shopping trends came after the 2008 recession.

She said that it was no longer “chic” for consumers to flaunt their wealth with flashy purchases, and those who had previously spent money on big-ticket items have now cracked down on the “appearance of being wealthy”.

This has coincided with the rise of millennials’ purchasing power, who […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:24:19+02:00November 15th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Here’s how much your identity sells for on the Dark Web

Bloomberg 22 September 2017

How much is your personal data worth to you? A lot. And how much is it worth to an identity thief? You may be surprised, or insulted, or enraged, to find out.

Verified high-limit credit cards from countries including the U.S., Japan, and South Korea are selling on the dark web for the bitcoin equivalent of about $10 to $20, according to an annual report on cybercrime by Secureworks, a unit of Dell Inc.

The dark web is “the collection of Internet forums, digital shop fronts and chat rooms that cybercriminals use to form alliances, trade tools and techniques, and sell compromised data that can include banking details, personally identifiable information and other content,” as Secureworks defines it.
Verified means the seller has tested out transactions on the card and found it hasn’t been canceled yet. For scammers on a budget, there’s unverified […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:18:16+02:00November 15th, 2017|Ethics, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Grit: The Elusive (But Essential) Entrepreneurial Trait

If you’re familiar with the startup world, you’ve likely heard a lot of entrepreneurs talk about a quality called “grit.”

There are many ways to define this trait, many of which reference passion and perseverance. Author Caroline Adams Miller, for one, defines it as “the passionate pursuit of hard goals that awes and inspires you and others to become better people, flourish emotionally, take positive risks, and live your best lives.”

There are a number of components to grit, said Miller, who wrote “Getting Grit: The Evidence-Based Approach to Cultivating Passion, Perseverance and Purpose” (Sounds True, 2017). However, at the root of it is “ikigai,” the Japanese term for “that which I wake up for” – in other words, your purpose.

“When we have a purpose that is authentic and connected directly to what we want to pursue for its own intrinsic value, it fills us with the passion that supports us through […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:16:20+02:00November 15th, 2017|Entrepreneurship, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Entrepreneurs become this amazing intersection of leadership and economics…’

Why Yusuf Randera-Rees co-founded Africa’s most innovative SMME investment company….

Sonya & John Culverwell 6 September 2017
In 2009 Harvard and Oxford graduate Yusuf Randera-Rees, and his partner Ryan Pakter, started the Awethu Project with a modest R60 000 – however their vision was everything but modest. In fact it was huge. Their aim was to make a large-scale systemic impact on the country’s economy by elevating entrepreneurs who are trapped in the informal sector.

Follow the link to a video clip https://www.moneyweb.co.za/in-depth/fnb-business-leadership/entrepreneurs-become-this-amazing-intersection-of-leadership-economics/ 10 September 2017

Estie2017-11-15T19:12:35+02:00November 15th, 2017|Entrepreneurship, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

AI Comes to Work: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Business

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a new concept. The modern field of AI came into existence in 1956, but it took decades of work to make significant progress toward developing an AI system and making it a technological reality.

Today, AI and its commonly cited subset of machine learning are common, especially in the business world. Most of us interact with AI in some form or another daily, but the truth is there are vast applications of the technology, from the mundane to the breathtaking. As AI and machine learning further proliferate, they are becoming an imperative for businesses that want to maintain a competitive edge.

AI and business today
Rather than serving as a replacement for human knowledge and ingenuity, AI is generally seen as a supporting tool for the humans. Although AI currently has a difficult time completing common-sense tasks in the real world, it is adept at processing and analyzing […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:11:00+02:00November 15th, 2017|Environments, Other, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Eight South African entrepreneurs

8 entrepreneurs who built proudly South African businesses

South Africa is a fantastically diverse country with not only a plethora of cultures to celebrate but also a truly distinctive business environment to operate in. Opportunities abound if you look in the right places.

These eight proudly South African entrepreneurs did just that. They looked to their heritage, discovered a market gap and ran with it.

Most of them are unconventional, and some have even been called crazy – but one thing that stands out above all else is their love for this beautiful country and their passion for making a success of their business.

1. MIKIE MONOKETSI

The Business: Mama’s Spices & Herbs

Mikie Monoketsi tapped into the lucrative township market with little more than a hunch and R10 000.

In 2011, Mikie Monoketsi had lost everything – her call centre business and marriage. Having read Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, she made […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:07:05+02:00November 15th, 2017|2017 Case Study, Entrepreneurship, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

The most loved brands in South Africa

23 September 2017

South Africans are open to change, particularly when it comes to trying to save money in tough economic times. They are also firmly under the sway of global energies that are reshaping society in significant ways, says market research company Ask Afrika.

Neither of which bodes well for brands that aren’t willing to adapt their marketing efforts to challenging times and a changing global milieu.

These and other top level trends were revealed at the annual Ask Afrika Icon Brands Awards, held at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg recently.

Icon brands are relevant across the South African landscape, it’s not a popularity contest but about which brands South African’s use regularly and loyally, Ask Afrika said.

The results were gleaned from surveys of 15,284 consumers, aged 15-years and older (representing over 25-million adult South African consumers) to determine how South African consumer are changing, how they think and what is important to them.

Overall top 10 […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:25:47+02:00September 30th, 2017|2017 Case Study, Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

The fragility of reputations: a lesson from Bell Pottinger

We live in the ‘reputation economy’, so how should companies act when managing a crisis?

29 SEPTEMBER 2017 MARIETJIE THERON

An office building containing the London headquarters of the PR company Bell Pottinger is seen behind an entrance to an underground train station in London, September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

The London headquarters of PR company Bell Pottinger in London. Picture: REUTERS

The name Bell Pottinger is on everyone’s lips. Over recent months, immensely negative sentiment built up towards this communications company, not only in the UK and South Africa but also further afield, which damaged Bell Pottinger’s reputation.

The damage – fuelled by the media and social media – was so enormous that the firm reached the end of the road when it officially entered into administration.

That was an ironic turn of events, as communications firms are supposed to guide others on how […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:23:38+02:00September 30th, 2017|Ethics, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

SARS threatens fines and jail time for taxpayers not paying their due

29 September 2017

SARS has announced that it will intensify criminal proceedings against tax offenders from October.

In a statement released on Thursday, the revenue collector warned South African taxpayers to “pay your taxes or pay the price”, after it had seen a large increase in taxpayers not submitting their returns within stipulated timeframes.

“We have noticed an increase in taxpayers not submitting their tax returns by the stipulated deadlines‚ and not settling their outstanding debt‚” SARS said.

“This is not limited to the current tax year but includes substantial non-compliance across previous tax years. It is for this reason that from October 2017 SARS will now intensify criminal proceedings against tax offenders.”

“Should any return result in a tax debt, it must be paid before the relevant due date to avoid any interest for late payment and legal action,” it said.

These punishments could include fines or even […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:21:24+02:00September 30th, 2017|Environments, Recources|