Critical Thought

Critical Thought

Are conscientiousness and creativity mutually exclusive? In our school and our businesses and organisations, do we over-reward conscientiousness and discipline, and under-rate creativity and independence

Year end examinations are upon us again! And for some this can be the most stressful period in their lives.

‘When you network, you hear about how others started their businesses and you get motivated to wake up tomorrow and continue knocking on doors’

In a measurable way they show how up until the 1970s the whole of humankind had eaten away nine days, but since then we have eaten away four months

Differing degrees of moral panic are being flashed in the mainstream and social media on the impact of expropriation without compensation.

Trust trumps everything, that’s what one of my favourite speakers on ethics, Brand Pretorius, said at the Nelson Mandela Bay Leadership Summit, an initiative of the Ukuvula Foundation in June this year.

A Humble Request Fingo Village

On the horns of a dilemma

We intrude, of course, as we always do.

I run a development organization,Ubuntu Education Fund, and I believe that our model is an example of an excellent impact investment.

For the first time in his administration he has specifically highlighted the issue of climate change.

We use the term Journey because organisations don’t ever really achieve true environmental sustainability, but they are able to make progress over time, and in so doing, they reduce their impact, they influence others to do the same and they achieve competitive advantage.

For the first time in his administration he has specifically highlighted the issue of climate change.

The results, easily accessible to anyone with Internet access, are alarming, and, it is argued – present an overwhelming case for an urgent and concerted response by African countries, and the continent as a whole.

Our interactions as citizens of South Africa has often been along party political lines in the past except for the few times that we meet on the sporting fields for a major event, then we unite for a while and forget our differences.

BUT the question : is how long will it take for good to to triumph and at what cost?

Seizing the captive hour, I asked her why, when the oil sheikhs are allocating vast revenues to developing renewable energy technologies and building renewable energy cities like Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, are other governments still banging on about the merits of investing long-term in fossil fuel.

The JSE’s listing requirements included this aspect in 2010, making South Africa a leader in the field of sustainability (meaning financial, social, environmental and governance) and integrated reporting.

This article intends to make a case for cautious investigation (critical thought) – a science-based analysis of the actual experiences that must ultimately inform policy. It is not a blanket statement that proponents of shale gas mining are wrong or that the converse applies.

An assessment of the shale gas debate in South African media will establish that both sides make use of ‘scientific’ reports that suit their viewpoint. Plato, in Republic wrote, “When the mind’s eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change and decay, it can only form opinions.”

The signing of a formalised, strategic collaboration to mainstream biodiversity into business signals the recognition by these two organisations of the synergies that exist in relation to their work in the private sector and they have joined forces to leverage off of each other’s existing networks, connections and best practice learning.

The signing of a formalised, strategic collaboration to mainstream biodiversity into business signals the recognition by these two organisations of the synergies that exist in relation to their work in the private sector and they have joined forces to leverage off of each other’s existing networks, connections and best practice learning.

The nature of struggle is that it is wont to throw to the fore, challenges that expose the shortcomings of leadership.

It was appropriate for us to raise our voices during a time when our voices were constrained by oppression, banishment and violence.

Journalist Barney Mthobothi recently said that there is ‘nothing common that expresses South African nationhood’; hence the problems of achieving social cohesion with the current socio-political leadership model

From men not paying child maintenance to the abuse of women to sexual harassment to companies not recognising women’s abilities and paying women less than men … we need to address all these issues head-on.

This is according to Oxfam’s pre-Davos report, which compared this to 2010 when 388 of the world’s richest owned as much as the 3.6-billion.

Politics, after all, is about power, not truth.

In the midst of this I recently had the great privilege of meeting a woman named Edri Myburgh.

Last month, while addressing Parliament’s debate on the performance-management budget, he conceded that SA’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year was the lowest in 17 years, with the exception of 2009.

Given the acrimonious race debate that gripped the country at the start of 2016, the IRR survey results reveal a very different picture to the social media wars and hostile, polarising debates we have witnessed of late.

The many issues we are focusing on are diverting attention and energy from the educational crisis we are facing.

Clearly, there is no simple solution but cabinet ministers, university heads, lecturers, students, union members, parents and the rest of society urgently need to come together to try to find common ground.

The duty to act in good faith is not a soft concept.

Although there is a dichotomy in the meaning of this expression, ‘one becomes alive as another one dies’, it perfectly highlights how the tragic and unjustified deaths of 94 extremely vulnerable mental health patients has brightly shone the spotlight directly onto the state and civil society’s responsibility for medical care.

During the parliamentary ad hoc committee’s SABC inquiry, I was riveted to the accounts from the courageous, committed SABC 8, including the economics editor, Thandeka Gqubule, who inspired me with her commitment to do the right thing and expose what was happening inside the organisation.

It’s a brilliant, annual initiative by law students for law students, and it is incredibly tough and challenging.

The 1st phase is orientation or getting to know each other. Students are oriented to the different ADC partners both parties get to know each other, students gain an understanding of businesses, and businesses share their business journey and vision.

My Dad was a history teacher and a blue blooded Brit. Up to his dying day he would stand to attention if he just heard the band strike up with ‘God save the Queen.’

So, Johan with his three bedroom, two bathroom house and Toyota Corolla, was classified as identical to Tsepho, with the same assets.

Sustainability should be more than a fad.

The point we were making was that because these three factors were inter-related, no decision could be taken without bearing all three factors in mind simultaneously.

But will they be extolled forever?

“Our societies will never be great until our cities are great.

“Our societies will never be great until our cities are great

Dan Barwick is an eco entrepreneur. A few years ago he risked his family’s future on making compost.

This was the core theme of an inspirational address Brand Pretorius gave, without a note in front of him, at the Rhodes Business School ‘Business Forum’, in Grahamstown on 8 September 2011.

When I moved from the Netherlands to South Africa, I moved in with the family of my late partner in Nelson Mandela Township (Nemato) in Port Alfred.

He wrote, “We live today in an interconnected world in which biological, psychological, social and environmental phenomena are all interdependent. To describe this world appropriately we need an ecological perspective which the Cartesian world view does not offer.”

To begin with, reflection on how far we have progressed in Africa requires us to clarify our notions of ‘subject’ and ‘citizen’, and subjecthood and citizenship.

Let me add another twist or angle to that statement – It’s all about Globalization, mate!

Migration, however, or labour mobility, in the economic context, is like air or water – it will flow wherever there is a vacuum or where gravity takes it.

These were questions, attendees of the final Rhodes Business School Business Forum of 2011 were seeking answers to from Andrew Johnston, Group Company Secretary of the Altron Group.

Kenneth Boulding, (1910-1993), said that “economics has been incurably growth-oriented and addicted to everybody growing richer, even at the cost of exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment”.

Not that we were hearing these words for the first time.

Let me now go back to what I began with in part 1 of this three-part article.

If fossil fuels in general are a hotly debated topic, then unconventional gas, the newest darling of the oil and gas industry worldwide, must be acknowledged as having the potential to become the single biggest environmental issue in history.

“Sustainability” must include minimization of collateral damage from the development of these green energies and solutions to this situation can only be found when we have defined our 21st century relationship with the natural world.

Broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) legislation has demanded that companies invest in Socio-Economic Development (SED) initiatives and Enterprise Development (ED) programmes.

A simple, ‘You’re being emotional, we’re scientific’, was often sufficient to render the argument of environmentalists powerless in the face of economic forecasts and industry spin.

Economic pressures for large corporates and small businesses alike are increasing each year. Companies are forced to place more time and focus on cost-cutting measures and ensure that every business partner provides real value to their business.