Includes personal anecdotes, case examples, and vignettes with short, concise chapters making this book easy reading for the busy executive.

At this critical junction in the history of humankind, leaders that are proficient in magical thinking aren’t going to solve our problems. Creating alternative realities is not the answer. We need a very different kind of leadership―leaders who can resist the calls of regression and whose outlook is firmly based in reality. We need leaders who analyze and draw conclusions from, or use their own experiences as a development tool, face their strengths and weaknesses, and critique their own experiences in order to build new understandings.

In this very personal and entertaining book, Manfred Kets de Vries, one of the “gurus” in the field of leadership studies offers his thoughts on leadership and life, reflections written for executives and the people who deal with them. As a psychoanalyst and leadership professor let loose in the world of renowned global organizations―as a passionate educator and scholar, or just a human being at the receiving end of heart-rending emails―he examines the pitfalls of leadership and the challenges for the professionals who work with senior executives in today’s AI-focused world.

He points out why leaders can derail, and what steps they can take to prevent this from happening. Ultimately, this book encourages you to “Know yourself,” but makes no bones about the challenge it represents. Understanding our “inner theatre” will always be an uphill struggle. Kets de Vries points out why deep dives into our inner world are always fraught with many anxieties.

Included in the many subjects covered by the author are the loneliness of command, the management of disappointment, the destructive role of greed, the impact of stubbornness, the role of storytelling, the importance of wellness, and the role of corporate culture. In addition, the book addresses the important topic of how to create great teams and best places to work. Furthermore, the book touches on endings– the ending of our career and the growing realization of the inevitable ending of our life. As time grows short, Kets de Vries emphasizes that we have no time to lose in dealing with our anxieties, regrets, and the things we spend much of our life determined not to see.

Taking a deep dive into self-knowledge requires courage and support, and he is here to guide you through it.

It's time to leapfrog the only hurdle between you and a million-dollar company.

More people than ever want to be their own boss, but venturing forward with your own business can be hugely intimidating. Are you investing effort in ideas that have no basis in customer demand? Are you shying away from even considering starting your own business? Noah Kagan knew this feeling all too well, but has since discovered how to banish the one simple thing holding aspiring entrepreneurs back, to become a 7-figure founder.

MILLION DOLLAR WEEKEND offers an into-the-deep-end process for overcoming fear and perfectionism and making the business of your dreams a reality. Step-by-step, Noah shows what it takes to oust fear and build the "ask muscle", and shares practical advice that every entrepreneur needs to master. By demystifying what it takes to start a business, turning risk into realistic action and fear into fun, this is the beginning of your journey to successful entrepreneurship.

And the best part? You can kickstart this process in a weekend.

Nolitha Fakude grew up as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, studied at the University of FortHare and then entered the workplace in 1990 as a graduate trainee at Woolworths. Subsequently, she has worked in very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol. She was also managing director and then president of the Black Management Forum (BMF).

Over a career spanning 29 years, Nolitha spearheaded programmes that ensure the development of women and marginalised communities in the workplace and society. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has earned a well-deserved reputation as a corporate activist.

Nolitha is held in high regard within business circles and serves on numerous boards including the JSE Limited, Anglo American plc and Afrox Limited. Although Boardroom Dancing is her personal journey, it is also a lesson for South Africans committed to the transformation of boardrooms and the economy, and for women looking for role models as they climb corporate ladders and become thought-leaders

Nolitha Fakude was born in Cenyu a small village in the Eastern Cape outside Stutterheim and worked her way up from the shopfloor as a Graduate Trainee at Woolworths to become one of South Africa’s most respected and successful black business women. Nolitha is a humble leader who is widely respected as a pioneer who was at the forefront of transformation strategy, both within the companies she worked for and as a leader at the Black Management Forum where she worked with business, government and unions to drive change in South Africa.

Business-to-Business Marketing is the first B2B marketing book in South Africa written by local academics. Its content therefore includes material to which South African students of B2B marketing can relate more easily. This book is about businesses marketing their products and services to other businesses and covers concepts related to this environment. It gives valuable insights into business-to-business marketing management, as well as analysing B2B buying practices, supply chain management, the selection of business customers and the development of a B2B marketing strategy. It provides readers with an understanding of what B2B marketing is and how it differs from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. The book has a strong theoretical basis, while also exploring many case studies from a South African perspective.

Every now and then a book comes along that is both timely and remarkable, that integrates all aspects of life; from recognising one’s roots, developing a moral grounding, building from strong family foundations to follow a chosen path to reach one’s goals, and remaining humble when it all comes to pass.

Time and Chance is an account, in a variety of contrasting images, voices and experiences gained from travelling the world in pursuit of business, where LAZARUS ZIM, industrious Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) enthusiast, recounts his journey to become one of South Africa’s business leaders, with several firsts, while navigating the political minefield – disclosing descriptions of behind-the-scenes intrigue and conspiracy – and his interactions with Heads of State in South Africa and around the globe.

The recounting of Zim’s extraordinary rise to success oscillates between hope, faith, ethics, and diligence as he lays bare his successes and failures, and the organic wisdom, knowledge, and wit that have framed his business acumen and moral grounding.

It is a poignant reminder of a black child’s quest to fulfil his purpose in which the writer dares everyone to dream, even in the face of hopelessness.

If you are not relentlessly fixated with relevance today, you will be ruthlessly annihilated by irrelevance tomorrow.

How relevant are you? Is your relevance under threat?

In a world where everything is changing before our eyes, nothing matters more than your ability to stay relentlessly relevant. Relentless Relevance is your must-read guide to thriving in chaos. Part business blueprint, part manifesto for forward-thinkers, this compelling book draws from insights in technology, culture, and human behaviour to empower individuals and organisations to rewrite their stories. Building on the provocative ideas of his bestselling book Legacide, Richard Mulholland makes a powerful case for abandoning legacy thinking. With sharp wit and actionable wisdom, he challenges you to reimagine the future and embrace the reinvention necessary to remain indispensable.

"I found myself asking the question, ‘Am I still relevant?’ What I discovered is that if you find yourself asking the question, the answer is no. Mostly because it’s the wrong question. The right question is, ‘What can I do today to stay relevant?’ You see, relevance is not a milestone anymore; it’s the path that we travel." – Richard Mulholland

Be prepared to shift from comfort to curiosity.

Amidst a backdrop of political unrest and voter disillusionment, South Africa finds itself at a crossroads, challenging its resiliency like never before. Bruce Whitfield, leveraging his deep connection with the nation's most innovative minds, presents The One Thing: Small Ideas, Big Outcomes, A Brighter Future for South Africa. This book is a clarion call for focused action, inspired by the wisdom that when everything is a priority, nothing truly is.

Through exclusive insights from business leaders to pioneers in various fields, Whitfield orchestrates a compelling narrative on the transformative power of single, impactful ideas.

'The One Thing' is not just a book; it's a blueprint for individual and collective commitment to propelling South Africa towards a brighter, more potent future.

Revolutionary retail guru Paco Underhill is back with fresh observations and important lessons in this completely revised edition of his classic, witty bestselling book on our ever-evolving consumer culture.

This enlightening edition includes new information on:

• The latest trends in online retail—what retailers are doing right and what they’re doing wrong—and how nearly every Internet retailer from iTunes to Amazon can drastically improve how it serves its customers.
• A guided tour of the most innovative stores, malls and retail environments around the world—almost all of which are springing up in countries where prosperity is new. An enormous indoor ski slope attracts shoppers to a mall in Dubai; an uber-luxurious Sao Paolo department store provides its customers with personal shoppers; a mall in South Africa has a wave pool for surfing.

The new Why We Buy is an essential guide that offers advice on how to keep your changing customers and entice new and eager ones.

What can be learned from black South Africans who achieved success before South Africa became a democracy in 1994? What are the challenges they faced, and how did they overcome them? And, today, how have South Africans benefited from the country’s democratic system of governance? These are the questions Phumlani M. Majozi explores and attempts to answer in Lessons from Past Heroes.

He traces black people’s success and political activity back to the early 1900s; successful men and women who spearheaded the struggle against the segregationist, colonialist government and devoted their lives to advancing the interests of their communities. Phumlani explores the careers, challenges, and successes of people such as Pixley ka Isaka Seme, John Langalibalele Dube, Sol Plaatje and Josiah Tshangana Gumede.

During the apartheid years, South Africa produced black men and women who overcame the odds to succeed in their fields of business, entertainment, science, and politics. They excelled in the face of an oppressive government system, and their stories should inspire every South African today. After exploring the history of South Africa, Phumlani delves into the present and the future; evaluating the challenges South Africans face and proposes solutions that can speed up their economic progress.

He argues that much of South Africa’s history has portrayed the majority as victims of the minority, and that the inspirational stories of those people who overcame adversity are not being told widely enough.

These stories must be told to inspire future generations.

If black South Africans could succeed in the pre-1994 era, what can stop them today? The answer is nothing, Phumlani writes.

In 2023, Reuel Khoza unsealed a letter to the future, which he had written in 1999 when he was chair of Eskom, at the time recognised as the best power utility in the world. It was an optimistic letter, expressing hopes that have since been dashed by corruption and maladministration – by a failure of ethical leadership.

Khoza has written about leadership before – considering the importance of the intelligence, emotional and social quotients. Now he broadens his focus to explore the role of spirituality – a ‘faith quotient’ – in transformational leadership.

Powerful chapters deal with Ubuntu and Christianity, the social responsibilities of business, the nature of generosity in an unequal world, and the search for common values to bridge conflicts. This is a vital and timely book for a country that has lost its moral compass.

An updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life.

Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three's Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed "all but lost." In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership--at every level--is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields.

Since it's release in October 2015, Extreme Ownership has revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Required reading for many of the most successful organizations, it has become an integral part of the official leadership training programs for scores of business teams, military units, and first responders. Detailing the mindset and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions, Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.

What is the role off marketing in the business? How is value created in the marketing process? How can I develop a marketing plan? How do I conduct market research? Is the internet the best way to help me market my product or service, or are a multichannel approach the best solution as a distribution channel option?

This completely updated sixth edition of Introduction to marketing that started out in 1998 comprises twelve chapters that focuses on recent developments in the South African marketing environment. The business setting has changed drastically in the Post-Covid-19 environment. These changes are reflected in all the chapters of the textbook.

Of special interest are the new chapters that were introduced on sustainability, social responsibility and ethical decision-making in marketing, developing the marketing plan and how marketing is dealing with changes brought by Industry 4.0.

In Brandalism, the follow-up to his bestselling, award-winning debut book The Best Dick, Mike Sharman delves into the (start)ups and downs associated with brand building and the need for business to dismantle, and vandalise its perceived, public-facing, persona.

The future of PR and influence, when – or if – to launch a new business as opposed to a division, raising capital, the impact of presentations, start-up school fees, and emphasis on a manifesto rather than purpose, are the aspects Mike obsesses over in this insightful read, wrapped in his trademark, comedic, copy.

Mike Sharman, the co-founder of the creative, digital agency Retroviral that has made more brands ‘go viral’, globally, than any other agency in Africa, uses his unique storytelling proposition to provide insight into 12 years of building a business from scratch, while elevating his clients to emotional, (commercial) cult status.

Life is short. Play naked!

Leadership is not a destination. Leadership is an odyssey. A voyage of discovery, marked by changes of fortune and circumstances, informed by successes and failures. Defined by how you behaved and who you have become.

The Upside of Being Myself and Other Leadership Stories is a unique opportunity to catch a breath, step back, and take a long, hard, reflective look at who you are as a leader and where your odyssey will take you. Powered by experience, informed by the reality of operating in today’s harsh realities, and leveraging the insights gained from many leadership victories and defeats, each essay creates an opportunity for reflection, introspection and personal growth.

The book spans almost every aspect of leadership, including the journey towards that mythical corner office, the agility and flexibility of styles required for sustained success, the art of crisp, concise communication and the need for an internal compass to guide you on your journey. Ian Russell draws on his 30 years of leadership experience from around the world, using his irreverent, light-hearted but thought-provoking prose to land key leadership messages. Further diverse and powerful leadership insights come from a number of contributing writers on politics, large corporate life and entrepreneurial start-ups.

The Upside of Being Myself and Other Leadership Stories is an investment of your time into your leadership odyssey. This is not an opportunity you can pass by. So pick up a copy, settle down and enjoy.

This comprehensive yet accessible textbook provides readers with an advanced and applied approach to traditional international business that integrates key cross-cultural management topics. Its ten chapters give profound insights into analysing, selecting and entering international markets, strategic partnerships, strategic positioning, global value chains, organizational designs, intercultural interaction, leadership and motivation and international human resources management. For each of these topics, advanced and contemporary theoretical and analytical frameworks are discussed and translated into toolsets that will assist readers in solving practical challenges. Key Features: A strong connection of theoretical foundations with illustrative case studies Integration of current trends and challenges, such as intercultural competence, migration and digitalization, offshoring and global value chains Comprehensive practical examples from multinational firms that demonstrate the value of the frameworks and toolsets included in each chapter An integrative case study that picks up key practical challenges in each chapter and invites the reader to apply theories, frameworks and toolsets A supplementary website that provides multiple materials for furthering readers' knowledge, including toolsets, further cases and exercises, accompanying videos, quizzes, and presentation slides International Business Strategy and Cross-Cultural Management is a key resource for postgraduate courses on international business management, globalization and entrepreneurship, international human resource management and global marketing. It will also serve as a complementary text for lecturers and students involved in the X-Culture project.

Marketing is not a function by itself or a task for just one person – its success depends on several activities in the marketing value chain.

Understanding this value chain is important for companies to stay relevant, and crucial for seeing a return on their investment in marketing. Companies employ and interact with many members of the marketing value chain, and therefore need to be familiar with the relationships between each link in this chain.

Marketing Value Chain is about understanding this value chain, where marketing fits into the chain, and what role marketers play within it.

Key concepts are:

• the nature of distribution and its role in the supply chain and marketing
• the concept of value chain marketing
• distribution channels in South Africa
• understanding channel design and channel selection
• functions in the value chain
• behavioural processes in the value chain
• trends in value chain development and online channels
• the supply chain and logistics industry in South Africa
• buyer -supplier relationships

Industry analysts are in the business of shaping the technological and economic future. They attempt to 'predict' what will become the next big thing; to spot new emerging trends and paradigms; to decide which hi-tech products will win out over others and to figure out which technology vendors can deliver on their promises. In just a few short years, they have developed a surprising degree of authority over technological innovation. Yet we know very little, if anything about them. This book seeks to explain how this was achieved and on what this authority rests. Who are the experts who increasingly command the attention of vendor and user communities? What is the nature of this new form of technical and business knowledge? How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future offers the first book length study into this rarely scrutinized form of business expertise. Contributions to this volume show how, from a small group of mainly North American players which arose in the 1970s, Gartner Inc. has emerged as clear leader of a $6 billion industry that involves several hundred firms worldwide. Through interviews and observation of Gartner Inc. and other industry analyst firms, the book explores how these firms create their predictions, market classifications and rankings, as well as with how these outputs are assessed and consumed. The book asks why many social scientists have ignored the proliferation of these new forms of management and technical expertise. In some cases scholars have 'deflated' this kind of business acumen, portraying it as arbitrary knowledge whose methods and content do not deserve enquiry. The valuable exception here has been the path-breaking work on the 'performativity' of economic, financial or accounting knowledge. Drawing upon recent performativity arguments, the book argues the case for a Sociology of Business Knowledge.

This two-volume set examines the need for a consciousness-based view of leadership, which emphasizes universal human flourishing, as opposed to a resource-based view, which focuses on sustaining a competitive advantage. This approach is built around three main principles: 1) Paradigm (Consciousness is primary including complementary existence of opposites), 2) Interpersonal (focusing on empathy and compassion), and 3) Individual (experiencing Oneness and expressing creativity). Volume One is divided into three sections. The first section focuses on Consciousness-based approaches to Inclusive, Purposeful, Quantum, and Vedic leadership. The second section focuses on leadership principles from Vedic scriptures such as Ramayana and Vedanta. The third section includes leadership principles from other scriptures such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Thirukural. Aligning leadership practices with the notion of unbounded consciousness, this edited collection will extend the literature on organizational culture, leadership, and sustainability, contributing to solving the grand challenges facing humanity.

The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management offers a comprehensive and timely analysis of the nature and importance of innovation and the strategies and practices that can be used to improve organizational benefits from innovation. Innovation is centrally important for business and national competitiveness, and for the quality and standard of living around the world, but it does not happen by itself. For innovation to succeed, it needs to be properly managed. With contributions from 49 world-leading scholars, the Handbook explores the many sources of innovation, the broader social, economic, and technological contexts that encourage and constrain it, and the cutting-edge strategies and practices of innovation management. The book addresses the traditional concerns of innovation management-such as managing R&D, intellectual property, and creativity, and the contributions of science and marketing-but substantially extends traditional areas of interest. In this new volume, chapters examine emerging topics including design, social networks, open and social innovation, and innovation in business models, ecosystems, services, and platforms. The book explores the importance of innovation management for environmental sustainability, and its evolving nature and practice in Asia. Written in an accessible style, and with carefully selected bibliographies and a comprehensive index, the Handbook offers a uniquely authoritative and wide-ranging source of knowledge about innovation management. Each chapter identifies key issues and reviews the most important research findings. Future research questions are identified. The Handbook will be invaluable for students and faculty studying, researching, and teaching innovation, and for managers seeking to improve innovation outcomes in their organizations.

Verbeke provides a new perspective on international business strategy by combining analytical rigour and true managerial insight on the functioning of large multinational enterprises (MNEs). With unique commentary on 48 seminal articles published in the Harvard Business Review, the Sloan Management Review and the California Management Review over the past three decades, Verbeke shows how these can be applied to real businesses engaged in international expansion programmes, especially as they venture into high-distance markets. The second edition has been thoroughly updated and features greater coverage of emerging markets with a new chapter and seven new cases. Suited for advanced undergraduates and graduate courses, students will benefit from updated case studies and improved learning features, including 'management takeaways', key lessons that can be applied to MNEs and a wide range of online resources.

This book presents a unique collection of case studies from across the globe to create a comprehensive understanding of how family firms can respond to future disruptions. Each case contains learning notes with objectives, discussion questions and suggested readings to facilitate learner understanding and engagement with the topic. Cases on topics such as global succession and governance practices will aid strategic decision-making capabilities in family businesses and will also benefit practitioners in these areas. Diverse in terms of generational involvement, demographic groups, cultural aspects, institutional settings and industries, the cases range from founder-led SMEs to multi-generational family conglomerates in 18 countries spanning over four continents. In addition to identifying successful practices, this book offers unconventional wisdom on the impact of family feuds, sudden death, divorce and multiple marriages on family businesses. It concludes by exposing new understandings on succession and the unique role played by rising-generation leaders in this disruptive era. Informed by the common research paradigm of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practice (STEP) Project Global Consortium, this book will provide a practical learning experience for advanced students and scholars of family business, family entrepreneurship, and strategic management studies.

The time for "different" is now. Tap into the insights of our leading business minds and thought leaders and equip your business for a successful new way of doing business.

The world of business is tough, especially today. We know that now is the time for exponential acceleration, adaptability, agility and adjusting; a time for resilience, perseverance and courage; where the frames of reference that so many of us have held onto for so long are simply no longer relevant. But you may be stuck. You may be frozen and fearful, and feeling panicked. You may be worried, and feel weary. Your vision may be blurred, and you may feel unsure of yourself, yet you have a business to run, and staff to look after. If you are feeling some, or perhaps all of these things, take a deep breath – help is at hand. With over forty chapters of wisdom, insights, experience, suggestions and advice from some of South Africa’s leading business minds and thought leaders, you will find pure gems of information, ideas and solutions on each page of The Book Every Business Owner Must Read.

Adapt, respond, and define your new ways of thinking to help you succeed. Get your pen and notebook ready, start reading and make notes and lists of what you can do, today, to not only survive, but thrive as a business.

A strong business model is the bedrock to business success. But all too often we fail to adapt, clinging to outdated business models that are no longer promising the results we need. This new edition builds on the well-known methodology of the first edition to allow you to innovate, test and implement new business models within your industry. Discover the idea of business model innovation, from structuring the process of innovation of a company's business model to encouraging outside-the-box thinking. With expert authors, The Business Model Navigator combines learning research with evidence of high practical impact, allowing you to master the transformation journey and lead your business to success.

Many entrepreneurs starting up their own business have a great idea but they fail because they haven’t spent enough time planning how to carry it out. In this book, a team of successful entrepreneurs, business advisors and subject specialists lay out the process of planning and starting your own enterprise, introducing you to the world of entrepreneurship and advising how to grow a business.

Drawing on their personal experiences in the different phases of start-up and establishing their businesses they add valuable hands-on information.

Entrepreneurship – An African Perspective is a theoretical as well as practical guide to how to develop business ideas to establish a successful enterprise.

This introductory textbook to Business Management covers all the topics most important to those interested in the business world and managing businesses in South Africa, Africa and globally.

They include:

• General management, including planning, organising, leading and control
• Financial management
• Operations management
• Purchasing
• Logistics and supply chain management
• Management Information Systems
• Marketing management and public relations
• Human resource management.

The book also covers the business environment, entrepreneurship, business ethics and contemporary trends in 4IR relevant to management. It has been written by distinguished authors, all experts in their respective fields from various universities and the private sector, who share their knowledge and experience with a theoretically sound but practical approach. The intended readers are undergraduate students studying Introductory Business Management as part of a degree or diploma at a university, university of technology or private college.