Fourteen captains of industry. One hour of intense, candid and often brutal examination with each leader. Courageous conversations takes the reader on a privileged walk through the corridors of corporate power, on a journey to the centre of leadership. What is leadership? How have these remarkable individuals steered their companies through times of largeness and, more recently, recession? Has the board become an outdated model? Are visions, values and ethics being sacrificed on the altar of profitability? Has executive remuneration really gone too far? The ultimate goal: to discover what lessons can be learned and taken on board for the next generation of South Africa's corporate leaders. David Gleason, a well-known financial journalist and columnist, gets into the minds, and ultimately the hearts, of these celebrated leaders with often surprising and dramatic consequences. Courageous conversations is a fearless exposition of real-life leadership. It stands apart from other books in the field of leadership with its dual-analysis format: one analysis written by Gleason and an academic analysis of each interview by Professor Stella Nkomo, with contributions from Professor Derick de Jongh. Each interview has been transcribed and copied onto a CD, which accompanies the book.

This book contributes to the development of a relational view of economics. Bringing together experts from various disciplines, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the study of relational transactions. In contrast to discrete market transactions as a traditional subject of economic discourse, the book analyses the role of relational transactions in the study of economic phenomena. The contributing authors address topics such as global intra- and inter-company networks, intersectoral stakeholder management, relational contracts, and transcultural management approaches. Accordingly, the book makes an important contribution to an emerging field of research.