News

The book that should be on every leader’s holiday reading list is No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. Once you start reading, it won’t even stay closed long enough for you to claim it’s “on your bedside table”. The prose is digestible and...

Many more times than one would expect, executive headhunters are mandated to search on roles that are not entirely vacant. Indeed, in many situations where a leader is departing, an organised, intentional and deliberate succession plan is under way, and there is...

For any company to succeed, its board is crucial. Recruiting suitable, diverse candidates can be difficult. Whether the need is driven by investors, required by law or simply a matter of good business practise, a strategic approach to board diversity is increasingly...

Let’s agree that almost all leadership (C-Suite and executive level) appointments usually have a measure of risk attached to them. Even if you’ve done all the due diligence, i.e. you’ve done tremendous amounts of research, interviewed at length using reputable...

As I re-read McKinsey’s quarterly report The CEO Moment: Leadership for a new era (July 2020), I found myself inspired once more  by the stories of CEOs who managed to leverage opportunities presented by Covid to achieve extraordinary shifts, changes, goals, and...

If you speak to leaders and board directors on a daily (hourly) basis like I do, you’ll start to hear a common theme when it comes to their biggest challenges. And no, it’s not about Covid, or work-from-home issues and productivity (although this remains an ongoing...

A few months (which feels like years) ago, almost the entire global workforce was dispatched lock stock and barrel to their homes, relatively overnight, as Covid-19 lockdowns kicked in. Technology infrastructure was sorted out pretty swiftly across the board, so that...

Happy Anniversary. To me! Nine years with Jack Hammer, finding leaders who will help great businesses to grow and prosper. Could there be a better job in the whole world? I suffer from an embarrassment of good fortune - and have decided it's not serving me to avoid...

I started writing this a little while ago and stopped because it felt like maybe this blog had missed its time. However, hearing a number of stories this past week reiterating what I had struggled through almost verbatim, made me want to share again while I feel like...

The past few months have seen the world thrown into turmoil; as one popular meme puts it, we’re all awaiting a return to “precedented” times. But we all know that won’t happen. McKinsey calls it The Next Normal. Satya Nadella has crystallised the three phases of...

LinkedIn is an invaluable tool. It provides access to data around talent relatively quickly and can often narrow the pool of talent in a considerably shortened time. There is a flaw, though: this information is completely unverified. No checks, references nor the...

I sit (virtually and metaphorically, of course) with one leg on either side of the Atlantic, living in the US, whilst overseeing businesses in Africa. I get my daily news literally 24/7, and find myself viewing ‘the economy’, business in general, and the job market...

Lockdown has been extended. What was a 21 day countdown, is now a million day countdown (or so it feels). Please allow me to be not-okay for a moment. Despite everyone trying their best to stay positive, this is one of the hardest things to do - and it’s okay to say...

After the first week and a bit under ‘Lockdown’, many of us may be questioning whether we’ll emerge with our sanity in tact. And we’re now contemplating the next full week of proper ‘work from home’ under these extraordinary circumstances. For the next while, video...

Dear Work-Friends As we head into Week 1 of Lockdown in South Africa, I’m into Week 3 (THREE!) of self-quarantine here in Los Angeles with my family (where I currently live). My daughters are also into Week 3 of remote learning (otherwise referred to as...

It’s one week down, into what is probably going to be the new norm for the foreseeable future. Full time working mum, alone at home with two small children, digging into the depths of her patience capacity! A similar situation to so many around the world right now. I...

If you’re lucky enough, privileged enough and sufficiently ‘enabled’ from a technological perspective, you might just find yourself working from home a bit over the next weeks or months. Here’s some advice from a professional occasional remoter. 1. Get dressed for...

Over half the global working population requires significant up-skilling or re-skilling*. By 2022. It’s a topic on everybody’s lips, and on most** 2019 integrated reports up-skilling is both a strategic imperative and a KPI for all key leadership appointments. So...

Jack Hammer recently released our annual bonus and salary survey, where we unpack whether SA executives are expecting incentives (nee, meneer) or pay increases (aikona) in the coming year. Given the state of the economy, the results were unsurprising – respondents are...

You may have recently heard Jack Hammer’s fabulous COO, Advaita Naidoo speaking on Cape Talk about psychometric assessments. Listening avidly, I was pushed to finish writing this blog which has had far too many edits and versions to count. If you know me, you probably...

Several hiring misses that have taken place in this week alone have tempted me to write a letter that goes something like this: ‘Dear Hiring Manager, you have (again) let a top quality, fully qualified candidate slip through your fingers. And the reason for this...

Non-executive Board appointments are a growing part of the Jack Hammer business offering. Increased complexity around conflicts of interest and the need for impartiality and good governance is partly driving this. Board diversity is another.  Interestingly, the...

I admit that for many years I was a little cynical about the value of market mapping as a tool to help businesses. “Why spend the money? What value can this really add?”, were the thoughts commonly occupying my mind. And then I had a lightbulb moment, and now I truly...

I’m a massive goal-setter. I have spreadsheets for my big picture life and business goals, my one-year goals, and every month….yes…a spreadsheet for my monthly goals. My lists are legendary and, although I don’t always achieve everything I set out to do, my mantra is...

Many of the ambitious executives I speak to on a daily basis have aspirations to ultimately become CEO. In fact, at least 80% of execs will take the call from a headhunter when the role has this 3-letter acronym as its job title. They’re interested for a range of...

You may have seen my colleague on the news recently discussing gender diversity in South Africa. It is a hot topic and her interview was the result of Jack Hammer’s recent findings around the lack of women in the CEO job in South Africa. This data is not new, and it’s...

What’s going to put you ahead of the other 1 billion talented people out there? We’d all like to believe that a combination of talent and hard work will lead to career success. This is partly true. Talent and hard work may lead to some success – if you measure success...