I made three birdies on Saturday. This was midway through a golf tour I had arranged, and what a grand convention golf getaways are. What you do is you shoot the sh*t with okes who say it like it is, and what they’re saying often holds much value; you spice in (more than) a few beers and some epic wine, you stir in a braai and top off with the odd sauna. Some of these guys I have known for a few years now… one of them is a friend from my London days, and that’s going back to

While sitting in the sauna this week, I found myself discussing London with a woman who was about to fly there. She wasn’t particularly excited – the greyness, the Tube, the people staring into the middle distance. Apparently, the whole place could do with a hug. My response was that this sounded like an opportunity. Be the smiley face. Engage somebody. At best, you improve their day; at worst, you mildly unsettle a commuter who wasn’t expecting a cheerful South African befor

Back into it. Does this feel like you? Some time away with the family, a solid recharge and good rest… then the hard re-entry into productivity, focus and the needs of your core customer, your team, your cash flow. It’s not easy. It’s like me getting up at 4.30 am to do my first road cycle of the season after a six-month layoff. There was a big part of me that just wanted to stay in bed and chill, maybe sneak in an episode of Friends and Neighbours before the kids wake up. In

I spent much of this weekend doing what sports fans do best: seeing reasons to believe, even when the evidence suggested I should be a little more careful. First golf. The International team had given me plenty of encouragement at the Presidents Cup. With a South African in the side, I had skin in the game, and I was rooting for them to upset a formidable American team. For three days, they played with the commitment and cohesion you need when the opposition has so much indiv

Last week was full. I travelled, attended a wedding on the other side of the world, played some golf, navigated airports and generally tried to squeeze more activity into a few days than my body clock thought was reasonable. This weekend, Caroline and I made a highly strategic decision: we stayed the hell at home. Saturday morning involved a wonderfully unproductive Ted Lasso marathon. It was a beautiful day outside, which briefly made us feel guilty, but not guilty enough to

A Springbok comeback, a birthday in Soweto, and a reminder that resilience is a muscle, on rugby, South Africa, and starting again

I flew to the United States this week for the wedding of an old friend, Chris, who I first met almost exactly twenty years ago in a hostel in Antigua, Guatemala. Back then, we were both taking a bit of a detour from the expected track of life. I was a South African travel agent on a sabbatical with a backpack, he was an aspiring doctor from Colorado, and somehow we ended up travelling together for six months through Central and South America. It was a friendship that has endu

Last week I was in Johannesburg facilitating a strategy session with a high-performance team with a significant quantum of impact. It was important to stay laser-focused, especially as it was one of those sessions with lots of moving parts, ambitious outcomes, tight deadlines and a high-powered executive team. Whew. I'm happy to say we got where we needed to go. But we didn't get there 100% as planned. There were moments when we had to change the timing, adjust an exercise or

Ah, Saturday sports. It loves you, it hates you. It all started with an early morning u/7 soccer match. The team lost, but AJ was immense defensively, and he had the grassburns to prove it. Later, Matie was the only kid to get past the goalie in a penalty shootout, ensuring a drawn match. The celebrations felt like the World Cup final, mind you. I had the presence of mind to anticipate the big moment, and got great footage of his hero moment from behind the goal. This video w

On Saturday morning, I had one of those ridiculously satisfying dad moments on the side of a rugby field. AJ is just seven, and Jan van Riebeeck is not a rugby powerhouse school, but you know what? It was magic. His tough little team of overfocused seven-year-olds were playing a visiting bunch of tough Afrikaner farm boys from Dirkie Uys in Moorreesburg, and late in the game one of them broke through with what looked like an almost certain try. The kid has wheels; he found sp

It has begun. And boy, what a start. Bokke. All Blacks. The return of the tour. An era we thought long gone is back, and man are we all excited. I might even start drinking Castle Double Malt after my senses got assaulted by the branding this last weekend. On Saturday evening, I took the family to Cape Town Stadium to watch our depleted Stormers take on the mighty All Blacks. No Sasha, no Reinach, no Damien, no Paul de Villiers. And yet, there were other stories. Resilience.

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What a week... As you read this, I'm standing on stage at our annual Entrepreneurs' Organization conference, sharing a deeply personal story with 200 of my peers (I like to think of them as peers, but to be honest… it’s imposter syndrome generating company). It's a strange way to finish a week that started in a completely different place. Earlier in the week, I was teaching a group of entrepreneurs about the lessons small businesses can learn from the tech giants. We explore