ARTICLES ON Leadership & Ethics
Shaping the Invisible: Why South Africa Needs Intentional Leadership Now
On 22 May 2025, nearly 70 UCT GSB alumni and students gathered in Johannesburg for a thought-provoking event led by Professor Kosheek Sewchurran. The dialogue explored the challenges of cultivating leadership within ethically and ecologically complex environments.
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UCT GSB's Executive MBA programme finalist in prestigious Evidence-Based Leadership Development Award
The UCT GSB’s EMBA programme was one of five finalists for the prestigious Evidence-Based Leadership Development Programme Award by the Academy of Management’s Management Education and Development Division – a testament to the UCT GSB's commitment to excellence in leadership education.
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Transforming the role of business in society through values-based leadership
The Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership explores ‘new ways of doing business based on purpose, sustainability and responsible practices'
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Future-Proofing Your Skills: Adapting for Tomorrow's Challenges Today
In honour of Women's Day, the UCT GSB hosted a panel discussion on campus the UCT GSB hosted a panel discussion, on campus, featuring alumni and guests to discuss how best to future-proof your skills.
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A new model of collective business leadership and a shift to generational strategic thinking are essential to avert environmental catastrophe
New CEMS report sets out recommendations for globally responsible business leaders, educators and young professionals
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UCT GSB Advisory Board Member, Dr Namane Magau, has passed away
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Dr Namane Magau, a long-serving member of the UCT GSB’s Advisory Board, a friend of our School and University and an extraordinary woman and role model whose influence continues to reach across South Africa and around the world.
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Trust and Governance: why trust is key to economic performance
Trust greatly reduces transaction costs within an economy and society. Just as a functional health care system will produce healthy citizens, trustworthy governing officials help to create trustworthy citizens.
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Addressing the lack of JEDI in the workplace
The South African workplace remains a very complex space. To bring about a change in workplace culture and organisational orientations, we may need to consider new approaches. Recent research from the UCT GSB has highlighted several practices that organisations can implement to help address the lack of justice, equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
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Here’s why black millennial women are leaving your organisation
New research digs into the deep frustration causing many African millennial women to call it a day at the office.
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SA’s fiscal policy and macro-economic framework hang in the balance as parties jostle for power
The political balance of power is shifting to the poor majority, making pro-poor human capital investment more likely.
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Poetic licence to lead through challenging times
With employees stressed, business leaders worried, and mental health challenges skyrocketing, conventional approaches to preparing leaders for the business world may not be enough. The foundational role of the leader as communicator is more important than ever – and poetry could unlock the deeper self-awareness and connection needed to lead through ambiguity.
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Servant leadership may be the key to talent retention post COVID
Nike strategy director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Aidan Kearney, believes servant leadership has so much to offer the corporate world, especially now as an increasing number of employees think of leaving their jobs in response to the stresses of the COVID-19 workplace.
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Crisis ushers in new type of leadership – this time it must stick
The COVID-19 pandemic has tested leadership in ways that few crises have. How do we learn from it, adapt and evolve as leaders?
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Activists in the Boardroom holistic governance in an age of corporate malfeasance
Given the recent spate of corporate misconduct (think Steinhoff, EOH, the Guptas and various State-Owned Entities), more Boardroom activism is required to ensure accountability and prevent future scandals. Board directors should start by cultivating higher levels of self-awareness.
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Can we risk our society’s future on a system that produces the leadership we experience?
The events of the past two weeks have brought into sharp focus the devastating results of selecting leaders based on popularity over other criteria. To avoid shipwrecking our country, it’s time to design a better system of stewarding our collective needs.
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Making space for Buddha in the boardroom
A new study shows that by staying true to the founding principles of the Buddhist meditation technique known as mindfulness, business leaders can reimagine not just how they work, but also how to build stronger relationships in the workplace.
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Becoming a businessperson is not a straightforward journey for all
Building business skills to improve livelihoods is increasingly being recognised as a mechanism to lift communities out of extreme poverty. But in many survivalist communities, the principles of business can clash with the existing values of the community.
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Beyond lip service, how do we create more inclusive workplaces?
In South Africa and globally, companies are struggling to put a commitment to diversity and inclusion into practice.
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Can business leaders ignite change in a world that is overdue a great reset?
The thinking that has informed business leadership will not see us through the present challenges we face. To remake the world we need to recognise the deficiencies in leadership we experience and change how we train future leaders.
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UCT GSB MBA alumnus, Alforde Charumbira honoured in the AACSB's Influential Leaders challenge
This annual initiative recognises notable graduates from AACSB-accredited business schools around the world, who are using their business education to create lasting impact in their own, unique way.
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The future of business, business schools and the economy
UCT GSB Director, Dr Catherine Duggan, shares her thoughts on the future of business education and how to prepare students for an increasingly complex world.
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Africa can lead the way in the great reset and its leaders have a key role to play
If Africa is to emerge a better society post-COVID-19, the approach to leadership and the broader environment needs to change.
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Why we should trust subtlety over the posturing of a heroic leader
Emotionally intelligent leaders will be crucial in helping us to navigate through the COVID-19 crisis and the fallout from the US election chaos.
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Leaders are not born or made, they are honed through practice and reflection
In times of crisis, the need for good leadership is paramount, but how can we develop more leaders who are able to meet the moment with wisdom and compassion?
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Building a new global understanding of African business — on African terms
The UCT GSB's new director, Dr Catherine Duggan, has often been asked why she wants to work in Africa — it's a question this award-winning lecturer and former Harvard academic just loves to answer.
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In a world impacted by COVID-19, women leaders can make the difference
The disruption brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic may be seen by some companies as an excuse to dial back on diversity and inclusion - but this would be a mistake as studies show women handle crises better.
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Values-based leadership in the age of COVID-19
Dr Camaren Peter, associate professor with the Allan Gray Centre for Values-Based Leadership at the UCT Graduate School of Business, speaks about the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
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SA needs leaders who are willing to step out of their comfort zones
As the country plunges deeper into an economic and humanitarian crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will need steward leaders who are accountable and focused on assisting their communities — and each of us can rise to the challenge.
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Embracing the unknown can make you a better leader - Jerome Thomas (EMBA)
COVID-19 is giving leaders everywhere a crash course in living with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). Fortunately, says Jerome Thomas, he got a head start with his EMBA at the UCT GSB.
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Global MBA survey finds workplace sexual harassment is rampant
GNAM survey finds women in Africa more likely to report unwanted sexual attention but considerably less likely to report personal experiences of sexist and sexual misconduct.
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Do we really need another hero?
The rise of the hero leader around the world — strongmen who promise to be able to rescue their followers from difficult circumstances — is driving a wedge between citizens and undermining democratic institutions.
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Privacy, addiction and the role of responsible digital marketing
Digital marketing provides an invaluable opportunity for businesses to reach more customers, better understand their needs and ultimately sell more product. But the medium is addictive and marketers have a growing duty to use it responsibly.
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Believe it or not, the economy is not the biggest of our concerns in South Africa
South Africa has a fractured past, that we cannot deny, and divisions have always been an everyday part of life here. But these days, our differences are threatening to tear us apart.
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What is the impact of an atypical leader on diversity beliefs?
An extract from a presentation to the UCT GSB by Mustafa F. Özbilgin, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Brunel Business School, London.
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