Great minds think alike

Terrance Taylor of Discovery, Dr Frank Aswani of the African Leadership Academy; Adam Crake of IQ Businessgroup; Martyn Davies, CEO of Frontier Advisory; and Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor of the University of Reading, engaged in discussions about boldness in education, the role of business education in growing Africa’s economy and the importance of education in building competitiveness.

Bell was the guest of honour at Henley Business School. For three years he was Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools and later became the permanent secretary at the Department for Education in the UK.

Bell spoke passionately about teaching ethics, not just in business schools and universities, but also at home. Aswani expanded on the concept of teaching ethics in schools and said that ethics needed to be taught at a young age along with emotional intelligence.

The discussion quickly moved to the concept of importing talent to South Africa as well as the ‘brain drain’ which occurs when young professionals leave the country.

Askani said that with regards to the workplace, one needed to source the best people for the job whether they are South African or not.

“If a country doesn’t maintain or retain the conditions for talent to flourish, then talented individuals will leave,” Bell said.

Bell went on to explain the great importance of creativity in developing business minds and said countries should adopt a broadly-based education system. Aswani concurred saying, “Rigidity in an education system creates non-competitive employees.”

Bell ended the discussion by saying there was a lot to be optimistic about in South Africa.

“It is very important that we encourage an outward-facing mentality,” he said. “South Africans need to embrace diversity and see themselves as citizens of South Africa, citizens of Africa and citizens of the world.”