An educated guess in business
PAULSHOF - Rapid economic growth in many African countries is intensifying the need for business people with an executive education.
Jon Foster-Pedley, dean of Paulshof-based Henley Business School’s Africa programme, said executive education is becoming increasingly relevant in Africa to develop the kind of business talent necessary to drive the continent’s economy and society forward.
He explained that executive education helps people learn while they are working. “To do this well is difficult because we are mainly conditioned to learn in classrooms and experimental learning tends to happen rather haphazardly if it is not managed well,” he said. “Business skills are a complex blend of knowledge, people skills, intellectual skills and action skills all brought together by the capacity to work in complex fast-moving situations.”
Foster-Pedley warned against boxing business into a small container that is limited by preconceptions.
“In reality, business encompasses all forms of human exchange whether they’re creative, analytical, commercial, non-profit, institutional, governmental, international or interpersonal,” he said. “There is a historic alpha male come-on that shows a stereotype of business that is deeply outdated, deeply flawed and simply helps to breed lack of competitiveness.”
Foster-Pedley explained that, in business, introverts are as important as extroverts, synthesis is as important as analysis, and imagination and creativity are as important as productivity. “So you can come to business with any of these attributes. The challenge is for businesses to recreate themselves to use these faculties in order to provide great value to clients and to continually evolve themselves,” he said.
Foster-Pedley said that not all business education is about tertiary education, much of it is to do with leadership skills, acquiring particular capabilities for particular jobs, learning to coach, developing advanced skills of the mind and communication.
He added that African business talent can be encouraged in thousands of ways that are only limited by our imagination. “We need to commit to education and learning and be activists in this regard,” he said. “Once we have the capability, intelligence and resilience to be successful, then it’s a matter of application and discipline.”
Do you believe that there is a stereotype of business people? What can South Africans do to change this? Share your views in the comments section below.
