A guide to overcoming adversity
SANDTON - The Gordon Institute of Business Science hosted a lecture by Chancellor of the University of Pretoria and anti-apartheid activist professor, Wiseman Nkuhlu.
The event was met with great excitement as Nkuhlu gave an inspiring talk on overcoming adversity to achieve success. The gathering also saw the launch of Nkuhlu’s biography Wiseman Nkuhlu: A Life of Purpose written by Luvuyo Wotshela. The book charts Nkuhlu’s life from a rural upbringing in the Transkei to becoming the first black chartered accountant in South Africa in 1976.
He touched on the topic of colonialism and how certain populations were able to avoid the negative effects of western interference to become highly successful. He highlighted the disproportionate success of the Japanese, Jewish and Igbo Nigerian people, and how they were able to overcome adversity to achieve great economic and social success.
He said, “These groups of people had three distinct personality traits that have led to their success: the first is a superiority complex, the second is insecurity, and lastly impulse control.”
Nkuhlu recounted his life saying that the pride in his culture gave him a feeling of superiority, but also insecurity which gave him the will to succeed, while developing impulse control, thwarting off any distractions that would hold him back from his goals.
He said that these traits give individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds the ability to overcome their circumstances, and added that none of us can use the excuse of poverty or disadvantage for our failure.
