Travel
Thursday, January 19, 2012South Africa: A Trip in the Making
by Rebecca Reynolds, President and Founder, Rebecca Reynolds ConsultingShare this article:
I left for South Africa just over a month ago, flying from Denver to Frankfurt to Cape Town, for a three-week stay. The trip was the zenith of a 10-month journey into the subject of leadership, which I started as part of a sabbatical. (Click photo to view slideshow)I've worked with leaders for more than 20 years, partnering with them and their teams to solve big problems and achieve big goals. Over the last few years, I'd noticed that many of the principles that are core to my work—strategic thinking and big vision, broad collaboration and innovative governance, and the idea that working toward the greater good can be profitable in ways a balance sheet can't count—seem finally to be gaining real traction in our increasingly complex and changing world. I set out on sabbatical, in part, to validate this impression.
The sabbatical would involve travel to a wide range of leadership enclaves: the World Business Forum in New York, the Aspen Ideas Festival in the high mountains of Colorado, and the Management of Change Conference in Washington D.C. But I also hankered for an international component to add a global perspective to my study. On a phone call a month or so into my journey, the invitation to South Africa presented itself.
In that moment, South Africa sounded at once ideal and impossible. Ideal because it involved spending a week with world leaders exploring the very topic of my sabbatical. Impossible because I had no previous experience of South Africa, no connections to it, and not even much of a desire to go—or at least, so it seemed at the time.
The invitation came from the Aspen Institute. It involved joining a group of fellows from the Institute's global leadership network for a week's exploration into leading in this age of globalization. The invitation offered the global experience I’d hoped for, so I said yes.
Leading up to South Africa, I went on the other trips I’d planned and heard all kinds of people talking about leadership. Big names like Bill Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, media monarch Arianna Huffington, and many others less well-known, but equally passionate and articulate. At each leadership forum, I’d mention South Africa to people I met, and from this, the trip began to plan itself. One person led to another and then more, sprouting opportunities, ideas and connections that steadily grew into a three-week itinerary.
My first week was spent with the Aspen Institute in Stellenbosch, famed South African wine country known for its Mediterranean-like climate. The seminar was hosted by Spier, a wine farm and conference center with an ecological mission. In that spirit, Spier donates land to two conservation projects: a Cheetah protection effort and a Raptor Sanctuary.
The second week was for meetings with prominent South African leaders, whom I interviewed about their roads to leadership and their challenges as leaders today. Interspersed with these were various tours, through which I gained a deeper understanding of the rich history and culture of South Africa. My travel consultant, Hills of Africa, provided exceptional tour experiences with guides who were the perfect combination of knowledgeable and personable. Visits to Table Mountain, Cape Point, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the townships, and Constitution Hill in Johannesburg were all memorable and meaningful.
The final week was for safari. Two different bush camps adjacent to Kruger National Park provided bases for forays into the wild of wilds, to experience life at its most essential. In just five days, I saw, not only the “big five”, but many more species ranging in size from dung beetle to hyena to hippopotamus.
Careening down tawny dirt roads was magical, marked by brush as green as green can be, intoxicating fragrance and the music of a thousand birds filling the air. But most magical of all was the reminder that, for all humans have accomplished, we are still children of the veld, so vast and mighty it dwarfs us with its presence.
Now that’s a leadership lesson worth traveling halfway round the world for.
This piece is the first in a series on South Africa by leadership expert and consultant, Rebecca Reynolds. Reynolds works with leaders, explores leadership issues and contexts, and writes on leadership lessons. This series will explore leadership themes from her South Africa trip. Reynolds may be reached at RebeccaReynoldsConsulting.com. Subsequent posts: part II.
Newsletter
RSS
