Business management, Hitler and the next flight to Australia

Business Management

Image result for telkom
Yesterday, for the first time I noticed the press given to the results announced by Telkom. This morning I looked up their results, and was glad to find a variety of opinions about the organisations performance.

This was significant for me because I generally don't care about organisations I don't work in or for. 

But a few things have stood out for me.

One, is the ease with which cost cutting (retrenchments specifically) are accepted as a means to improving organisational performance.

Two, is the massive improvement in net debt.

Three, the groups CFO still sees maintenance and network improvements as negative. This means all those customer complaints (of which I log many) are nuisance, and something Telkom would rather not deal with. So my service remains poor. In contrast, Telkom claims to have made the customer experience a priority.

Hitler

Image result for hitler oratory
Did you ever watch clips of Adolf Hitler using his much lauded oratorial skills before well organised ranks of Germans? I did, and it was never as spectacular as people claimed. 

The reason is that I don't speak German. 

But when I watch his speeches with English subtitles that I can read  I begin to see just how impressive his skills are.

The man managed to articulate and then shape the fears and anxieties of a people, to channel their nervous energies towards the creation of society that was to stand for at least a thousand years. 

One cannot ignore the murders he committed (or inspired and coerced others to commit) in the name of this cause. 

My focus though is on the ability to communicate a moving vision to people hard pressed by post war poverty. To harness their fears, shame and dreams to create something.

The next flight to Australia

Image result for australia immigration
Numerous conversations about our family prospects oversea have only confirmed that this is as goo as it gets. If you are middle class in South  Africa and can ignore your monstrous household debt,life is great.

You can employ somebody to clean your house and do your laundry full-time, pay someone to tend your garden weekly, You drive a car, and enjoy ok internet connection speeds. You use the Gautrain.

Put them all together and what do you get?

1. I dont want to leave RSA. I can't afford to leave RSA.
2. We need to articulate a vision about a 1000 year Rainbow Nation or something. Or else things are going to blow up, and I can't have that. See point 1.
3. Capitalism is not working for us. With all the wealth in RSA we still have businesses laying people off instead of using them to offer better services and products. It means the big blow up is almost unavoidable, but what am I going to do then?

Manifesto for South Africa


1. Focus on solutions
2. Grow the islands of execellence


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