Send us a text It feels really good to be back with a new season of The Art of the Suit. My motivation to get restarted was meeting a fellow executive coach, Maureen Kyne, who is based in Melbourne, Australia. Maureen is a remarkable businesswoman and entrepreneur in her own right and has earned her stripes coming up through the ranks in the workplace. In her role as an executive coach, she identified a particularly alarming behaviour which she coined as "upward bull...

In this episode of the Art of the Suit, the focus is on your Personal Brand. But you won’t be listening to me talk about this passion of mine. What makes this episode so engaging is that you will be listening to a range of voices – all of them are students from the University of Johannesburg who are in the final months of their Honours in B. Com Marketing and participated in the inaugural year of an innovative Practical Marketing programme. The curriculum included a range of sof...

In this episode of The Art of the Suit in which I am going to be unpacking how you can improve a skill that you, most likely, take for granted – the art of listening. As a coach, listening is one of the core skill competencies that we are trained to develop and required to constantly refine. The ability to listen may seem to be a no-brainer but it is just the opposite. We all have biases, many of which are unconscious. Add to this your personal experiences of li...

This episode focuses on making money. Regardless of whether your business is big or small, established or a start-up, you can't get away from this crucial success measure. But more than simply making money the central theme is all about the P word - PROFIT! We've all heard the horror stories of how a promising business, regardless of massive turnover, was taken out at the knees because of a lack of synergy between cash flow, pipeline and profit. In my book, The Art of the Suit, ...

The world of entrepreneurship is both exciting and daunting. The title itself infers breaking new ground. Either relating to the nature of the product or service you are offering or because it is a new territory that you are entering. Who better to gain insights and guidance from than the Managing Director of I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR, Keitumetse Lekaba, The Business Doctor! In this power-packed episode, we cover a broad range of subjects: - The formula for success - Understanding your cust...

In this episode of The Art of the Suit I share the conversation I had with Pierre Naquet the founder of IWS-Europe (Institute of Workplace Dynamics). He is a very experienced Business & Executive coach, a psychologist and master trainer. We have mutually accredited one another on coaching instruments and often share insights and trend discussions around the world of work and coaching. Whether you are a coach or a person interested in any of the instruments that coaches ...

This is a podcast within a podcast. I was invited by Eusebius McKaiser to take part in a podcast on this subject on his platform, In the Ring with Eusebius McKaiser. We are good friends, colleagues and mutual coaches. The motivation behind this episode was that we BOTH constantly have people sharing the pain the pain they experience as a result of a toxic workplace - very often as the result of having a boss from hell. We unpack this issue along with a few recommendations of how to su...

One of my indulgences over the past Labour Day long weekend was to catch up with podcasts and videocasts that I've been tagging. Coincidently they all seem to focus on aspects of the Gig Economy, the shift in leadership style and demands, and new foundations of the new way of work that is fast becoming not so new. This all reminded me of an interview I did recently with Masego Motsogi, MD of Grid Worldwide, a leading brand agency. This was following an article she wrote for Mark...

In this episode of The Art of the Suit I am introducing something new. If you find it beneficial then I will drop in more episodes. It’s called the Debbi & Dawn Download. Let me share how this came about. As I constantly promote, I believe that success is fueled by remaining open-minded, constantly learning, and collaborating. These are only three of the very many supporting pillars of success – but for me, the most essential. These were some of the aspects of su...

I had a wonderful, engaging conversation with Eusebius McKaizer in his TimesLIVE podcast and with their kind permission, I am sharing it on my Art of the Suit podcast platform. As Eusebius so eloquently framed the episode, titled The Mentoring Toolkit, he outlined the aim of this episode to answer three key questions: "what is required of you to be an effective mentee? What are the traits of an ideal mentor? And, relating these roles to one another, how does one set up a relationship d...

As a business and executive coach I have observed that so many people who are reaching out to me are doing so because they have a sense of urgency about starting their own business or making a massive career shift. There has always been this desire but the pandemic has accelerated an unprecedented rate of change. Very exciting stuff indeed. But sadly I see people rushing off to design the logo, develop the app or build the website without having done enough foundation ...

Regardless of whether you are a CEO, team leader, freelancer, solopreneur, startup or standup comedian, we all have a common need: to motivate ourselves on a daily basis. This has become even more relevant in light of "The Great Resignation" which has seen millions of people leaving the security and predictability of the corporate world. With the hope of a better balance in life and the realisation of a dream. This episode looks at whether or not you truly understand what motiva...

I personally avoid making them but New Year's resolutions seem to have stood the test of time and are still a fav amongst many. Love them or hate them, there is some benefit to making them. In this episode, the first in 2022, I share my thoughts on this subject but, more importantly, a few suggestions - actually 5 of them, on how you can approach the intention more constructively. Have a listen. I hope it will help you achieve a few of your goals over the next twelve months...

Are you in a space where you need to reinvent yourself or repackage your offering? Then this week’s podcast is just what you need. Whether it’s because you are about to finally launch your new business, change jobs or going for a push up the ladder – then Andile Khumalo is the man you want to listen to. Andile Khumalo is a seasoned entrepreneur and Chartered Accountant (SA) with over 20 years in business. He is the Founder & CEO of KhumaloCo, an investment firm with interest...

In this episode, I continue my goal of introducing you to a diverse and interesting range of people who, I believe, have a Powerful Personal Brand. The aim is for you to be able to understand what it takes to build up a Personal Brand as a motivation for you to do the same for yourself. Odette van der Haar is a businesswoman, advertising and marketing expert, and TV personality. She currently presents Business Beat, a morning show on etv. With August being host to International Womens'...

Following on from the introduction to the meaning and use of a Personal Brand, in episode 11, I accept that while most people can grasp the concept of brand building for conventional brands, they will find it difficult to interpret this ability when it comes to building your personal brand. To help remove the mystery, and encourage you to develop your own, I will be interviewing a number of people who I believe have fabulous and powerful personal brands. I will be asking them the how, when a...

Our new world order has prompted millions of people to re-evaluate their lives – ranging from where they live to the work that they do. In some cases, it is a voluntary response, the result of having had the time to experience a different way of living and to stop and reflect on these crucial aspects of our lives. In other instances, the change has been forced, usually due to a loss of employment or a change in relationships. Regardless of the catalyst, change is never comfo...

I believe that everyone has at least one book inside their heads. It may be a story of life experience, a story of overcoming challenges or a story about the lessons you have learnt about achieving a goal or fulfillment. Every person’s story is unique because no two lives are exactly the same. And there are people waiting to read your particular story. The primary challenge is to get it out of your head, down on paper and published. I had a burning desire to share the lesson...

The power of storytelling has become recognised as a foundation skill for all leaders from those heading up teams, CEO’s, politicians to the most popular academics who have students flocking to their lectures. Storytelling transforms what might otherwise be mundane facts into an engagement with the hearts and minds of the listeners. This creates stronger memory and increases motivation, so it’s no wonder that those who are not natural storytellers make the effort to learn the art. There is ...

In celebration of Mothers' Day this podcast pays tribute to mothers of today who are forging a new landscape. I know the personal stories of so many of these women because they are my friends, colleagues and clients. The challenges they face, while knocking down barriers of convention, are unprecedented. I believe that these women will be recognized as a new generation of transformational leaders and I would like to share some of the insights of why, I believe, it is crucial to change p...