Who teaches us about morality or do we just expect leaders to know what to do?

Part of our commitment as an industry thought leader is to provoke critical debate on matters important to South African society. Considering where we are as a country, morality and leadership are two topics relevant and incredibly intertwined. We used the opportunity during the Future of Leadership Summit in Sandton in May 2024 to shed light.

We brought in a dream team of panel members to talk on the Future of Leadership Skills. We were privileged to have advertising guru Taweni Gondwe-Xaba as our moderator. Panel members were journalist Edwin Naidu, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA’s) Head of Legal Stefanie Fick as well as GIFS’ Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Mulder.

The panel agreed that corruption is like dead weight on our society. What emerged from the discussion was the need for basic training on ethics and morality that we appear to take for granted. Panel members posed a simple yet profound question: is there sufficient energy dedicated to teaching people how to do the right thing? While leaders are elected to senior positions, perhaps more effort can be concentrated on schooling them on how to manage senior offices and the decorum that’s expected when holding such positions.

Perhaps there’s food for thought for us all: who taught you about morality and what are you doing to ensure those around you understand the responsibility of being good citizens?

13 June 2024