I’m on my annual pilgrimage to South Africa for the MBA Starter Workshop, so I’m getting my fill of “what’s changed since last time” impressions.
The first thing I noticed as the plane came in on approach to land was that the road congestion had gone. Normally, one observes queues of traffic on the various highways and junctions, but there seemed to be little held up. It wasn’t until I was actually out of the airport and on the way to the hotel that I remembered it was Sunday! Oh well. They have completed the new rail link from the airport to Sandton City, and the road widening works on the city’s arterial routes looked just about complete as well. My driver reminded me that this work was prioritised for the World Cup last year, often at the expense of other, less publicly visible public works – such as the development of more decent housing in Alexandra Township, an 8 square km sprawl of shacks and home to nearly half a million people.
The TV in South Africa is quite different from the mainstream UK. For a start, there are a lot of sports channels, where there is meticulous dissection of cricket, rugby, soccer, swimming and just about any sport you care to think of. This morning they were previewing the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, mainly by reliving the glory year of 1995 when South Africa won it (that winning team have legendary status similar to the 1966 England world cup team). Interesting to note that Mandela’s charisma and humility formed a big part of the tournament and win making such a difference.
Anyway, on this morning’s transfer from hotel to Henley office, the traffic jams had returned with a vengeance. So tomorrow we kick-off the new intake, likely to number around 115 people! It’s going to be an interesting challenge, for them and for us.
Chris Dalton's Personal Development Blog 