UCT Graduate School of Business Course Director James Gardener says it is vital that leaders today have the ability to drive change.

“Agility, emotional intelligence, dealing with ambiguity and improvisation are the key elements to survival,” says Gardener.

“The more I research the field, the more it rings true that all leadership is change leadership and that the generic skills of handling, understanding, listening to and motivating people successfully, are fundamental to the management of change in organisations,” says Gardener.

Christophe Gillet, former director of business innovation for Sony Business Europe says in today’s business environment “people often do not feel engaged, emotion often overcomes logic, traditional planning doesn’t work any more, budgeting processes are made obsolete, risk management becomes the main factor of success, and rigid strategies do not make sense”.

Cape Times