Among companies today, one of the greatest challenges is the demand on senior leadership to develop emerging talent into effective leaders within a two to five year period. This must be achieved, despite the fact that the type of skills and acumen that is required would ordinarily take seven to fifteen years to develop.

What are you doing to make sure that your fresh new talent gets noticed?

Leaders and managers need to first spot the emerging leaders, then put a developmental plan in place to nurture them and help them become a leader within the organisation.

Rachel’s great new article, which has been published online with SkillsPortal, speaks about just that!

Check it out here.

They say no man is an island (or woman in this case)…

But are you a Social Entrepreneur, and what are the aspects of being one?

Rae’s new article has been published online at GRASP, focussing on 3 main questions around social entrepreneurship and how they link through SpringAGE:

1. What are the most interesting tendencies in social entrepreneurship, and why?
2. What will be the biggest challenges for social entrepreneurship, and why?
3. How will you develop the social impact of your projects?

Read her full interview here.

Yesterday Ashraf Garda from radio station SAFM chats with our C.E.O. Jules Newton about Footprint and financial literacy training.

It’s an awesome interview.

Have a listen here.

Meet Coen Pretorius, one of our talented AMP directors.

Coen has recently been featured in the Spice4Life online magazine’s Men of Our World section.  In the interview you will find out exactly who Coen is, what he believes in and what inspires him.

From the whole of Avo, we wish Coen and the rest of the AMP team a heartfelt welcome.  The future will be bright…

Watch this space!!!

Check out Coen’s article here.

What’s your sales strategy for 2013?  Will you reinvent yourself, or simply stick to your old ways?

The beginning of each new year is, no-doubt, a daunting time for any sales account manager.  The most important question you will likely ask yourself is ‘How can I make this year better than the last?’

Think about your strategy you put in place at the beginning of the year. Stick to it, and don’t get lost in the clutter and fast-flying year.

In her new blog, published by WomanOnline - one of our account managers, Raelene Rorke, gives you some top-tips to lift your game in 2013.

Check it out here.

What do you think of when someone mentions the word ‘BEE’?

I’m sure, like many South Africans, it conjures up thoughts of money, power, and the golden handshake (so to speak).  Fortunately this couldnt be further from the truth…

Many of you will roll your eyes, think, or make some comment about the Black Billionaire gravy-train tenderpreneur fatcats, and dismiss the entire concept out of hand.  There are grudging capitulations once a year when companies have to quantify their BEE transformation contribution, and get their new scores, and this is usually managed by the top financial accountants in an organisation. But in my experience, there is very little understanding of the real transformational quality the BEE codes are able to affect individually, organisationally, and nationally.

Jules’ new e-Zine article published online at Spice-4-Life aims to set things straight.

Check it out here.

“Life has continually shown us that nothing lasts forever.”

This is useful to keep in mind as we struggle to keep afloat amidst a depressed global economy and tough local business conditions. This too, will pass. However, according to Spencer Johnston of ‘Who Moved my Cheese?’, how you behave during your peaks will directly affect how well you are able to survive the valleys… and that what you do during the valleys will shape the height of your future peaks!

Jules has just been featured on Spice4Life’s online magazine.

Check it out here.

I am so blessed to be part of the Avo team.

Initially, I was only supposed to be filling-in as Training Support from May to October this year, and then the position of PA/Sales Co-ordinator opened up, and I jumped at the opportunity. Organising, planning, taking initiative…. all my strengths shine brightly in this role.

My husband and I are Capetonians, but about 4 years ago buzzing career prospects brought us to Johannesburg. I miss the breath taking views and the beaches, but the Avo environment certainly makes up for that! I was in banking for 7 years when I was back in Cape Town, and when we moved to Johannesburg, I took on the challenge of the Travel industry for a year. I then decided that I needed a “low pressure” kind of job, and I moved into a Reception/Admin position for a year. That’s when our little baby girl came along, and I was blessed enough to be home with her for a year which gave me time to adjust to motherhood!

Avocado Vision came along at just the right time, and I’m proud to be associated with a company that does such good work out in the community, and everything that we touch, turns into magic! I am privileged to be assisting the CEO and MD, who have such passion and vision for this company. They sometimes refer to me as “Mother”, cause keeping them on their toes is part of my job! I also love the fact that Avo has a flexible culture, and this fits right into raising my little toddler!

So that’s me in a nutshell… Watch me grow!

Can you safely say that you can comfortably retire, without worrying where the money for the next bill will come from?

Are you sure that you understand all the clauses and subtexts of the retirement annuity you’ve just signed?

For the past few years our team has been bringing innovative financial literacy education to the SA market, namely Money fo’ Sho.  It has become increasingly clear to us that we need to help organisations focus on their employees, their members and their benefit needs, using a range of smart literacy learning skills. Basic financial training, retirement training and medical aid training is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s an absolute necessity!

Jules’ new article, published in the Star Workplace, explains how you can find out more and make better financial decisions for your future and your family’s future.

Check it out here.

Company culture is important for two very different reasons.  One, because a strong company culture gives a sense of belonging, which keeps staff on board and connected to the business objectives, particularly during stormy times (which are inevitable in small business). Second, a strong, consistent and committed culture is a compelling value proposition for prospective customers: they buy from you because they like doing business with you.

Jules was quoted in an article about company culture in the latest Finweek.

It speaks about some methods that you can use to boost your company’s morale as well as maintain your staff retention.  Let’s face it, no business owner wants to have to train up new staff members again and again - rather use what you’ve got and bring your current employees up in the process.

Have a squiz through the article here.