It’s 23:30, I have just got home from a long dinner after a hard day of pounding the pavement, but I can’t sleep! My head is spinning, my imagination on another planet and I can almost taste success! I have just come home from the Business Women of the Year Award 2009.

A room filled with 1100 powerful people of South Africa and majority being women, just to name a few, our host, Basetsana Khumalo (Former Miss SA, President of the Business Women Association), Maria Ramos (Former CEO of Transnet, now CEO of ABSA), Venete Kleine (CEO of Retail Banking, ABSA), newly elected Minister of Women, Youth and people with Disabilities Nolthando Mayenda-Sibiya.

My favourite feeling in the ENTIRE world is to feel like a drop in an ocean of possibility, just one of the reasons I would love to move to New York. Tonight I felt that blissful, almost overwhelming feeling in my seat right here In Johannesburg. I have never experienced an accummelative amount of wisdom, humbleness yet confident beyond words.

As each nominee spoke, I stared, listened, hoped, admired ! Admired them for the journey that they have travelled to get to this point in their careers, every story unique, humble and mind blowing. The message was clear, love yourself enough to believe in your ability, apply excellence to everything that you do and pull others with you as you rise!

As a young women who would like to leave a legacy, tonight was about confirming that opportunities are ripe, mentors and role models are plentiful and my dreams ought to be as big as ever because what is achievable is even greater!

I was rooting for all 6 nominees in the 2 categories-just doing what they do is an achievement, never mind being nominated! But my heart skipped a beat when I heard Venete Kleine’s nomination speech, her stand on Women Empowerment, family and her humble, confident approach to life and work-where she has over 40 000 people under her!

This is the same lady who afforded me a introductory meeting, (I tried to see if there is a place for Avo in ABSA Retail Banking) treated me as a fellow executive when I arrived and was humble enough to greet me with a compliment :”You are still as beautiful as the day you were crowned” she said to me, before we got started, I was blown away, I was suppose to be her groupie!

I was ecstatic when she walked away with the prize, Business Women of the Year 2009 and even more humbled when she thanked me by name, after I congratulated her!

May the feeling of inspiration that is flowing through my blood be a non-fading, contagious state of mind!

Thank you so much Rachel for taking me as your as your partner, what an honour!

Ok so I have to write a follow on to the blog about Leaders Leading Learning and the guys at Auto & Truck Tyres.  I was running a two day course with them – first day on Saturday and then two weeks later the second day, again on Saturday.  Yep they blew me away this time with where they’ve taken the learning.

At Avo we have found that the work done by Eric Berne on Transactional Analysis makes for a very useful concept that can dramatically shift how you deal with the people around you.  Whether they are customers, peers, direct reports, a spouse, a friend or your kids, understanding this stuff, your Parent Adult and Child ego states, helps you manage yourself and improves the quality of your relationships with those people.  Your ego states are at play every time you interact with someone.  So we introduce the concept, keep it simple and have a lot of fun with it on a course.

Interestingly, it is one of the rare concepts where I have consistently experienced incredible shifts in behaviour with people.   In a few cases I’ve worked with guys who have lived their whole adult lives as husband, father and manager in a Parent ego state.  They knew no alternative. Exposing them to TA almost came as a physical blow to them.  In a feedback session once a man told me that he’d had his first real ‘Adult’ conversation with his daughter, who was 21.  Another told me he made his wife a cup of coffee and took it to her in bed for the first time in his married life: he must have been 55 at least.  Yet another told me how, while holding back his fear and intimidation, he managed to get his boss to come back to adult … but it took him 2 days.

So I introduced the concept at ATT two weeks ago and was back on Saturday to complete the course.  I didn’t get it straight away. It took a while, and only sank in when I was presented with a T-shirt: everyone else was wearing the same shirt.  The other director, Nic, not to be outdone by Rob, had printed T-shirts for every one with ‘Think Adult’ emblazoned across the front in pink (because it’s a soft skill and Steven likes pink).  The leaders had again led the learning in front of their management team.  They’ve taken the concept and started making it part of their culture.  The feedback from the previous Saturday was lovely: they’ve shifted the quality of their conversations – ‘Adult’ leads to respect.

Will the learning stick in their organisation?, Yes. Why? Because their leaders are 100% behind it.  Again Rob was able to have enough courage tell everyone where he went wrong and how he exploded in ‘Child’ (because he was not at his desk where he could see his ‘Adult’ sign) during a conversation he had with the bank the previous week.  Then he reflected on how during that same conversation he had managed to shift his Parent/Child and regain his Adult ego state 3 times.  Think his management team will take this on, be open to the learning?  I have no doubt.

I  have been training for a long time, and courses run in very different ways, mostly as a result of the individuals attending, their perception of training and the culture of their organisation.  I feel privileged to have worked with you at A&TT.  You took the learning and made it work for yourselves, you were open and challenging and you brought the fun with you.  It is a comment on your leaders, on yourselves and your own leadership style and the exceptional culture you have created.  I can take the learning so far but you have to take it further. We have sown the Avo seed; you must nurture it and reap the rewards in the future.

Thanks Rob, Nic and all of you at A&TT. The experience with you was memorable for me.

5 months ago, I left Avo space, exceptionally pregnant and on the brink of the unknown journey of parenthood. I had no idea what was about to happen.

My myyyyyyyyy…. How my world has changed since then. For those of you that have children, I don’t think I need utter another word. For those of you that haven’t, I am not sure that I can find the words. So altogether, I find myself quite speechless, with a heart that is bursting. What have I been doing… well…“purposefully bumbling” through each day, learning my child as she learns the world. What a sweet gentle time this has been. I have loved every minute and am astounded at how much this new order suits me.

Avo’s… YOU HAVE BEEN AMAZING! Truly!

To the big world out there, I want to explain what an extraordinary organisation Avocado Vision is. It can’t be easy when your Training Manager announces that she is pregnant. Firstly, you know full well, that complete porridge brain is only a few weeks away, and is likely to last for the next 5 years. Then, 4 months of maternity leave looms, where your organisation is completely without one of its key players. If that’s not enough, the new mother, announces at the last minute, that she cannot possibly come back to work, and wishes to extend her maternity leave by another month. And when she does come back, she is likely to be ‘ga-ga’ and ‘bumbly’ for the first few weeks. Eish! Not something an organisation can weather easily.

From the moment I announced my pregnancy, Avo has been nothing but supportive and encouraging. Rather than focusing on the loss to the business, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) focused on the gain of a little baby Avo-pip. Throughout my porridge months, my colleagues supported me and gently nudged me in the right direction when I lost my way, without ever showing the slightest frustration. And when I signed off on maternity leave, they left me alone, COMPLETELY, while I  worked out what my little girl needed from me. Not once, did anyone call or mail, or give me any sense that I was letting them down by not being there. The only mails I got were one-liners that talked about my baby… the only thing in my universe at the time.

When I asked for more time, it happened to be in one of Avo’s busiest months; Avo was operating at FULL TILT. My request was in no way, easy to accommodate. Jules pulled strings, made deals, and moved mountains so that I could stay with Sarah for 30 more days as she continued to steer the ship almost single-handedly. Her comment was, “ we are in a work crisis that will pass and we’ll forget about it. These days to you are like gold and you will never get them back. We will make a plan”. To Jules and Liezel, I cannot thank you enough for these precious days you gave to Sarah and I. A greater gift, I could not imagine.

And Avo’s… THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for allowing me to go on this journey without looking back. You have let me go and now I can come back knowing that I really did what I needed to do, without guilt or worry. Sarah Louise is all the happier for it… and so are Gareth and I.

I know that Avo is special like this and that many organisations do not support their new mothers in the way that Avo does. Maternity leave is often seen as a burden that has to be carried.  Avo, even through the busiest of seasons, finds ways to let their new mothers go… It’s a clever thing to do, it’s right and it’s noteworthy. I come back grounded, I come back loyal and I come back willing to balance my family and my work in a healthy and sustainable way.

I am eternally grateful and salute you all for having such sound life priorities. Jules Newton… thanks for leading such an awesome team! You’re a diamond!