‘Value-based leadership key to success in business’

Value-based leadership and motivation are central to a happy workplace and a successful business.

These, according to businesswoman extraordinaire, Dr Gloria Serobe, are the true essence of leadership and are of paramount importance to achieve the best in business.

Serobe, who was a guest speaker at the Inaugural Nelson Mandela University Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Development Trust Public Lecture on Thursday evening, said there were many opportunities to lead in business.

“Life is full of opportunities to create, cultivate, serve, develop and lead,” Serobe said.

Recipient of an honorary doctorate from NMU in 2021, Serobe has a multitude of accolades behind her name and is a trustee on the board of the Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Development Trust.

Speaking at the hybrid event hosted by the faculty of humanities at NMU, Serobe said people were mostly motivated by values and certain ideals.

She said there were five characteristics of value-based leadership, which anyone in business should embody.

These were authenticity, excellence, inclusivity, morals and ethics in governance, and Christian values.

Makgoba, a fellow guest at the event, , said the trust  had been launched in 2012 as a small grant funding organisation.

He said the trust had developed over time when other needs became evident, especially with regard to community projects.

The nature of the needs had altered the trust funding strategy and grant funding to focus on food security, social justice and education.

He said the public lecture fell within the area of education and promotion of social justice.

NMU vice-chancellor Prof Sibongile Muthwa said the lecture was a great opportunity for the university to reunite after having to rely mostly on digital interaction during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“This year we are beginning to come back as a university,” Muthwa said.

Muthwa lauded Serobe for her achievements in business, as well as for being a social activist for change.

“[Serobe] is a good advocate for public good and public leadership.

“In our province we not only need structures of government but activism of civil society from all levels and business.”

Apart from the annual lecture, the Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Trust endowed the university with funds, with the interest thereof to be used as a prize for a final-year student in the department of public administration and leadership whose essay best embodies the principles of value-based leadership.

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