Personal development is very important and it is crucial that every single individual takes responsibility for their own lives. Although it is a personal responsibility, there is a group of people who have a burden in their hearts to assist others find their way to development. Amasi Mwela is one such person. Mwela is the chairperson of The Seed South Africa, a non-profit organisation dedicated to Planting Leaders Globally. Their mission is “to develop and sustain global communities of socially relevant leaders and mentors”. with a vision “to positively influence the global corporate, political & social leadership landscape, being a leading voice in maximising human potential, while remaining socially relevant to the communities within which they serve.”
The Seed South Africa recently hosted the Emerging Leaders Summit on the 3rd October 2015 at the Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank. According to the event page, the event was ” A gathering of a group of aspiring leaders with established leaders. The full day event seeks to ignite a sense of ambition, present a fresh approach to leadership, capture and direct the hearts and minds of the next generation of leaders and encourage personal accountability as well as bringing about agents of change.”
Events such as this excite me as I believe that it is important as I stated above that every individual take responsibility for their own personal development. Many people often times look up to individual and wish they were like them but when it comes to putting in the work – they fall short. In a country where we are fighting for economic freedom, it is absolutely imperative that we start development from the roots. We are excellent beings and it must show in our dealings. And so, I had to be part of this event. I arrived at the Hyatt…
The atmosphere was amazing and with a meaty programme, you could tell that all who attended were highly expectant not to mention hungry for knowledge. The event was professionally executed and had a theme of excellence to it. What particularly made me smile was the attendance. There was a full crowd in attendance. Gathering a crowd in these present times is extremely difficult. There are many events to choose from and we are living in the times of many American wealth seminars so people choose their seminars carefully. That and the fact that people don’t attend events, sometimes out of apathy and sometimes because they are just plain ignorant and that is the reason for this blog. We need more people to attend such events so that we could have some sort of progression in society. To get a full house like that was great so well done to the team. I also ran into familiar faces so I guess it’s true what they say. Your vibe chooses your tribe (is that right?).
My great friends and I 🙂
From my side, being in the development field for almost all my life, much of the things that were said were not new to me but perspective is always important and some things offer valuable insight and reminder. I’m really glad that we are becoming an authentic people. Gone are those days when all we cared about was developing the external and facades without interrogating self awareness etc… I loved the personal touch to the topics with Mali’s talk coming out tops on that. I had to leave early but feedback has it that the final part of the programme was amazing with Gobodo adding a very personal touch to her message. This is what is all about. It’s not enough just to share the good stories, but we need to hear those painful moments that ultimately make the good stories. How is a new budding Entrepreneur to know that it is ok to fail within the first years of their endeavours if no one shares that with him/her? So this was very well done!
The Amazing Mali
I do have a concern though: We must start realising that big names don’t usually translate to great speakers. People filter what gets presented to them so they are most likely to see if someone is a great speaker or not. I felt that one particular speaker did not do justice to a powerful topic and that is too bad. I also noted that the organisers followed the American model of summits. I would advise on developing your own unique model as this becomes exhausting to the audience and psychologically a time comes where they stop absorbing all the information. Overall it was powerful and amazing and the atmosphere was inspiring… Well Done once more!
I ran into many folks I know and asked how they felt about it and here are some phrases I picked up from conversations
“They spoke about mentorship, Malebo I am serious about my life – will you please mentor me”
“This is exactly what I needed. I am tired of living a mediocre life”
“I thought I would get bored because such things are not my things but I can’t believe how much I am enjoying it”
“I wish they would also stress on blackness but I’m enjoying it”
I also managed to get tickets for two Lady Leaders to accompany me as I felt that the summit would be great for them. Here is some feedback:
“Ausi Malebo I learned a lot. I felt like it was another puzzle that I needed to forward. Thank you once again. I needed this.
I thought the event was epic. The leadership lessons that where taught, I imagined how great it could have been if I got this lessons while in high school. It made me realise that this is something that is needed in our high schools. It made be realise the value of paying for personal growth. There is hope for the future when the are events like this taking place of like minded people. (I also asked myself why are this events mostly in urban areas).
It meant that I am also great to be amongst such greatness.It taught me to live my truth so that I do not rob the coming generation of the lessons they could learn from me and that I am leader in the space that I occupy and I should take responsibility of my own life.
I was given hope by the men who stood at the podium. There way they spoke about their families ignited hope inside of me to believe that there are men out there who are raising a generation of men who care about family.”
Well done Amasi and the team. A little birdie says that a leadership bootcamp is underway in 2016? Oh Gosh – I can’t wait!!!!
mzansi brewed 