Dr Heather Goode provides some insights as she delves deeper into Tshepo Langa’s book entitled, “The ADI Model: What am I Thinking?” Hidden between the pages of Tshepho Langa’s book is a Richard Templar quote from his book “The rules of management”, who once said “being creative is about finding new and different ways to solve problems”[i]. Therefore, a challenge in leadership is finding ways to shift your thinking, adapt to changing contexts, improve your problem-solving skills, and approach old problems and new contexts with new ideas. Tshepho Langa, who is a faculty member at The Da Vinci Institute, sought to engage with this essential aspect of personal development when he wrote, “The ADI Model: What am I Thinking?”. Tshepho describes writing this book as being “about inspiring intentional mindset change towards a meaningful success and contribution to others.” The book initiates by detailing Tshepho’s own experiences and shifts…
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A faculty member at The Da Vinci Institute, Mixo Sweetness Sithole reflects… Unemployment continues to be a crisis in South Africa, and we should be wary about its negative effects on people and society in general. Socio-economic impacts society at the micro, meso, exo and macro levels. Melinda Du Toit, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Social Development in Africa (University of Johannesburg) indicates that, “[u]nemployment has both individual and social consequences that require public policy interventions. For the individual, unemployment can cause psychological distress, which can lead to a decline in life satisfaction. It can also lead to mood disorders and substance abuse. Unemployment can affect one’s social status ascription as well, which manifests through stigmatisation, labelling, unfair judgement, and marginalisation.” Furthermore, unemployment can result in increased crime rates, as well as socio-political unrests – as witnessed recently in South Africa. According to a recent publication by…
It’s a journey . . . that I propose . . . I am not the guide . . . nor technical assistant . . . I will be your fellow passenger . . . (A Journey – By Nikki Giovanni) Wenzel originally comes from the construction industry, where he co-created for several years. Over time, according to Wenzel, “I was afforded an opportunity to start a new venture in Europe”, and for almost two decades, I then decided that my time rather be divided between Europe and my manufacturing operation in South Africa.” In the year 2016, he reinvented himself again and decided to concentrate all his energies on a management-development consultancy. It was through and during that process that his keenness for furthering his education became palpable – The Da Vinci Institute was his first option. Then the journey began, and Wenzel kept his head high…
In women’s month we continue to showcase some of our remarkable female alumni and today we profile one of our recent Doctoral graduates – Dr Shannon Nell This work is dedicated to nursing leaders – whoever and wherever you may be. I honour you. By Dr Shannon Nell Dr Nell comes from the health fraternity and has been a nurse for four decades. She has co-created in a multitude of clinical areas, including maternity, paediatrics, adult intensive care, and paediatric oncology, as well as in nursing education. Currently, Dr Nell serves as the Director of Nursing and Nursing Education at Netcare, a position she has held for the last seven years. We salute our remarkable Davincian, for all that she has done and continues to do on the frontline in our country, giving daily of herself to the betterment of others. Besides her extensive experience, Dr Nell also holds several…
On 18 August 2021, Prof HB Klopper, CEO & Executive Dean: Research and Institutional Partnerships at The Da Vinci Institute, presented an online Inaugural Lecture titled, “Adapting Higher Education for Lifelong Learning.” “…In my address, I approach lifelong learning as a broad concept, founded on the theoretical principles of andragogy and later heutagogy. Considering the scholarly discourse on the topic, it is almost impossible to give justice to the volume of available literature and research that has unfolded since the early 2000s. Hence, I tried to categorise the main thoughts and ideas of heutagogy, as we continue our learning journey into the future. To illuminate the most important aspects related to a lifelong learning ecosystem, we must begin with what we are hearing from the new consumers of education, whereafter we must move into the predicaments and barriers holding their problems in place, before concluding with solutions and revealing the…
A shining star in the Da Vinci Galaxy is our Doctoral Alumnus Dr Estie Serfontein, an agile, aligned and engaged managerial leader in the aviation industry. Dr Estie Serfontein is a dynamic and remarkable female leader of the aviation industry, and a Doctoral alumnus who flexes her academic muscles with her research output. Dr Serfontein is also a self-motivated leader with passion and resilience in abundance and extensive experience in the aviation industry. She is the quality assurance manager for Execujet Aviation. Her skills have led her to successfully manage teams and processes as a strategic driver of programmes that allow for continuous quality improvement and efficiency through audits and special projects. Through her experience, Dr Serfontein has amassed a breadth of knowledge in analysing data and orchestrating project implementations, as well as ensuring compliance with local and federal regulations. Ever a consistent high achiever, Dr Serfontein not only successfully…
“We are entering a changing world of expatriation and international human resources management that will never be the same. The only way forward is the presentation of online solutions to a dynamic global mobility issue” – by Zain Donnovan Reddiar It always is an exhilarating moment when one of our remarkable student’s gets to fulfil a lifelong learning journey. Today it is one of our recent remarkable Doctoral alumni and Council member Dr Zain Donovan Reddiar that we profile. Dr Reddiar explains that, “the journey was a mixture of excitement and trepidation.” He confesses to have experienced some, “highs and lows, but what a phenomenal journey it has been.” He concedes that, “there were times when I felt energised and on top of the world, as well as times when I felt completely confused. The confusion spurred me to dig deeper, to read more, and I soon found my path.”…
Recently, we had the pleasure of catching up with one of our faculty members at The Da Vinci Institute – Dr Dzingai Katsama who has just been nominated as a working group member/committee member for SABS (South African Bureau of Standards), a national standardisation authority. Dr Katsamba is a global entrepreneur, an astute agile leader and a philanthropist. As a businessman, his flagship business has 15 branches in 15 African countries where they lead with innovation and technology. A noted academic, he specialises in innovation, and offers his academic time to various institutions across the world where he supervises both MBA and PhD students. Dr Katsamba holds a PhD, an MBA, a BBA in Marketing Management, and an Advanced Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He has demonstrated the importance of the fusion of academia and entrepreneurship in changing the economic situation in Africa and the world over. When asked about his decision to join The Da Vinci Institute as a faculty member, Dr Katsamba states that he has “always been…
Recently, we had the pleasure of catching up with one of our own, Dr Mario Landman… Presiding as the custodian of the design department at The Da Vinci Institute, is Dr Mario Landman – a deep thinker and certainly a person that cares deeply for people, for he always ensures that those with whom he co-creates are always treated with empathy and respect. Dr Landman’s position as Dean of Design is multi-faceted and requires continual co-creation. He elucidates that his primary responsibility is “to manage and guide the design and development of courseware in all its many guises through the application of quality management processes at every stage of development: from the contribution to the design of the programme, the recruitment of the developers, and ultimately the publication of the completed courseware set on our Learning Management System (Moodle).” Furthermore, there is a crucial leadership element to Dr Landman’s job, which is to lead, “a team that is responsible…
Arthur C Clarke said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” At Da Vinci, we are certainly trying to make magic with our technological advancements and our students’ online learning experience through multiple online platforms. The custodian of technology at the Da Vinci Institute is our IT Manager, Riaan van Niekerk, who we profile today. Riaan holds the position of IT Manager at The Institute – a role that entails planning, and leading technology-related projects at The Institute. Riaan adds that he has, “to ensure that all IT-related deliverables comply with strict IT governance protocols and cybersecurity industry standards.” Riaan is the epitome of cool, calm, and collected under pressure. His work ethic and mettle working under pressure is a commendable and necessary attribute in his field, and Riaan always does so with a smile. His positive outlook on life has contributed to his work remarkably. Perceiving life…