Q & A: ESKOM
As Eskom’ s Group Executive: Strategy and Sustainability, Nontokozo Hadebe works at the point where longterm planning meets one of South Africa’ s most urgent questions: how to keep the country powered while preparing for a changing energy future.
What has most shaped the way you lead? My upbringing shaped my leadership more than anything else. I came from a humble environment, and I was raised with values of humility, respect, and care for the people around me.
I don’ t believe you have to be the loudest person in the room to be listened to. You don’ t have to be aggressive or disrespectful to get things done. You can relate to people, and they will relate back to you. When people describe my leadership, they often speak about calmness, respect, and quiet assertiveness. I like that, because it means you can be soft in how you engage people, but still be firm about delivery.
As a woman leader, I have also become more conscious that I do not have to leave parts of myself behind when I come to work. Women bring empathy, listening, direction, and the ability to pull different sides of a story together. That does not mean leadership is soft or indecisive. It means you bring your full self into interacting in the space.
When you look back on your career, what key moments helped prepare you for the rigours of executive leadership? I have always worked in professional environments. When you lead professionals, you have to understand that people know what they need to do. They do not need you to do their work for them. They need guidance, support and alignment.
But there were also moments that taught me leadership in ways no MBA or management programme can fully prepare you for. Early in my leadership journey, I was appointed to lead a team of 47 people. Soon after that, we experienced the death of a team member. The team was grieving, and they were looking to me to see how I would lead them through that sadness.
There was another incident where a colleague was killed by her partner. This was someone we had seen at work
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