Leadership is not unlike medicine: a responsible doctor does not prescribe treatment without a proper diagnosis. In business, urgency and expectation often tempt CFOs to act before fully understanding the problem.
During my time at Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme (AMP), working alongside senior leaders from across the globe created a rare pause in the rhythm of executive life.
I found myself examining not just frameworks and strategies, but my own leadership habits, assumptions, and decision-making patterns. In the end, the most lasting lessons were not about organisations or markets, but about myself – and what enduring leadership truly requires.
With more than three decades in corporate, including my role as CFO of MTN South Africa, it would be easy to assume that experience alone will continue to serve me well. The program reminded me that experience, without disciplined thinking, can quietly turn into complacency.
AMP did not introduce radically new theories. Instead, it reawakened a discipline that is often diluted by urgency and pace – thoughtful, intentional leadership. Among the more than 170 leaders from nearly 50 countries, one reality was shared: complexity and pressure are universal.
What became clear to me is that the difference is rarely effort – it is clarity. When teams are clear on direction and priorities, execution accelerates not through harder work, but through aligned work.
The discipline of diagnosis
One of the most powerful lessons from the programme was the importance of diagnosing before solutioning. While this may sound obvious, it is often the first discipline to erode under pressure.
Through the case study method, we were repeatedly placed in situations with incomplete information and imperfect choices. The instinct – especially for seasoned leaders – is to move quickly. Yet speed without understanding often addresses symptoms rather than root causes.
Leadership is not unlike medicine: a responsible doctor does not prescribe treatment without a proper diagnosis. In business, urgency and expectation often tempt us to act before fully understanding the problem. The programme reinforced for me that good leadership is not about rapid answers, but about working through the right questions.
Since returning, I have taken a more deliberate approach to decision-making. Slowing down at the start often saves time, energy, and rework later. More importantly, it leads to decisions that are sustainable, not just expedient.
Clarity is a leadership responsibility
Another insight that stayed with me is the weight of a leader’s words.
Creating clarity for the organisations and people we lead is not optional. It is a leadership responsibility.
Being explicit about what is decided, what is still under consideration, and what is not a priority reduces noise and builds confidence. In complex environments, clarity becomes a stabilising force. It allows people to focus their energy where it truly matters.
Studying organisations that consistently outperform over time highlighted a simple but powerful truth: strong cultures are built intentionally. They are not slogans or once-off initiatives. They are shaped daily through leadership behaviour – what is signalled, rewarded, accepted, reinforced and role-modelled.
Without trust, collaboration and shared accountability, even the best systems underperform. Culture is not a soft concept – it is a performance driver.
Leading culture requires consistency and courage, particularly when trade-offs are required. And it requires leadership at every level, not only from the top.
Reflection as a leadership practice
We operate in a world of full calendars and fragmented days. In that environment, reflection can feel like a luxury reserved for quieter seasons. Yet those seasons rarely arrive on their own.
Reflection is not withdrawal. It is refinement. It sharpens judgement, reveals patterns, and recalibrates priorities. Without it, leaders risk becoming reactive – constantly responding, but rarely choosing intentionally.
I am becoming more intentional about creating moments of pause. Not as a wellness exercise, but as a leadership practice. Clarity requires space.
A recurring theme throughout the programme was the false tension between performance and empathy.
People do not leave their personal realities at the office door. Acknowledging this does not mean lowering standards or avoiding accountability. It means leading with awareness and context.
Like many people, I hold multiple roles: CFO, mother, wife, sister, aunt and friend. These identities coexist. Recognising them deepens empathy without weakening expectations and supports environments that are ambitious yet sustainable.
Returning with reinforced conviction
I did not return from Harvard with a fundamentally different way of leading or a checklist of new tools. What the experience reinforced was the importance of clarity, sound diagnosis and intentional leadership – particularly in complex environments where pace and pressure can easily blur judgment.
The experience reinforced that sustainable performance is grounded in disciplined thinking, sound systems, and healthy cultures – not speed alone. That leadership is less about knowing more and more about seeing more clearly.
In a time of geopolitical uncertainty, rapid technological change and competing priorities, finance leaders play a critical role as stabilising and enabling partners to the business. That role demands judgement, humanity and presence.
If there is one insight I carry forward, it is this: in a world that rewards motion, the most responsible leadership act is to pause long enough to be clear. Because clarity – not urgency – is what sustains performance, trust, and the people behind it.
