… at the Diocesan College in Cape Town (Bishops) and at the University of Cape Town. But my real education has taken place in the university of life and extensive foreign travel including two postings in London, one in Jerusalem and visits to India, China, Senegal, Germany, Japan and Brazil. Being a journalist, correspondent and newspaper editor has helped too.

… in market research. As a student I managed a team of interviewers for a market research team which travelled the length and breadth of the rural areas of South Africa researching the consumer patterns of black South Africans. It was a real education in terms of confirming what I already knew to be the iniquities of apartheid and it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know a very diverse group of black South Africans (the interviewers) both socially and on the road in the workplace. My first formal job was in journalism as a trainee reporter at the Cape Times in Cape Town and the next 35 years of my life were spent as a reporter, columnist, correspondent and editor in South Africa working for American newspapers, in the Middle East and in the UK.

… promote South Africa's interests as a destination for trade, tourism and investment which involves intense networking, building of strategic relationships and identifying and leveraging opportunities. It is also about reputation management and both internal and external communication.

… education, communication, travel and engaging people are the four most important factors in any job that you have to do. Education gives you the framework to understand and explain the world and to communicate what you know. Communication provides the basis for rational decision-making and oils the wheels of efficiency and accountability. Travel provides the life experience and insight to build on your framework of understanding. And engaging people reaffirms our humanity and interdependence and underscores the philosophy of Ubuntu.... "I am because you are".

… having the good fortune to meet and get to know former President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. And the late world teacher, Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), played an important role in setting my compass and getting home the message that the only way to change the world is to change yourself. Bob Marley's message (Redemption Song) also struck a chord: Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.

… connect with the good in yourself as a means to connecting with the good in people and thus bring out the good in others. It's not easy but I have never known it not to work. It is also the only long-term strategy to “defeat the enemy” that has stood the test of time. It also means that you have no inhibitions about meeting anyone however much their views might be in conflict with your own. It enables you to understand the world without getting distracted by constant judgments. And then you can see that what appear to be opposites are often different sides of the same coin.