The beginning of October saw the majority of the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) employer organisations suspend their participation in the activities of the CETA Council and all its committees.

Rod Burn, Director of Organisational Performance at Murray & Roberts, discusses the concept of leadership, and how getting back to basics, and face-to-face with your team can change the very soul and performance of your business. It all comes down to a simple truth – ordinary people really can do extraordinary things.

In the midst of local political shifts and global financial turmoil, it is imperative that we not lose sight of our global resource challenges that remain a constant backdrop to our future existence and development.

In our second issue we ran an article by Cees Bruggemans, First National Bank’s Chief Economist, titled ‘The Greatest Boom of all Time’. It illustrates the explosive pace at which this world is growing, and the inherent opportunities deep within. He describes the massive structural shifts taking place in global society, most notably a population growth of seven billion people in a single generation, 1950 – 2050, which will never happen again.

“All around, in the gaping desolation where the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel so recently stood, are tangles of cables, beams, uncoiled air hoses, heavy trucks, and stacks of muddy lumber. The speakers huddle on a slapped-together podium and take turns salting the morning air with superlatives: grand, gigantic, epic, magnificent, unrivalled, biggest, best, momentous. They trace imaginary arcs in the air and all agree. The Empire State Building will dominate the Manhattan skyline, dwarfing all pretenders to the crown of tallest structure in the world.”

South Africans are often genuinely surprised to discover that other nations have also been colonised, waged revolutionary struggle, rebuilt society and made peace with the ancient enemy. The realisation that our historical progress and current reality are not entirely new under the sun is like a child’s discovery that she is no longer alone in the universe but conversely (and catastrophically) is no longer the centre of it. Like the Americans, we are a navel-gazing bunch.