My Brilliant Career: Good strategy is useless without good leaders

What does ATNS do?

Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) is an entity of the department of transport that provides air traffic and navigation services across South Africa and about 6% of the global airspace, which includes parts of the Southern Indian and Atlantic oceans.

Tell me about your job as chief: strategy research development and innovation at ATNS.

My task is to ensure all ATNS’s efforts lead us to our vision: “To be the leading provider of air traffic management solutions in Africa.” This is very ambitious, but achievable with the right strategy, leadership and employee attitude, as well as culture.

You have worked at various public sector organisations, including National Treasury. How does that experience help you in your role?

Working in different organisations within the public sector has made me understand that an organisation does not work in a vacuum, but that there are always other aspects at play. It is essential to strike a balance strategically.

For example, ATNS is part of a whole in terms of the transport sector, but is also an essential part of the government and a key player in the global aviation space.

While acknowledging that a lot has been done to transform the industry, there is much that can still be done to facilitate further transformation.

In the short time since I joined ATNS, I have engaged with some captains of the industry and the willingness to assist in this cause is heartwarming.

What do you think makes you good at your job?

I always seek to reinvent myself and be inquisitive about the latest developments in terms of the core content as it relates to my job and how best to lead.

You can have the best strategy and ideas, but the calibre of leadership at the helm determines the successful implementation of that strategy.

If we have leadership that takes a position of being authoritative, with no room for engagement and enabling different perspectives, the strategy is as good as dead. If the leadership does not create an environment for those being led to strive and flourish, the strategy and ideas will be just that — strategy and ideas on paper.

What would people find surprising about the work you do?

That my work requires me to not only collaborate with the ATNS executive team and the board of directors, but that I must find the gems in our foot soldiers — this is where the solutions are in most cases.

So a strategy is best when it is an infusion of input from ground level and top level. This is what makes it alive and not just another document in the cabinet.

What did you want to be when you were a child?

A nurse, because my mom was a nurse, but then she took me to a ward she was working in and I realised that nursing is not for me.

What is your go-to career advice for young people at the start of their careers?

You have made it this far, so you are worth it. Continue to reinvent yourself to be ready for the next level — never internalise any statement that negates this.