Only by complementing globally relevant approaches with innovative, locally developed capabilities will we succeed. Paul Aucamp, managing director of the AST Consulting Group, says the focus of an effective management consultant is to create quantifiable and sustainable earning power for clients. Gemini's Bird says local skills have largely remained untapped and undervalued, but have to be mined if the industry is to be relevant to the complex transformational challenges facing clients. South Africa can only hope to become globally competitive through building capabilities and thereby creating jobs. However, tapping into an individual's latent potential can prove counter-productive if the working and living environment remains unchanged.
All organisations have a responsibility to accelerate development and capability building.
While equity deals have a role to play, South Africa needs effective black leaders running competitive, transformed mainstream businesses. He says organisations can only transform within the context of their communities, and believes South Africa needs more enlightened approaches to address the paradox of improving productivity and also creating jobs. Also, a strategy can become too complex - resulting in gridlock. He says it is important that companies find an external consulting firm with which they are comfortable and stick to it.