When We Lead Together, We Win Together.

In corporate boardrooms worldwide, “every person for themselves” has long been the unspoken motto. 

Yet, as businesses face increasingly complex challenges requiring collaborative solutions, a different philosophy is gaining traction – one that South Africans have understood for generations. 

Ubuntu – the concept that “I am because we are” – is emerging as not just a cultural value but a powerful business and personal principle. Our strength lies in community, not individuality. 

Ubuntu Isn’t Just a Buzzword

While “Ubuntu” has become something of a buzzword in literature, South Africans bring an authentic understanding that goes beyond superficial applications. 

For South Africans, Ubuntu isn’t a strategy to be deployed when convenient—it’s a fundamental worldview that shapes every decision.

How We Apply This Principle in Business

What does Ubuntu actually look like in business practice? Through conversations with Lekker Network members across industries and continents, several distinctive patterns emerge:

• Collaborative problem-solving: South African-led teams typically approach challenges collectively rather than competitively. Problems aren’t owned by individuals but by teams, with success measured by collective outcomes rather than individual contributions.
• Relational rather than transactional business: While Western business cultures often emphasise efficient transactions, South African approaches typically prioritise relationship-building as the foundation for sustainable business. This relational emphasis doesn’t replace professional standards – if anything, it heightens them. When business is personal, the stakes for performance are higher.
• Inclusive decision-making: South African leaders often bring a distinctive approach to decision-making, ensuring that voices throughout the organisation are heard – particularly those closest to customers or production.
• Success as a collective Journey: Perhaps most distinctively, South African business leaders often redefine success itself – measuring it not just through personal advancement but through the growth and development of their teams and communities.

The Competitive Advantage of Collectiveness

In a global business environment increasingly characterised by complexity, interconnection, and the need for diverse perspectives, these approaches create tangible competitive advantages:

• More resilient organisations that can weather challenges collectively
• Stronger innovation through diverse input and collaborative problem-solving
• Higher employee engagement through meaningful inclusion
• More sustainable stakeholder relationships based on mutual benefit
• Better risk management through consideration of broader impacts

These advantages are particularly relevant in what management theorists call “VUCA” environments – those characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. 

Sound familiar? 

South Africans have been navigating such environments for generations.

The Global Effect of South African Collectiveness

Through The Lekker Network, South African business leaders are not only connecting with each other but also spreading these ubuntu-inspired practices globally.

This isn’t to suggest that South African business culture is perfect or that ubuntu principles are always perfectly applied. But as global business grapples with challenges that can only be solved collectively – from climate change to inequality – the South African understanding that “a person is a person through other people” offers a powerful alternative to individualistic approaches that have dominated Western business thinking.

In boardrooms from Boston to Beijing, the quiet influence of South African collectiveness is creating new possibilities for how business can operate – not just profitably but in ways that recognize and strengthen our fundamental interconnectedness. It’s a perspective the business world desperately needs, delivered with that uniquely South African combination of practical wisdom and unshakable optimism.