Collaboration and shared values are essential for transformation

From time to time, I like to listen to a rousing university commencement speech.

- Zukiswa Pikoli

Sometimes I do this randomly, sometimes more deliberately, but always with a sense of wonder and excitement at how my mind is likely to be stretched.

Because you see, if there is one thing I love, it is the sharing and exchanging of ideas from anyone, regardless of their stature, designation or walk of life. I find people's life experiences and takes on life infinitely wondrous and invaluable, which I suppose is no surprise, given the line of work I am in.

Recently I came across the commencement speech by the dean of Antioch University's Graduate School of Leadership and Change, Dr Laurien Alexandre, in which she told the PhD class of 2024: "Dictators, or in our case, wannabe dictators, love to prey on people's isolation and fears because that makes us more vulnerable to manipulation and susceptible to scapegoating.