SAISC PROFILE provided me with a great start . Don persuaded me to study further , which is where I met other role models – Professor Alan Kemp at WITS , and Hennie de Clerq ( former CEO of the SAISC ). Alan was an exceptionally bright and capable engineer who had the ability to explain complex concepts in easily accessible way . As I got more involved in the practical side of things , Hennie de Clerq , who presented some of the courses alongside Alan , was a big influence .
Q : Best advice you ’ ve ever received ?
A : Probably the best piece of advice I ’ ve ever received is to go and study an MBA at UCT , which I did with a friend of mine , Rob Ballentine . We were both studying the GDE together at WITS , the post-graduate engineering course , when we sat down one night over a beer and Rob said “ Look , we ’ re getting technically advanced in what we ’ re able to do , and we ’ ve got a relatively good grasp of this engineering thing , but we need to balance ourselves out to some extent .” So the two of us decided to go and do an MBA at UCT .
Q : How do you think your best friend would describe you ?
A : My best friend , I think would describe me as somebody that works too hard , too long hours and takes life too seriously . I don ’ t necessarily agree with that . I ’ ve been fortunate in having very loyal friends in my life , and I think that they would also describe me as a loyal friend .
Q : What do you think the biggest challenge is facing our industry at the moment ?
A : I think the challenges facing the steel industry , the construction industry and definitely the consulting engineering industry is the world economy not performing well . People are under pressure . We ’ ve got a downturn , great expectations for people in all sectors of the economy , and then we ’ ve got really very little work . That ’ s a great challenge . I think it ’ s something that will make us tougher over time . I think many of the people that are in the industry might not be here in 5 or 10 years ’ time . Those that do survive will be a lot tougher for it . There are many challenges ahead .
I was chairman of the Institute of Steel Construction many years ago and it was the greatest time to be a part of the steel industry because it was the busiest time . People had work all over the place , everybody was in a happy space . It ’ s changed . People now are in a different space . That ’ s one of the challenges ; keeping good people motivated , to survive , and to have something that performs better down the line .
Q : If you could go back 30 years , what advice would you give your younger self ?
A : If I could turn the clock back or go back 30 years in some sort of time machine , I think the most valuable advice I could give myself is to cut out the weekend work and the work done in the evenings .
The work that you do , hoping to get paid , on some sort of speculative nature generally doesn ’ t pay off . It ’ s a bad negotiating tactic , and I think you get nowhere doing that sort of work . You really waste a solid portion of your life doing work that you are hoping to get paid for . I think you ’ ve got to be a lot more practical and decide when you are going to cut things that you are doing . I think you have to be a lot more aggressive and say “ Look , this is going nowhere . I ’ m going to stop doing it . And even if somebody else does it … that ’ s fine .” As a young person , I think you kiss a lot of frogs , hoping that these things will work out well .
The other thing is learn to negotiate relatively early on . Negotiation skills are something that you ’ re going to find you need all of your life . Go and get some top advice , and some practical skills at negotiating .
Q : Favourite book of all time ? A : Born to Run by Christopher Mc Dougall . It really gives you an insight into human spirit , and the amount that people can do with having a lot of fun with really minimalistic input and no resources whatsoever . It ’ s about the Tarahumara Indians in the Copper Canyons in Mexico , and their ability to run , and undertake these amazing endurance events . Christopher Mc Dougall builds in things about what humans are capable of biologically , what ’ s happened in South Africa and how people used to hunt here in the early days and run down animals . It ’ s a great insight into people … and it ’ s about running , which I ’ m relatively interested in .
Q : What makes a great leader ?
A : Different things under different circumstances . One of the things that makes a great leader is the ability to analyse a situation , look at the bigger picture and understand what ’ s important . Often people bog down on unimportant trivia . I think it ’ s good to be able to take a broader look at the whole thing . As a leader you have to have a level of service to others in what you ’ re doing . I don ’ t think a dictatorial type of approach works very well . Giving service to others generally puts you in a better position , but I think it ’ s a complex question . I ’ m not really sure what makes a good leader ! I ’ ve seen great leaders with very different skills , and I think some of them very sadly lack in some areas and are very good in other areas . I think they achieve amazing things . A lot of it is to do with timing .
Q : What do you think has made CADEX SA so successful ?
A : I think we ’ re successful for a number of reasons . We ’ ve got good people here . We ’ ve got a great product , that advances year in and year out . It ’ s well liked by the industry , and has a good fit with the industry . That makes it easier . One of the reasons I think is also consistency . We have an incredibly consistent approach from Tekla , now called Trimble solutions , in Finland . That gives you the space to grow and the certainty that things change and get better all the time . We ’ ve worked with other products , bought from other software companies where that hasn ’ t been the case . So this real , long term commitment and a great product has made us what we are .
Q : Where would you like to see CADEX SA going in the next 5 years ?
A : CADEX SA will change dramatically in the next 5 years . In the software industry a 5 year horizon is a tremendous horizon . I think artificial intelligence and things like that is going to get into the products that we use dramatically . I think it ’ s going to get to the shop floor and into the design phase dramatically as well . Things are going to change
Steel Construction Vol . 40 No . 2 2016 9