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For most of us, discipline is situational rather than absolute. I don’t drink at home, but I’ll sometimes have a drink if we go out. I rarely miss workouts, except for when we’re on a trip. I always write for five or six hours a day, except for the times a construction project distracts me. A ninety-plus percent hit rate on doing things that are good for me, with a little disciplined indulgence mixed in? I’ll take that. Warren Buffett probably won’t.

For most of us, discipline is situational rather than absolute. I don’t drink at home, but I’ll sometimes have a drink if we go out. I rarely miss workouts, except for when we’re on a trip. I always write for five or six hours a day, except for the times a construction project distracts me. A ninety-plus percent hit rate on doing things that are good for me, with a little disciplined indulgence mixed in? I’ll take that. Warren Buffett probably won’t.

Fixed-term (‘temporary’) contracts expose employers to risk. No matter how the contract is worded, an employer who relies on the fact that a fixed-term contract has expired may face an unfair dismissal claim if the employee had a reasonable expectation of renewal. Clear rules govern the termination of most fixed-term contracts, particularly where employees earn below the applicable income threshold – currently R22,466.74 per month.

An INSEAD survey shows most boards are choosing to reskill workers and lean on partners, not lay people off. Just a short time ago, generative AI (GenAI) arrived in the boardroom as the rapid spread of the technology triggered prophecies of mass redundancy and obsolete business models. From a recent survey, I found that many directors have done something more grounded: they tried to learn about GenAI. And most of them didn’t fire people to replace them with technology.

CFOs must move from measuring performance to influencing it by identifying operational changes early enough to determine how technology and other capital investments can create value. AI can automate routine work - allowing top finance talent to do higher-value analysis - and provide earlier signals that help CFOs spot problems and redirect capital as conditions change.

Here’s a fact every learning and development leader needs to face: If you ignore cost savings opportunities right now, it will cost you in the not-so-long run. Not to mention, with learning becoming more critical for AI transformation and budgets under tight scrutiny, CFOs aren’t just watching learning spend from a distance. They want proof that it’s creating measurable business value, not just filling expensive seats in a course catalog. The instinct, when budgets tighten, is to cut programmes.

AI can help SMMEs compete with larger firms by expanding capability, speed and reach, provided adoption is disciplined and trusted. In 'The World Is Flat', Thomas Friedman argued that the internet reshaped competitive dynamics by enabling smaller firms to access markets once dominated by large corporations. AI may now drive the next shift, not only by extending market reach but by expanding what firms are capable of doing.

The pendulum swings between promises and unintended consequences. Hailed as both the saviour of workforces around the world as well as the digital spawn of Satan, AI’s entry into our everyday lives has been as polarising as Trump’s second term. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. Initially released as a “research preview”, this version (GPT-3.5) was what propelled AI onto the global radar. After just three years it would be naïve to think we’ve tamed the beast.

The manager squeeze: middle managers have always faced pressure from above and below. As demands multiply, organisations need to rethink how they support them. Middle management has always been one of the toughest jobs in an organisation, and it is getting tougher. Managers have had to navigate the demands of the people above them while dealing with the reality facing the people below. What has changed is the number and complexity of those demands.

Remote work erodes the personal bonds that boost collaboration at the office, according to research from Wharton’s Peter Cappelli. He offers guidance on making the most of hybrid schedules. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, all the dithering about remote work stopped virtually overnight. Working from home wasn’t perfect, but people made it work. At first, remote employees were triumphant as they checked off their personal and professional to-do lists from the comfort of home.