The Art of the Suit

In this episode of the Art of the Suit, the focus is on your Personal Brand. But you won't be listening to me talk about this passion of mine.  What makes this episode so engaging is that you will be listening to a range of voices – all of them are students from the University of Johannesburg who are in the final months of their Honours in B. Com Marketing and participated in the inaugural year of an innovative Practical Marketing programme.  The curriculum included a range of soft skill development that would have practical application for them in the workplace. This recording was made at the live event celebrating their participation in my programme.  A milestone I am particularly proud of and grateful for.You will have the opportunity to experience a few of the students' Personal Brand pitches, but whether you are a person contemplating your own Personal Brand, and how you can reinvent yourself, or a prospective employer concerned about whether or not your recruitment methodology is best suited to the current generation and environment, there is an enormous amount of authentic insight from these brilliant minds that you will benefit from.Some of the key questions addressed were:- The most enlightening discoveries experienced about their personal brand- The message they have for their generation about how they should shift the way they think about themselves? - What is it about the environment we live in that contributes most to their sense of anxiety about achieving their goals out in the marketplace?- The generation gap and the attitude towards work and job commitment.  Is this well-founded?- Their message to prospective employers about how they can help graduates entering the workplace?My appreciation goes to TimesLive for providing us with the use of their very glamorous viewing cinema for the event.  It made the grand finale staging all that more enjoyable.And of course to Dr. Nicole Cunningham and UJ for this unique and forward-thinking opportunity.Prospective employers can reach the students via Dr. Nicole Cunningham, Senior Lecturer and Deputy HoD for Undergraduate Programmes Teaching & Learning at ncunningham@uj.ac.zaAnd if you are interested in your Personal Brand journey contact me at dawn@theartofthesuit.com   

In this episode of The Art of the Suit in which I am going to be unpacking how you can improve a skill that you, most likely, take for granted – the art of listening.  As a coach, listening is one of the core skill competencies that we are trained to develop and required to constantly refine.  The ability to listen may seem to be a no-brainer but it is just the opposite.   We all have biases, many of which are unconscious. Add to this your personal experiences of life, and preconceived ideas and you will soon realise that what you hear and how you typically respond is highly influenced by your own perceptions and may be far removed from what was actually said.  Not sure? Well, How often has it happened that you feel completely misunderstood? How often have you been told “You aren't listening to me” or “That's not what I meant, not what I asked, not what I said”?  The impact of poor listening skills takes its toll on personal relationships, in the workplace, and in media.  In fact in every aspect of our lives.   This was the subject matter of a session that I had with one of my own coaches, Mark Kahn, around Corrective Listening.  As an aside, yes, coaches have coaches.  In fact, this is an equally important expectation of professional coaches. Anyway, back to the discussion about Corrective Listening. I avoid labeling people, particularly those as talented as Mark, but to help frame who you will be listening to: he holds a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, has a BCom degree, and is an executive coach and management consultant. Mark works with a diverse range of therapies – far too many to try and do them justice in this intro.  One of his great passions is helping people develop self-esteem – a topic that led him to write a book called Love Yourself for no reason.  He is a treasure trove of knowledge and insight and why I find my sessions with him to be equally supportive, challenging, enlightening, and motivating.   If you are interested in making contact with Mark you can WhatsApp him on +27824549564. So listen in and learn to pick up a few tips on how to improve this skill. #leadership, #coaching, #selfdevelopment, #listeningskills, #empathy, #holdingspace, #safespace, #collaboration, #skills, #dogood, #bemore, #relationships, #parenting, #collaboration, #podcast   

This episode focuses on making money.  Regardless of whether your business is big or small, established or a start-up, you can't get away from this crucial success measure. But more than simply making money the central theme is all about the P word - PROFIT!We've all heard the horror stories of how a promising business, regardless of massive turnover, was taken out at the knees because of a lack of synergy between cash flow, pipeline and profit. In my book, The Art of the Suit, I advocate that if you don't yet have a love for numbers then you had better adopt a nurture a passion for this aspect of business discipline pretty swiftly if you wish to survive and thrive. In this episode I am very fortunate to have a highly successful, experienced and insightful author, speaker, consultant and entrepreneur, Bob Hayward, joining us to provide very succinct and valuable insights to the Profit Secret.  He is the founder of Be More Effective and the author of The Profit Secret.He covers a lot of ground but a few key takeouts are:1. Profit is the forgotten part of the sales that makes all the difference. To the customer and to the business2. Selling is NEVER about the price3. Too often we are chasing the wrong prospects4. The sale is made in the pain of the present and not the benefits of the futur5. Trust building Skills, People Skills, Questioning Skills and Listening Skills are far more important than selling skills or product knowledge6. You have to build Credibility, Relevance and Importance at all stages.7. You already know everyone you need to know to build your business as large and profitable as you wishI highly recommend that you visit https://www.bemoreeffective.com/ and subscribe for their newsletter and invitations to their webinars.  Enjoy the insights shared in this episode.  

The world of entrepreneurship is both exciting and daunting. The title itself infers breaking new ground. Either relating to the nature of the product or service you are offering or because it is a new territory that you are entering.  Who better to gain insights and guidance from than the Managing Director of I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR, Keitumetse Lekaba, The Business Doctor!In this power-packed episode, we cover a broad range of subjects:- The formula for success- Understanding your customer- Modelling and upscaling- Why funding is not a business model- The importance of introducing financial, compliance and governance disciplines from day one- Where to get helpWe even cover a few tips for corporates that are venturing into enterprise development or funding initiatives themselves.  All in less than 45 minutes!You can find out more about I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR at http://iamanentrepreneur.co.za/There you will find a wealth of information on their YouTube channel and about their upcoming summits.  If you know of someone who will benefit please like and pass this podcast on,Do good. Be great.Dawn

In this episode of The Art of the Suit I share the conversation I had with Pierre Naquet the founder of IWS-Europe (Institute of Workplace Dynamics).  He is a very experienced Business & Executive coach, a psychologist and master trainer.  We have mutually accredited one another on coaching instruments and often  share insights and trend discussions around the world of work and coaching.Whether you are a coach or a person interested in any of the instruments that coaches make use of to increase the efficacy of the coaching process I think you will find something of interest or use in this podcast.  If you are a coach interested in being accredited on Mind Dynamix, reach out to me at practitioners@mindynamix.com

This is a podcast within a podcast. I was invited by Eusebius McKaiser to take part in a podcast on this subject on his platform, In the Ring with Eusebius McKaiser.   We are good friends, colleagues and mutual coaches. The motivation behind this episode was that we BOTH constantly have people sharing the pain the pain they experience as a result of a toxic workplace - very often as the result of having a boss from hell.We unpack this issue along with a few recommendations of how to survive this type of environment.Eusebius had such a great response to this episode that he kindly agreed to me repackaging it for my platform.Hope this helps you if you are in this position. Or will encourage you, if you are such a boss, to change NOW! 

One of my indulgences over the past Labour Day long weekend was to catch up with podcasts and videocasts that I've been tagging.  Coincidently they all seem to focus on aspects of the Gig Economy, the shift in leadership style and demands, and new foundations of the new way of work that is fast becoming not so new. This all reminded me of an interview I did recently with Masego Motsogi, MD of Grid Worldwide, a leading brand agency.  This was following an article she wrote for MarkLives on what we are likely to see happening in and around the creative industry.The future of brands has always been reliant on tapping into the right creative talent, whether literal or in the form of innovative leadership thinking.  Masego's article highlights so many aspects of how to harvest and harvest talent as well as provides insight into many of the shifts that are taking place. In this episode, I question Masego on her thinking and the backstory to several aspects of the article on www.marklives.com If you are anywhere on the spectrum from looking for a new gig to ensuring the continued success of a brand, you will definitely come away with useful insights. 

In this episode of The Art of the Suit I am introducing something new.  If you find it beneficial then I will drop in more episodes. It's called the Debbi & Dawn Download. Let me share how this came about.  As I constantly promote, I believe that success is fueled by remaining open-minded, constantly learning, and collaborating. These are only three of the very many supporting pillars of success – but for me, the most essential.  These were some of the aspects of successful mentorship that I discussed with Eusebius McKaiser in our last podcast. I benefit enormously from my friendship and collaboration with Eusebius. He certainly challenges my thinking and there is a mutual open-mindedness and learning that we enjoy.  Another of my very closest friends is an incredibly knowledgeable woman and I have gained so much from being able to tap into her area of specialization.  Debbi Nathan is so much more than a health and wellness expert.  She is primarily a nutritionist specializing in Nutrigenomics, sport & health, and eating psychology.  She is a founding partner of Your Gene Team and the author of Cooking for your Genes of which I am the proud owner of a personalized copy.  We have been friends for decades and even though Debbi now lives in London, it doesn't stop us from exchanging ideas and experiences at least every week. Thank you whatsapp!   Of course, most of our conversations are simply the girls catching up and offering mutual support – but inevitably we get around to discussing our passions.  For me, it is the power of the mind and the potential of the personal brand and for Debbi how knowledge of your gene profile can be used as a nutritional and dietary brief for addressing health, wellness, and longevity.  She looks a decade less than her years so she's a prime example of the benefits.  I've often jokingly suggested that we should record our catch-ups for my podcast, but some of the material hasn't been for public consumption!  But the idea keeps on creeping up on me so I've decided to try it out.  As I said these episodes will be identified as  The Debbi & Dawn Downloads.  Our choice of the subject matter will be focused on what we believe would be of interest and benefit to our listeners with a focus on your wellbeing. If you would like to find out more about Debbi's credentials, visit her website or find her on Insta as Debbi Nathan or Your Gene Team. Welcome to episode 1 of The Debbi & Dawn Download.  In this episode, we are going to talk about how to maintain a balance between exercise and diet so that you can sustain both over the long term.  

I had a wonderful, engaging conversation with Eusebius McKaizer in his TimesLIVE podcast and with their kind permission, I am sharing it on my Art of the Suit podcast platform. As Eusebius so eloquently framed the episode, titled The Mentoring Toolkit, he outlined the aim of this episode to answer three key questions: "what is required of you to be an effective mentee? What are the traits of an ideal mentor? And, relating these roles to one another, how does one set up a relationship dynamic that is optimal for both the mentee and the mentor?".The podcast is practical by nature and unpacks a whole lot of truths - many of which dispel the perception of this being an easy meal ticket to success but will guide you on how to make the most of the opportunity. As always please provide feedback on your experience, insights, and advice. 

As a business and executive coach I have observed that so many people who are reaching out to me are doing so because they have a sense of urgency about starting their own business or making a massive career shift.  There has always been this desire but the pandemic has accelerated an unprecedented rate of change. Very exciting stuff indeed.  But sadly I see people rushing off to design the logo, develop the app or build the website without having done enough foundation work.  And as with any rush build the cracks in the walls appear very early on.  So I put together a little brochure titled The 10 Step Quick Start guide to starting your own business.  There's a bit of humour to ease the pain but in all sincerity, these are 10 essential steps you need to follow to take the first step up the ladder. If you would like to see the brochure, I have posted it on my website blog but In this episode of The Art of the Suit, I share an audio version of the Quick Start Guide to starting a new business.  

Regardless of whether you are a CEO, team leader, freelancer, solopreneur, startup or standup comedian, we all have a common need: to motivate ourselves on a daily basis. This has become even more relevant in light of "The Great Resignation" which has seen millions of people leaving the security and predictability of the corporate world. With the hope of a better balance in life and the realisation of a dream. This episode looks at whether or not you truly understand what motivates you as well as a few useful tools to help you keep yourself motivated on a daily basis.Visit: www.motivationalleadership.co.uk for more info on the Motivational Map profile instrument I mention. 

I personally avoid making them but New Year's resolutions seem to have stood the test of time and are still a fav amongst many.  Love them or hate them, there is some benefit to making them. In this episode, the first in 2022, I share my thoughts on this subject but, more importantly, a few suggestions - actually 5 of them, on how you can approach the intention more constructively.   Have a listen.  I hope it will help you achieve a few of your goals over the next twelve months. 

Are you  in a space where you need to reinvent yourself or repackage your offering? Then this week's podcast is just what you need. Whether it's because you are about to finally launch your new business, change jobs or going for a push up the ladder – then Andile Khumalo is the man you want to listen to. Andile Khumalo is a seasoned entrepreneur and Chartered Accountant (SA) with over 20 years in business. He is the Founder & CEO of KhumaloCo, an investment firm with interests in Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Financial Services and Venture Capital. He serves as non-executive Chairman of investee companies: Brave Group, Ince and Immersion Group.  Andile started his career at Deloitte and in 2002 joined Investec as an investment banker before starting his first business and ultimately joining MSG Afrika, a South African media group, in 2007. After spending 11 years as a shareholder and COO in the firm, he exited the business in May 2018. In 2013, Andile founded I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR, a national programme that helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses. He serves as a fellow of The Centre for African Management and Markets at The Gordon Institute of Business Science and regularly writes and often speaks on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Transformation.His credentials reach way beyond this summary. What you can be sure of is that you will not leave this hour of insights, personal experience share, and advice empty-handed. If need more help and motivation to get your Personal Brand going, please have a look at my newly launched, coaching programme, Anatomy of a Personal Brand on Sterkla.com - an innovative gateway to coaching.  Search for Dawn Klatzko on Sterkla. 

In this episode, I continue my goal of introducing you to a diverse and interesting range of people who, I believe, have a Powerful Personal Brand.  The aim is for you to be able to understand what it takes to build up a Personal Brand as a motivation for you to do the same for yourself.Odette van der Haar is a businesswoman, advertising and marketing expert, and TV personality. She currently presents Business Beat, a morning show on etv. With August being host to International Womens' Day I thought it would be pertinent to gain insight into a highly successful woman who has faced the challenges of discrimination, as a woman of colour, and continued her way up the ladder of success.She is the epitome of high energy, authenticity and is always willing to share her knowledge and experience. I hope you will take away her excellent insights to leadership, perseverance, determination and the commitment to building a Personal Brand. #personal brand, #leadership #authenticity, #womenatwork, #success, #reinvention, #worldofwork, #discrimination, #selfbelief, #communication, #peoplemanagement 

Following on from the introduction to the meaning and use of a Personal Brand, in episode 11, I accept that while most people can grasp the concept of brand building for conventional brands, they will find it difficult to interpret this ability when it comes to building your personal brand.To help remove the mystery, and encourage you to develop your own, I will be interviewing a number of people who I believe have fabulous and powerful personal brands. I will be asking them the how, when and why of how their brands have evolved.  The aim is for you to gain insight, ideas and the motivation for yourself.In this first such example I interview Eusebius McKaiser.  Political analyst, author, broadcaster.Eusebius has studied law and philosophy and has lectured in various areas of philosophy in England and South Africa. He is the author of three best-selling books, the most recent being Run, Racist, Run. His essays have appeared in many local and international media several of which have featured a regular column.  He has also appeared as an analyst on many platforms including CNN, BBC and others. Eusebius hosted radio and television shows for many years and recently launched his own podcast "In the ring with Eusebius McKaiser". Listen in to get to find out how this incredibly strong and meaningful Personal Brand has evolved. 

 Our new world order has prompted millions of people to re-evaluate their lives – ranging from where they live to the work that they do. In some cases, it is a voluntary response, the result of having had the time to experience a different way of living and to stop and reflect on these crucial aspects of our lives. In other instances, the change has been forced, usually due to a loss of employment or a change in relationships.  Regardless of the catalyst, change is never comfortable, and many people find themselves feeling overwhelmed, almost desperate, because they need to construct a new way of living – but have no idea of where to begin, in particular when it comes to building a new career. We each have a unique asset that we should use as the starting point. It is something we all own but most likely don't understand what it means, how to unpack it and then how to use it.  It's called a Personal Brand, and, in this episode, I would like to introduce the concept and motivate you to grasp your own and use it to your advantage. 

I believe that everyone has at least one book inside their heads.  It may be a story of life experience, a story of overcoming challenges or a story about the lessons you have learnt about achieving a goal or fulfillment. Every person's story is unique because no two lives are exactly the same. And there are people waiting to read your particular story. The primary challenge is to get it out of your head, down on paper and published.  I had a burning desire to share the lessons I had learnt during my journey from executive to business owner and this was eventually captured in my book The Art of the Suit. I say eventually because very early on in the process I came to the realization that writing business motivations, strategies and articles was very different to writing a book.  I was fortunate to have the help of a prolific author and writer as my coach and editor. But what do you do if you don't have access to this or if you are unlikely to be successful in securing a publisher? I met a very interesting entrepreneur, Vikrant Shaurya, the founder and CEO of Bestsellingbook.com. They offer the aspirant writer (or current authors looking to up their game) solutions from strategic positioning through to marketing your book as a bestseller. I found Vikrant's company and his insights of great value and decided to share this with listeners who have the burning desire to get their legacy book out there.  Listen in to the interview.

The power of storytelling has become recognised as a foundation skill for all leaders from those heading up teams, CEO's, politicians to the most popular academics who have students flocking to their lectures.Storytelling transforms what might otherwise be mundane facts into an engagement with the hearts and minds of the listeners. This creates stronger memory and increases motivation, so it's no wonder that those who are not natural storytellers make the effort to learn the art. There is a wealth of knowledge, insights and material waiting for the listener.  All you need is a good dose of curiosity and a bit of time to allow people to tell their stories and you, in turn, will find material that is fresh, authentic and entertaining to then add texture to your future stories. In this podcast I illustrate how I have used the timeless story of Alice in Wonderland to address the challenging issues of supporting women up the ladder of success as well as useful insights to maintaining your sanity in the new world of work.

In celebration of Mothers' Day this podcast pays tribute to mothers of today who  are forging a new landscape. I know the personal stories of so many of these women because they are my friends, colleagues and clients. The challenges they face, while knocking down barriers of convention, are unprecedented. I believe that these women will be recognized as a new generation of transformational leaders and I would like to share some of the insights of why, I believe, it is crucial to change preconceived thinking and an outdated systemic work environment to give them the freedom to thrive.The nuggets of insight that I would like to share with you are based on my decades of experience as a business leader myself as well as a coach, and while, in most cases, the leadership attributes I believe women inherently possess are generalisations, they make up a golden thread that I have observed over time. 

Are you trying to move your side hustle to being your main show, preparing to move up from manager to the C-suite or have just recently started up your own business? Passion, a vision for the future and the intention of making a good deal of money most likely sits at the heart of your plan. But what about your love for the numbers side of the business? In the words of Bill Gates,  as an icon of wealth and success: “The business side of any company starts and ends with hard-core analysis of its numbers. “ It looks like he is going to be a little bit less wealthy soon, thanks to affairs of the heart, but that's not your concern right now!In this episode I would like to share 5 guidelines that are essential to not only ensuring you make the numbers work for you, but also to ensure your sustainable success. Listen in to gain insight to these essential, life-saving disciplines: Understand what money is truly yours. How to build a survival raft for 6 months.Why you need to take action each quarter. The importance of building a reserve for future growth investment. Why you need to look under every rock for hidden costs.Please add your comments, insights and learning in the comment box so that other entrepreneurs and upwardly mobile business owners may benefit from the tough lessons that you have learnt.

Songs have been written about it. It has triggered wars – of both turf and continental proportions. It is the subject matter of rap, as modern day poetry, and forms part of the lexicon of lawyers, politicians, journalists and activists. We are talking about respect. You will find the value of respect being addressed in hundreds of books in a multitude of categories: leadership, management, psychology, self-help, religion, child-care. Respect is at the heart of diversity, which in turn is impacting on your business as we speak.Respect is absent in bias – regardless of whether you claim your bias to be conscious or unconscious.  This is a complex and challenging subject, but in this episode of The Art of the Suit I hope to illustrate how important this value is and how to ensure it is present in the way you conduct your brand.  Please refer to the chapter index to tag the summary highlights of this episode - The Art of the Suit crib notes. Here is a link to listen to Aretha Franklin's R&B hit R.E.S.P.E.C.T

When it comes to the participation of women in the workplace it appears to me that, despite a lot of talk, the evidence still points to the meaningful participation of women as being more of a fairy tale than a success story.  This is not merely my opinion or influenced by my personal journey, in fact I have been fortunate enough, in my career, to have shattered through the glass ceiling.  Rather I defer to ongoing tracking and insight studies, such as the Women in the Workplace Report, a collaboration between the Lean-in organization and McKinsey, to help my clients, both male and female, address this disparity in the workplace. In this podcast I aim to unpack insight to the facts behind the story as well as share a few guidelines on what companies can do to attract and retain this invaluable talent. I also want to offer suggestions on what women can do to help themselves, as well as other women – to stretch past the missing rungs on the ladder to success. You will also be hearing the voices of seven other women -   who have generously shared their experiences with me. To companies and women alike – my plea is the same.  Please don't allow us to lose the critical momentum of women in the workplace.  I invite you to listen in and help make a difference. Following are links to the useful resources I refer to in the podcast:Women in the Workplace: McKinsey/LeanIn.org Catalyst: Women in Management research Marketwatch: Diversity opinion piece

How many people do you hear complaining about how “toxic” their workplace is? The use of the word “toxic” should flag this as extremely serious and yet we tend to shrug our shoulders and push on.  In some organisations it is ubiquitous and is woven into the very culture of the organization. In other instances the cause is focussed on a particular individual, usually someone in power.  It may be a boss, a client or an influential colleague. The roles vary but the impact has a common, negative outcome. The cost often being both financial as well as reputational.  So if you can gain a better understanding of the cause and then strategise how to protect yourself – it's a worthwhile investment of time.  This episode will help you by providing insight to these key questions: What causes this toxicity? How do you identify the source?What can you do to protect yourself?How do you detox?Listen in to find out more.Contact me via www.theartofthesuit.com to share your views.

Are you presently in a situation where you are looking for help with finding new business leads, are looking for funding for your exciting new venture, are trying to expand your network and need introductions to influential people – in fact anything where you need to ask someone else to give you a hand  - then this episode is essential listening to help you prepare for the BIG ASK.The reality of business is that new business is the lifeblood of any organisation. It's a never-ending pursuit and your pitch is likely to be one of many falling on the ears of the person you are asking.So it's no wonder that your first  port of call will be your network of friends, family and the full spectrum of people whom you may have helped or done favours for in the past. In this episode we examine two essential questions:Are these people a good source of business?Are you approaching them correctly?Listen in to gain insight to how to work these three resources to your advantage and avoid them becoming your new curse words!

In this episode we will challenge  the thinking around the idea of passion as a driver for success.  Do you have a passion for what you do?  Is this an advantage or a potential obstacle to success?  Because of the potential impact of passion on your business it is important that you take a step back to ensure that you enjoy the benefits without it creating damage. We will face a few key questions - and the answers to:-       First of all - What is passion?-       Do we truly understand the role of this in business?-      Can passion be more of an enemy rather than an ally to your ambitions?-       And, finally, What do you do if you're not sure you've got passion?Listen in to find out more. 

This episode covers the introduction to the Art of the Suit - a show filled with ideas, insights and interviews to help you build your commercial and personal brand. I am Dawn Klatzko. A seasoned Business & Executive coach, a “recovering” adwoman and the author of The Art of the Suit. My aim is to help you look beyond the science of business and embrace the art of drawing on the experience of others combined with your untapped talent to help you unpack your unique, exceptional potential. The first series of episodes uses extracts from my book, The Art of the Suit, providing practical insights to help your business survive and thrive. This will be followed by a series sharing the process behind Anatomy of a Personal Brand -  to not only help you develop your Personal Brand but to learn a technique of Rewind, Repackage and Reinvent to remain resilient and relevant.  At regular intervals I will be interviewing a diversity of interesting people who have all applied the principles of the science and art of business to build successful personal or commercial brands, to add depth and some entertainment to the programme. Visit my website The Art of the Suit to find out more.