The Business Culture Podcast

As much as we like to think that the personal and business world are separate - I’ve come to learn in the last 10 years that they in fact really aren’t. 

The fundamentals of building a relationship with another human being in the business context is not that far removed from the fundamentals in our personal world. 

We as individuals get so caught up in our own worlds that we don’t communicate often enough with those in our business ecosystems. I’m speaking generally of course because there are examples of individuals who do this brilliantly.

• For more information on RCA, visit www.rcaconsulting.biz or learn.rcaconsulting.biz.

The company behind the Business Culture Podcast series, RCA Consulting, turned 10 years old in January 2020 and in reflection, Rob Arnold our founder, has accumulated a few key lessons about PEOPLE after those 10 years of business. 

This is a mini-pod with no frills and fuss but rather some key insights that have taken us to a far greater understanding of how people in business work. 

A bit more about our founder, Rob Arnold below:

• Born and bred in Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

Michael was born and had his initial education in South Africa. After graduating from Pretoria Boys HS, he studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg graduating with a teaching degree in Physical Education and History. 

Michael started his teaching career at the renowned King Edward VII School in South Africa where he taught PE and History. Michael’s desire for education then brought him to the United States, where he studied at UCLA for a brief time. It was this experience at UCLA that drove him to complete his Master’s degree in Sport at East Carolina University.  

 Michael’s life-time goal of a career in sport has been realized and he is the first one to tell you that the only positions he has ever had, have been in the sports industry. His experience in sport has run through many different industries; 

• hotel/resort management; 

He is also no stranger to major sporting events, having been very involved in the hosting of a 

• U.S. Open (Congressional C.C. 2011); 

His extensive leadership and sports experience has been gained in his roles as the 

• President of the Ocean Reef Club; 

One of Mike’s career highlights was guiding Congressional Country Club to the #1 spot in the Platinum Clubs of America and into the top 100 of Platinum Clubs in the World.

• Education combined with certification are what Mike believes are the cornerstones of success in business and in life and to that end Mike is a Certified Club Manager (CCM) and 

An avid sportsman himself, Mike has twice finished the gruelling Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, numerous other ultra-triathlons, two ultra-marathons and 40 marathons. 

• His other passions are fishing, photography, travel, wine and reading. 

Follow Mike Leemhuis:

Facebook

LinkedIn

If you'd like to go deeper into the learnings from this podcast and other leadership lessons, head on over to learn.rcaconsulting.biz. 

In this episode, I got to chat with Elma Smit. Having recently covered both the Cricket and Rugby World Cups in England and Japan respectively, Elma graciously gives us a behind-the-scenes perspective on what it’s like to create a personal brand in the world of content creation. An individual who continues to make global impact in very much her own, authentic way. 

To follow Elma's journey, visit the respective links below:

https://www.instagram.com/elmakapelma

https://twitter.com/Elmakapelma

https://www.facebook.com/elma.smit/

Welcome back to Season 2 of the Business Culture Podcast! A platform to learn through the power of context & story. 

Great to be back with you. This season is all about IMPACT. 

I’ll be chatting to impact-makers across industries and geographies to understand how they have made true impact on their customers, colleagues and communities.

Our first guest for season 2 is Brett Graham - Director of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in South Africa. 

What was initially meant to be a brief temp job upon arriving in London in the year 2000, turned out to be 20 years and counting with the remarkable Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Let’s hear what it means to work within a truly purpose-led organisation. 

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For more information about Laureus, visit www.laureus.com.

If you'd like to find out more about the work that we at RCA are doing to cultivate world-class organisational cultures, visit www.rcaconsulting.biz.

In the final episode of season 1, I got to chat with Simon Ekin - a prominent performance & life coach based in Cape Town. 

Simon has worked with an interesting cross-section of professionals across the sporting and business worlds. Growing up in the UK, Si speaks of his time serving in the army to ultimately stumbling onto performance-coaching and falling in love with South Africa. 

Thanks to our friends at Spaces for providing the venue for the interview.

In this episode, I got to chat with Mark Fawzy - the founder of Boxchamp, a globally successful tech solution for gyms born right here in South Africa.  

Mark tells his fascinating story about going from detesting academia to disrupting an industry and the tough lessons learnt along to ultimately achieving global presence. 

Thanks to our friends at Spaces for providing the venue for the interview.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Scotty Fraser, one of South Africa’s leading financial advisors. 

Scotty and his team have built up an impressive client base over the last 7 years. More significant though, is his story of how he got to where he is today. He generously shares a rather personal journey with us in this podcast.

Thanks to our friends at Spaces for providing the venue for the interview. 

In the final episode of 2019, Rob sat down with one of RCA's brightest young recruits, Claudia Gevers. Completing her masters in 2018, Claudia started working at RCA in January 2019 and discusses what the youth of today look for in a preferred organisation. 

As RCA is about to turn 10 years old, we also look back at some of the key lessons learnt from the last decade in business. 

In this episode, Rob visited the iconic Waterford Wine Estate just outside Stellenbosch to chat with Damien Joubert-Winn, Head of Sales & Marketing for this global brand. 

Damien has enjoyed the fortune of working both in the corporate as well as niched brand space and speaks about what he has learnt from one and taken into the other. We also discuss some key attributes of effective sales teams in today’s market.  

Let’s hear his story.