Bernice Samuels

ByWBSComms

Current title
Executive: Group Marketing, MTN

Course at Wits Business School
Postgraduate Diploma in Management, 1992
Master of Business Administration, 1993

A defining moment in my career
This is would have been early in my career at M-Net as Business Development Manager. One morning, I was presenting to CEO Koos Bekker for the first time, and absolutely shaking in my stilettos. He was somewhere else in the world and joined the meeting over the phone.

I was in the hot seat in the M-Net boardroom packed with suits. At the end of the presentation, he asked me two simple questions – if we did this, what would be different the day after, and what is our right to win?

I have never forgotten the wisdom of these questions and have applied them throughout my life, both personally and professionally. They have helped me understand my motivations, shape my thinking and guide decision making. Importantly, by ensuring that the actions I take are deliberate and on-track to what was intended, they have kept me true to my intentions.

Similar Posts

  • Dino Rech

    ByWBSComms

    It’s not easy to pinpoint one defining moment. There have been a number that has shaped the person and professional I am today. One person (and series of events) that stands out was a young patient of mine during my internship year as a junior doctor.

  • Ebrahim Kharsany

    ByWBSComms

    As an activist and a businessman, I experienced several defining moments in my career. I completed my MBA at Wits Business School in 1971. I could not find any meaningful employment as the predominantly white corporate business sector would not employ people of colour in senior management positions.

  • Thando Ntsinde

    ByWBSComms

    The day I gave birth to my son, who is five years old now, was the day my career focus changed. That day I realised that I not only need to talk the talk but also walk it in order to be the example that I want my son to follow.

  • Diane Radley

    ByWBSComms

    When I was growing up I feared failure and the devastation I thought would ensue. I wanted to be perfect and felt any form of failure was letting me and other people down, particularly my mother who had made tremendous sacrifices in bringing up three children alone on a music teacher’s salary.