Ciko Thomas

ByWBSComms

Ciko Thomas

Current title
Group Managing Executive: Retail and Business Banking, Nedbank Limited

Course at Wits Business School
Master of Business Administration, 2000

A defining moment in my career
I had just started working for M-Net where I took my marketing knowledge to the entertainment and content-creation space. We had gone to the 1994 Promax International conference in New Orleans, which is an annual conference that brings together global leaders in creating, programming and marketing television and video content. The theme for the 1994 conference was “Reinventing the Rules” and TV maven Barry Diller was the keynote speaker, addressing us about the future of content.

He called it “smart agenting” and spoke about how we would come to use data to help us make choices based on our interests and needs. It was ground-breaking. He was speaking about the future of digital entertainment before it was fashionable, before it even really seemed possible. And the way he was talking about the future opened my eyes to what grand visioning really was. It was shape-shifting visioning that was re-imagining how people could work and interact and it brought the idea to life for me.

It has shaped the way I approach my own businesses and the way I imagine futures for my businesses, my teams, and clients. Barry Diller became one of the most powerful people in the world, and the true power of his address is only really making itself clear now. The things he spoke about in 1994 are coming to disrupt a whole host of industries, and primarily the television industry, as we know them today.

Similar Posts

  • Nomusa Mazonde

    ByWBSComms

    Passing my PhD and graduating was a defining and memorable moment for me. A great sense of accomplishment, it was both the ‘Mama, I did it’ feeling and the ‘coming of age’ feeling which came with the sudden realisation that I could do that and more. 

  • Odongo Kodongo

    ByWBSComms

    Bali Island, Indonesia, was in its usual element in December 2013 – beautiful and tranquil with the warm Indian Ocean waters and hospitable local inhabitants blending seamlessly with the hot and humid weather. Yet, enjoying the warm Bali weather was only peripheral to my visit.

  • Paul Ballen

    ByWBSComms

    The glow of the newly installed blue iridescent Paul’s Homemade Ice Cream logo on the opening of our first the store in The Zone, Rosebank, in December 2015, was a moment that brought with it an understanding of where my career was rapidly moving.