Diane Radley

ByWBSComms

Diane Radley

Current title Non-executive Director, Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd, Transaction Capital Ltd, Base Resources Ltd (ASX); Trustee, DG Murray Trust Course at Wits Business School Master of Business Administration, 1995 A defining moment in my career 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. In my final year at Rhodes University, I became overconfident having had an exemplary undergraduate academic track record. I failed my combined Honours and CTA but strangely enough, the world did not come to an end. I learnt from this hubris and did not fail any other subsequent exam, but did not stop failing in many other ways. Every time I failed I ensured I learnt from it and added skills developed through the process into my toolbox. This gave me the courage to take personal risks in order to grow and not step back from challenges and into security. The fear of failure is an inhibitor to growth and makes one risk-averse. Although this fear has not totally been eradicated, its reduced impact has released me to take a risk on myself as well as on others in order to grow and develop.

Similar Posts

  • Judy Dlamini

    ByWBSComms

    My career started at KEH VIII Hospital in Durban as a medical intern. It’s been an exciting journey! The first milestone was opening my medical practice in eMlazi, the second biggest township in the country.

  • Helene Smit

    ByWBSComms

    There are many moments that felt important in my career, such as when I conducted my first leadership development course for the Chief Justices of the Southern African Development Community countries.

  • Madelein Roos

    ByWBSComms

    Having always had a deep interest in science, I first qualified as a chemist, and thereafter at a later stage as an engineer. In order to broaden my capabilities, I started to lecture evening classes at the Vaal Triangle Technikon, now the Vaal Institute of Technology.

  • 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.

  • Lauren Liebenberg

    ByWBSComms

    I used to try candy-coat things, but no longer: giving birth is less painful, less bloody and infinitely quicker than getting your first novel published. If you haven’t been smothered under the avalanche of “Dear Author, Thank you for your submission, but …” slips by the time you find a publisher, you and your manuscript will still have to face the pitiless glint of your editor’s scythe.