Recently had a session with Abed Tau, who built nine companies employing 350 people by the age of 38. His view is that a CEO only has two jobs: sell and hire. The reason: if you can sell, and make enough sales at a high enough margin, you can hire everyone to do the rest.

One of the highlights of my last month was visiting Sling Aircraft and meeting Mike Blyth as a part of one of the CEO group unique experiences organised by Mike’s son, Stuart Blyth, the founder of Hubtiger. Mike is incredible; he holds the world record for the longest flight in a microlight and has flown around the world twice in planes he built himself. In a country where manufacturing has been in decline for the last few decades, Mike has bucked the trend and managed to build one of the world's top light aircraft manufacturers. The biggest lesson I took away from Mike is his ability to mentor his staff. We met multiple people on the factory tour who started as cleaners and now manage large teams of technicians using advanced manufacturing equipment. He spoke about how, at lunch with his team, he would share life lessons, his philosophy, and coach team members on how to live a good life, work hard, contribute, and grow as people. I've already started to do the same and take every opportunity I can to help and mentor my own team members. Secondly, I was struck by Mike's belief in solving hard problems and his ability to keep going no matter what. If something doesn’t exist, they just figure it out. There was only a single company in the world that built a brilliant, clean, perfect acrylic screen for small aircraft. Because they were too expensive to import, he spent 6-months every day testing and experimenting until he figured it out after trying hundreds of experiments. They are now one of only a few companies in the world that manufacture brilliant, clean aircraft windscreens. Africa needs more manufacturing founders. We need more people building real things, training others, exporting globally, and creating real industry. Mike is a great example of what that looks like in practice. I’d love to see more stories like this celebrated and more entrepreneurs willing to take on that kind of challenge. If you’re interested in manufacturing or aviation, I’d highly recommend checking out Sling Aircraft ((slingaircraft.com/).

How much time are you spending learning AI each week? I chatted to a few members who are on the bleeding edge and they seem to be keeping up with only an 1-hour a day learning and tinkering. But that have been doing this for the past 2-years so adds up I guess. How many people on your team are spending an hour a day learning and tinkering with AI tools?

Ordinary effort = ordinary Results. Extraordinary effort = extraordinary results. Just try harder.

An idea I had never heard before on scaling from R20m to R500m I recently read Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson (real name for Mark Ford). Having founded over a hundred companies and built multiple $100m businesses, he's smart. The book is full of solid, practical advice. But one insight stood out that I hadn't encountered before. To get from $0 to $1M, you need to launch one great product. To get from $1M to $10M, you need to launch many new products. To get from $10M to $100M, you need to launch category leading products. Masterson's argument is that product expansion is the actual engine of growth as your business grows. If you're struggling to grow and your business is in the R20m to R500m, it's worth asking are you simply not launching enough new products? Has he got this right for most industries? Or is this not applicable to your industry? When would this apply and when won't it?

Having worked with over 2000+ founders over the last 20-years. I have seen almost no founders build a great one person business that the internet guru’s will tell you about. But I have seen many founders build teams then install CEOs or MDs and get the outcome that most people are looking for: cash flow and freedom. My guess would be you are better aiming to build a R50m business and install a CEO. Then building a one person business that enables you to work a few hours a day and make a good living. Agree?

We many people claiming 2x to 10x productivity increases while using AI with more to come. Should we be spending more time on AI and 2x to 10xing our goals?

The best antidepressants: Movement. Sleep. Sunshine. Purpose. Nature. Friends. Good food. Sources: The Depression Cure by Stephen Ilardi, Brain Energy by Chris Palmer, Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, Why we sleep by Matt Walker and many more studies.

Great lives, like great stories, require courage.

The world needs more Boyan Slats. At 19, he saw a problem in the world, built a team, and is on his way to solving it. If you don’t know his story, Google him and follow him. It’s incredible.

I met with a friend who was looking to upskill on AI who works at a large corporation in South Africa. I encouraged him to set up a weekly lunch with 3 to 4 other colleagues interested in mastering AI. Having sat in 100s of CEO forums I think mastermind groups are the most fun and interesting way to master a new skill. How are you keeping up with the changes in AI?

It takes most business owners 10 to 20 years to build a R100m business in South Africa. If you are going to put that much time into building a business you better make damn sure that you have a real moat and that your business can’t be wiped out overnight. Yes we have seen this happen to a few Civitas members. Incredibly sad. My favourite resource on moat building: 7 Powers by Hilton Helmer What other books, videos, podcasts would you recommend to learn about competitive advantage and moats?

The key problems you need to solve to build a R100m business in SA based on 500+ CEO forums facilitated. 1 Master the habits of a competent founder 2 Construct a great strategy 3 Ensure a profitable financial model 4 Design a great offer 5 Build an ops model that can deliver on your offer 6 Create a repeatable sales process 7 Build marketing that enables consistent leads 8 Hire a great team 9 Learn to manage your team well 10 Implement the basics: vision, culture, systems, data, process, org chats, meetings, offsites 11 Building a great management team 12 Learn to manage managers well 13 Update the business operating structures as the business grows 14 Build a great leadership team 15 Install a great MD or CEO What’s missing from the list? Where am I wrong?

Incredible the difference in AI knowledge between people who are on the cutting edge and the average person. It is surprising how many people I have spoken to have never heard of Cowork or OpenClaw.

Your first R1 million is about mastering selling and building. Your first R10 million is about mastering hiring and managing. Your first R100 million is about mastering creating leaders and systems. I haven’t worked with enough large companies to have any idea from first hand experience what it takes to get to R1 billion. My guess based on readings, webinars and a few interactions would be capital allocation, strategy and finding and supporting great MDs in each business or business unit. Your best guess?

Having worked with 100s of founders, a few habits that make the ones that are great at building relationships stand out. 1. They respond to all communication timely 2. They send thank you notes (WhatsApp or email) after most events 3. They are present and have space for you when talking 4. They remember previous conversations and reference them 5. They have a warm and friendly demeanor 6. You truly believe that they have your best interests at heart

Your ability to predict the future and then deliver on those predictions is the meta skills of a great founder. What are ways you can improve your ability to predict what will happen in your business's future?

Amazing the difference between dealing with transactional people vs relationship based people

If I see smart and hard working people not getting great results. I tend to see a few patterns: lack of consistency, lack of focus or bad strategy. What are your smart and hard working people you know struggling doing wrong?