SAA Departure Lounge at ORTIA

The new SAA departure lounge at OR Tambo is absolutely stunning, in both layout and facilities (although the food section seems to be lacking a bit). There is a stunnign view of the airfield, and individual areas with TVs, business centre, kids area, etc. It is definitely one of the best lounges I have been to (although, to be honest, I haven't been to many of them).

Company Innovation

I have recently changed my responsibilities, and one of my old responsibilities was in innovation management within my company. Innovation is a tricky subject, and there was a lot of frustration, in getting the right audience to take innovative ideas seriously.

I am travelling again, and my shuttle driver, Steve, and I got on our seemingly favourite topic - the Gautrain. In my opinion, the Guatrain does not necessarily represent a threat to Steve's company - but rather a potential for new and different business models. He agreed, and we started talking about very different ways that the Gautrain could actually help his company instead of hamper the company's services.

That said, a clear fact also emerged - his company did not value input from employees - and in fact, when input was given, the credit was frequently taken up by management instead of the employees. And for that reason alone, Steve would not approach his bosses with any new ideas.

Innovation is a critical success factor for any company, but I think the integrity in how employees are treated is more important to get right first.

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Previous post about conversation with Steve.

Conversation with taxi drivers from Hamburg and Amsterdam.