4. 80âs the only non smoking table in our local Spur was the one in the
entrance next to the till.
Disaster struck when at the age of 18, when I received a polite letter
signed by a certain Mr PW Botha who friendly asked me for higher duty to
serve our country. All arguments fell on deaf ears and they sent me to a
suburb in Pretoria named Valhalla. Ironically it was not named after the
Aztec heaven but the heavens of the Nordic gods; Thor and friends.
Valhalla was no joke and definitely no heaven. They humblified us,
stripped us of every bit of dignity and put our bodies through unthinkable
misery. I heard words that no dictionary will ever publish.
Every hour was smoke break, just long enough for 3 Gunstons. Those
who did not do the Weed had no smoke break. In our platoon, I was the
lonely voice in the desert and was mercilessly sent to run to a tree 5 kms
distant in the sweltering heat to ask its name. I became fitter and fitter.
Soon a motley bunch of loyal disciples joined me and we started to mock
the Corporals. They and the rest of the great South African Air Force
hated us as no feat they could create moved a hair on our heads.
Then one Wednesday morning, after 3 months of unspeakable torture,
the whole camp was commanded to stand on attention on the parade
ground. An important looking guy with many stars and ribbons addressed
us. They were looking for a handfull to go on a course and then to be
placed as operational planners at fighter squadrons all over the country.
The regimental sergeant major screamed at us: âIf you have an A in
matric .. one step forwardâ I just followed orders. He bellowed further: âIf
you are shorter then 1.7 meters, one step forwardâ. I again followed
orders. Not many were left at this point. They marched 100 of us off the
parade ground under the jealous eyes of the remaining 1900. We went on
intensive tests where they tested our lung function, moved on to put our
fitness to the test. Then only 15 remained. Only shorties with a knack for
maths and non smoking. The perfect bundle of skills, Scott Adams at
4
5. its very best. The remaining 1985? Well.. an air force needs lots of
security guardsâŠ
I landed in real Heaven, learnt the strategies of war, climbed in my mind
into the Messerschmitt and the Sopwith Camel, met up with the Mirage 3,
the Canberra and the Buccaneer, flew in the cockpit of the C160, re
fought the old dogfights, and analyzed the 7 day war. We were even
addressed as âGentlemenâ and âSirâ. They sent me to serve at a maritime
bomber squadron, I flew to distant lands, feared for my life as Soviet
frigates aimed their anti aircraft guns at us, I learnt real leadership, when
all the officers were flying, often alone managed the whole squadron with
hardware worth billions.
The Air Force thought that I was the catâs whiskers and made me an
official offer. I opted for something more boring; a science degree. When
I left the Air Force on the 15th of December that year, I cried like a baby.
I was just 19 years oldâŠ.leaving a real heaven with all possible dreams
came true.
And who to thank? The great leader, Mr. Zuma, Monte Zuma!
To divert a bit, vertical integration is when a company does all sorts of
great things up and down the value chain and makes a fortune. Up here
in Sunny Eastern Pretoria are two buildings next to each other. At one
funky BMWâs are parked. Painted white with a blue stripes (Peter
Stuyvesant mild?) and grey C230 compact Mercs with number plates
DNHL.(influenced by the late Alfred Dunhill?).. Their mission; catch them
young and early. And next door? The HQ of a gigantic hospital group
waiting for those very same sick people. The mother company of both?
The one and only! The ultimate in vertical integration..
It is more often than not how great we are in a few things, but how we
put it together. Can you and I become a Scott Adams? What is that
unique paragraph depicting you like a âNon smoking maths-nerdy-
shortieâ ?
5
6. A core competency of an organization or a person is that bundle of skills
that sets us apart from the rest. Each of us has it already. To find it is
hard, hard work. Not finding it is criminal against our yourself.
Some steps you can follow:
1 List everything you are above average in
2 List your loves and what drives you
3 Who do you want to reach?
4 And your personality?
5 Put all these together in one pot. What is that single sentence to ring
outside that describes you?
6 What is missing, what can be sourced, what do you need to learn?
7 Think Scott Adams, think âshort, nerdy, non smoking..â
The beauty of this bundle of skills that it almost always opens up a
multitude of doors making many dreams come true.
Just do it !
VDS Brink never again in the past 45 years touched the Weed,
yet believes that money has no colour and owns lots of shares
in the mother company of a hospital group and a tobacco company.
Inspiration was found from the great books by
Gary Hamel and Ken Robinson;
âCompeting for the Futureâ and âThe Elementâ
To argue and download more detail or just go to www.corvus.co.za
6