Rise and Shine

Getting to the top—Profiling Jan Du Plessis

In September last year, I had the privilege, along with 25 other young African leaders, to listen to a motivational speech by Jan d Plessis, the non-executive Chairman of Rio Tinto Group, at their headquarters in London. I took advantage of this rare opportunity to ask him two questions on success. I had in mind rise and shine when asking him those questions so that I could share his secrets with followers of rise and shine column. Today, we will discuss those two questions with perspectives of Jan du Plessis.

As a matter of context, Rio Tinto Group is the fourth largest publicly listed mining company in the world with a market capitalisation approximately $100 billion (equivalent to K40 trillion). Rio Tinto was last year listed in the top 500 companies in the world and ranked number 153 by revenue. Jan du Plessis is originally a South African citizen but now bears the British citizenship as well. He was educated in commerce and law at the University of Stellenbosch. Du Plessis has had an illustrious career and worked many years as a senior executive at big international companies.

The first question that I asked him was on the three most important factors that make one successful. He said the first was having emotional intelligence (EQ) – not that which is required to pass exams and do well in class. By EQ, he was talking about the soft skills of building good relationships with others and communicating in a way that inspires others. EQ also helps you to keep your emotions under check and to avoid instilling bad emotions in others. Secondly, a person in search of success need to be humble. If you are humble, it will be easy to develop good relationships with others and you will make many people to like you. Third is trust. You need to be a person that people can trust. If people can trust you, they will allow you to do big things and they will support you in your pursuits. This means that you should also be surrounded by people you trust. This way, you will optimise your delivery and output.

I then asked du Plessis on what three things helped him to get to the top of his career. He said that first was his indebtedness to his employers. In his approach to work, he was always highly indebted to his employers – an attitude that made him work hard and go the extra mile. Second was hard work. He said that he always works very hard. By working hard, he was able to do more than his peers. And this also meant that he was liked by those above him and in the process, he continuously developed his career progression. His third key to getting to the top was taking calculated risks. He said that to excel in any job, one needs to be prepared to take some calculated risks.

What do these tips mean for us? Basically, this means that people who succeed and employees that excel all the way to the top don’t do these things by accident. Most of the times, these are people who plan their success. These are people who desire to excel and they work hard to achieve their stretched ambitions. They never give up but they stick to their plans and they are driven by their motto, their values and principles. They are purpose driven.

Now is the time for all of us to review our success plan, or to make one if we do not already have a plan. Like Jan du Plessis, we need a success script – a roadmap for getting to the top. Good luck as you plan your success and as you drive to the top of your career. Rise and shine!

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