Alexandra King's MBA Blog Page

I started today feeling completely under the weather and decided a little quick reading would be nice. Readers Digest is always good for that... I read a story called Lawnmower Man, in which a reader had written in, explaining that the couple had had a sick daughter and spent a great deal of time at the hospital with the child, they found their lawn was always, however, immaculate, despite their garden being of the lowest priority. One day, when returning home they saw their neighbor mowing the lawn for them. He had realized they were dealing with far bigger problems and took it upon himself to mow the lawn for them.

I often hear people saying that BBBEE in South Africa is too difficult because, who has the money to donate to charity and give out when businesses are struggling. My answer is always the same, "just change the way you do things and you will be giving". Random acts of kindness and doing what is within your set of skills, just sharing with others is what its all about. Rather than throwing away old stationery, donate. If you are top in your field, teach someone else. If you have business experience, help someone start their own business, mentor them, show them the ropes, get them through the tough times, even if its just a friend you can call when you cant afford a lawyer, accountant, HR consultant. We really underestimate how much our time, knowledge and experience is worth to someone who doesn’t have it.

I encourage everyone to be someone else’s "Lawnmower Man".

Its been a whirlwind life. Moved house, went out on my own consulting, my dad moved in, been driving my events business.... Just... WOW! thank you so much to all the loyal visitors. I am so excited for 2013!

I tell my employees to take it easy. Listen to your body, don’t overdo it. Ensure you have a strong healthy home work like balance... And then I go off and do the complete opposite. You have to wonder, is this my genetic make-up, am I just too stubborn to listen to my own advice, do I think I am superwoman or am I just your typical workaholic generation and that’s that?

I draft this blog page (after having left waaaaayyyyy too much of a gap between now and my last blog) from my sick bed. I spent a week in hospital, came home last night and here I sit with 900 emails to clear out, delete, read, file etc. etc. and I know for a fact, this was all my own doing. I mean really what on earth is one thinking when your body is literally crying out and you just ignore it. And then, when a day could have gotten you back on your feet, a week leaves you flat on your back still!

I lay in bed last night, restless as it was my first night home and as a mother, one realises how much you actually do and that "the stuff" is so unnoticed by your family that when you get home they can’t do these simple tasks because I have always just done it because it’s quicker. Of all the ridiculous things... I realised my poor dog went without medication for my entire "holiday", not because my family were unaware, they had stepped in once or twice to cover for me... but rather because I have always just done it myself. It’s quicker, I know what to do, I can’t wait around, and I cannot tolerate the huffing and puffing as they storm off.... It occurred to me, we are creating a frighteningly lazy next generation if we, the parents, work so hard to make their life’s so much easier. I get it, time is money, we just get things done or we want our children to have a better life than we do or we "understand" all too well the pressures of being a teenager so we are trying to lessen the burden... but, in the not so distant future, these young adults enter the work force? By late yesterday afternoon, I had to sit my little angels down and have a strong heart to heart about what is right, what is wrong and quite frankly what is going to happen for the next 6 weeks. You see I have had major surgery and it’s not a day or two and it’s not about things being a little different at home. It’s a fundamental paradigm shift. I cannot "just do it myself", I am physically unable and it can’t just wait for me to get back on my feet. A day or two when we moms have flu is one thing, but this is long. By the time I had finished, I saw, in my children’s faces, a dawning, and a realisation that, actually, life would change. And I have to say, what excites me further is that it takes 3 weeks to create a habit. I have 6 weeks and hopefully by the time I am back on my feet, my children will have learnt to do for others and the habit will have set in.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to right some areas that I think my fast paced life has caused me to do badly. I owe this, not only to myself, but also my children, my husband and my children’s future educators, employers and families.