After the completion of my M.Com in October 1972 I started to focus seriously on possible career opportunities in the motor industry. Vincent Wright, previously at Renault SA, had joined Toyota SA in the meantime as Group Public Relations Manager. I composed a suitable letter to Vincent in which I enquired about possible job opportunities and also included a short excerpt from my thesis. Similar letters were sent to the Volkswagen and Ford headquarters respectively.
My first choice was undoubtedly a career at Toyota South Africa (TSA). As an Afrikaans-speaking South African I strongly identified with the founder of TSA, Dr. Albert Wessels. My father knew him and held him in high regard. Dr. Wessels visited us at home once or twice in the past when he was still the owner of the clothing manufacturer Veka. At the time they were marketing school blazers and my father was still the headmaster at Bultfontein High School.
As a result of Vincent paving the way for me with Colin Adcock, the managing director of Toyota South Africa’s marketing company, there was a positive response. Early in January 1973 I received a call from Ray Schulz, one of the senior managers. The outcome was a meeting with Ray in Bloemfontein and a formal job offer a week or two later. My gratitude and excitement knew no bounds – my dream was finally coming true.
Suddenly our peaceful life in Bloemfontein picked up speed. The house that we bought only one year previously had to be sold and we had to find a new home in Pretoria. We drove to Pretoria early one Friday morning and by five o’clock that afternoon we had bought a new house – in a street with the uninspiring name of Vampire, of all things! We returned to the Free State that same evening as incredibly proud home-owners, regardless of the street in which we were going to live. Fortunately our wonderful neighbours Hennie and Kittie Swanepoel would soon dispel any negative feelings about this scary name. Once we moved in we realised that all the streets in that area are named after military aircraft.
Back in Bloemfontein the realisation dawned on me that my career move was going to turn our lives upside-down. I had to say goodbye to the safe haven of academic life at the university. Tillie graduated in 1970 with a degree majoring in Maths and Psychology and had started her career at a civil engineering firm as a computer programmer. Now she would have to give up a job she loved. We also both had to leave our families behind. Within three weeks the move followed and I was ready for my new career. Tillie and I were in a state of excitement and anticipation about this adventure awaiting us.
It was there in Vampire Street that our first two sons, Brand and Jan-Louis, were born in 1974 and 1976. Jaco, the youngest, was born in 1979, after we had moved to Johannesburg two years previously. The emotions I experienced with each birth are beyond description. Holding my own son in my arms awakened an incredible sense of pride and responsibility. Suddenly my whole purpose in life changed.
The joy and privilege of being a father to my three very special sons, each one in his own way, will fill a whole book on its own; that is not what this book is about. But what I do want to say is that parenthood and the love I have received from my children and now also from my grandchildren, far exceed any rewards that my career could ever offer.
Because my business life was in the public eye to a large extent, Tillie and I made a conscious decision to compartmentalise our family life. We wanted our children to grow up in a normal, unpretentious environment and lead balanced lives. We encouraged them to each find their own platform from which to follow their dreams, be it in sport, academically or in their careers. All three did this with distinction and I am incredibly proud of them.
The rest of this book will, therefore, in line with our commitment to the privacy of our family, focus solely on my business career rather than my personal life.
2
Toyota: “Everything keeps
going right”
“Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a
profound difference in your life are pretty low.”
Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence
I arrived at Toyota South Africa (TSA) head office in Sandton, on 1 March 1973 at the age of 25, with mixed feelings of excitement and anticipation. For the next 22 years I would be on an intense learning curve, as I had the privilege to gain valuable experience in almost all aspects of the automotive industry. An additional benefit of my involvement with Toyota was my exposure to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, from whose management I learned a lot.
In the early 1970s Toyota was already a significant player in the local automotive market, with sales of 30 686 units and a market share of 10,5% in 1972. The American and German manufacturers were strong competitors, and Toyota struggled to make progress in the passenger-vehicle segment. The Wessels family owned the controlling stake in the group with Dr. Wessels as executive chairman. Dr. Wessels only acquired the rights to distribute Toyota vehicles in 1961 at the age of 55 years. Within the space of 20 years, Toyota would become the undisputed market leader in South Africa – a powerful testimony to his vision and leadership.
My first position at Toyota was that of head of Business Management. It sounded important, but I was the only person in the newly formed department. Its main goal was to get all Toyota dealers to report their monthly financial results on a standard accounting system to TSA. Although I devoted myself thoroughly to this task, I kept my eyes and ears open for opportunities on the marketing side of the business. After a few months I realised that although it was a marketing company, there was no market research department. It certainly constituted a big gap and I started gathering the courage to discuss it with Colin Adcock.
Late in September his secretary, Beth Russ, gave me a 10-minute appointment to present this idea to Colin. The outcome of this conversation was that I literally established the department the next day. This development was a watershed moment in my career. My involvement in market research brought me close to the heartbeat of the business, namely our customers. This led to a deep respect, to this day, for their needs and opinions. My research work also put me in contact with all the key Toyota success factors – product range, pricing, advertising and distribution. The nearly three years I spent in market research probably provided me with some of my most fulfilling responsibilities, and it also gave me the strongest platform possible for further career growth. This was effectively my first management responsibility as I was at the head of a small group of skilled professionals like Johan du Preez, Wim Cowie and Chris van Wyk. Already in those early years I realised that passion, hard work, good relationships and teamwork are the key to success.
The light in which I regarded myself, from a career point of view, changed dramatically in August 1976. Until that time I saw myself primarily as a researcher and analyst, and not as a future business leader. I was privileged to attend a three-day course with the theme “Executive Motivation”, along with Colin Adcock and other Toyota colleagues. One important element of the course was a 360°-personality analysis by yourself as well as your colleagues. Great was my surprise when my colleagues, including Colin, placed me squarely in the leadership category. Later that evening I questioned this outcome with Colin. His answer was that I had the potential to succeed him one day. That single comment put me on my leadership journey.
A person who assisted me to a great extent in this was the director of Planning and Technical Affairs, Phil Porter. I could not have wished for a better example of a focused and skilled senior manager with high integrity. The fact that he was also one of my racing heroes, who achieved great results with his Renault, both on the track and in rallies, further contributed to his influence. His untimely death due to