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Six qualities to lead in conflict-prone environments
Author: Amber Kriel
Published: 03/05/2016

Prof Brian Ganson, head: Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement based at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), presented a Leader's Angle about "Leadership qualities for conflict-prone environments" on Friday, 22 April 2016. In his ongoing research he has identified six leadership qualities needed for conflict prevention and conflict resolution.

These qualities are:

  1. Curiosity
  2. Contextual understanding
  3. Sense of responsibility
  4. Rigour
  5. Collaborative mind set
  6. Organisational savvy. ​

He defined conflict-prone, fragile environments as environments with socio-political stresses such as extreme poverty and legacies of the past that cause tensions to be high. It is also complex environments where the socio-political infrastructure is insufficient and power relationships and institutional arrangements make it harder to solve problems.

Ganson said investments in these places are in uprise. "Huge investment in the mining industry is likely to escalate in the next ten years. But at the same time the socio-political stresses are increasing – 87 countries face prospects of potential violence, deadlock, and relapse into violence," he said.

The cost to business of such conflict-prone environments is enormous, he added. Lonmin PLC saw its share price drop 30% within a week of the 2012 massacre of workers protesting at its Marikana platinum mine. A subsequent five-month industry-wide strike cost Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum a combined US $2.25 billion in lost revenues. The value of the gold in the ground now represents only 22% of the market valuation of a gold company; socio-political support or opposition to the company's mines, in contrast, represents at least 45% and as much as 65% of the company's stock price.

However, the cost to society is even bigger. "By 2030, even under the best-case scenario, 62% of the global poor will be located in fragile states. This may include as many as 500 million people living on less than $1.25 per day," he said.

"We have to manage conflict-prone environments right. Companies are the authors of their own risk."