Five lessons in leadership from rural South Africa

By Kate Groch, GWF CEO

People often assume the most important leadership lessons come from strategy sessions, board meetings or executive programmes.

The truth is, the most important lessons I have learned about leadership have come from sitting under trees, listening in community halls, visiting families and working alongside educators, learners and communities in rural South Africa.

The people and places we serve have shaped my understanding of leadership. These are five lessons rural South Africa has taught me.

Many leaders feel the pressure to have all the answers, but leadership begins with asking better questions. Leadership is about listening to others and creating the space for voices that are not usually heard.

In the development sector, before there can be scale, there must be trust. Trust is built through showing up and doing what you say you will do, again and again. People follow leaders whose actions consistently align with their words.

The further I have travelled on my leadership journey, the more I have realised how little I know and how humility creates space for learning. At Good Work Foundation, we believe there is always more to learn, whether from a nine-year-old learner experimenting with technology for the first time or a community elder sharing generations of knowledge.

Every day, we see learners travelling long distances to access education and educators adapting creatively to challenges. All of this has shaped how I think about leadership. It is not about pretending challenges do not exist. Rather, resilience is the ability to remain hopeful while creating solutions under difficult circumstances.

Perhaps the greatest lesson rural South Africa has taught me is that leadership is not about personal achievement, because leadership should create more leaders. A leader's legacy is not what they build for themselves. It is what continues because of the people they have empowered.

And so, as technology transforms our world, I believe these lessons matter more than ever. Leadership is not a title. It is not a position, and it is definitely not a corner office. 

Leadership begins with listening. It grows through trust. It requires humility. It is sustained by resilience. And ultimately, it is measured by how many others are empowered to lead. And for me, the greatest leadership classroom has been the amazing communities of rural South Africa, who continue to teach me every day what leadership truly means.