Keith’s passion and experience is in Leadership and the Human Development of individuals and teams.
Keith is a founding member of TomorrowToday.biz having spent most of his earlier working career in the non-profit, volunteer-based sector. There he filled the role of Regional Director and national board member of a large developmental agency. Keith was highly regarded for his leadership style and human development skills, and his chairing of various regional and national strategic restructurings.
Academically, Keith has pursued a variety of studies since matriculating in 1975. He holds a BA Degree (Economic History & English), a Diploma in Theology (from Moore Theological College, Australia), a Bachelor of Technology (in which his thesis explored Leadership Teams in Organisational Change) and has completed several Certified Leadership courses.
Keith is a regular contributor to various business publications and online journals as well as having authored an anecdotal book on leadership - “Everything I Know About Leadership I Learnt from the Kids”.
Keith has, for the last 6 years, been invited annually to the Business School of the University of Hawaii to lecture and facilitate on a Leadership and Diversity module that forms part of the renowned Asia-Pacific Leadership Program. He is a fellow of the Salzberg Seminars and was selected for Rotary’s prestigious Rotary Business Group Study Exchange programme to Toronto. In April this year Keith presented, by invitation, at the Global Leadership Conference in Shanghai for the second consecutive year. Keith has also lectured in Leadership and Management at the Natal Technikon (now Durban Institute of Technology).
Keith has vast international experience having presented, taught and consulted on leadership and related topics at conferences, business schools and companies worldwide, including China, United Kingdom, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, Africa and the United States. Keith is a sought after facilitator and Executive Coach.
Keith is married to Vicky and they have three children, Keegan, Tamryn and Sipho. Keith lives in Gillitts, KZN, where he also enjoys scuba diving, armchair sports commentating, a variety of sporting pursuits, reading and writing.
Global Trends Changing the Face of Business
By Keith Coats, Director of StoryTelling, TomorrowToday.biz
In times such as these, Leaders, more so than ever, need to be on the ‘balcony’ rather than on the ‘dance floor’ to use metaphor of Ron Heifetz of Harvard. It is the balcony that provides the necessary perspective essential to understand both the threats and opportunities inextricably bundled together in these challenging days.
Leaders and those they lead need to understand the paradoxical forces buffeting and ultimately shaping them. We need to be able to construct relevant frameworks to make sense of it all. “Understanding these forces will allow Leaders to know which battles to fight and which to ignore; where to concentrate their energy and resources; and how best to go about developing the personal and corporate resolve needed to endure and ultimately thrive in such adversity” says Coats.
The trends are seen through three ‘filters’ that makes it easy to understand them as well as see the connectedness between them. The three filters are: A changing World; A changing Work Place and a changing Work Force. Complete with relevant and interesting facts, case studies and multi-media clips, the content is drawn from Coats’ wide international experience. The content challenges commonly held assumptions about business and how the world works. It is guaranteed to shake paradigms. Consequently, it invites strategic insights, understanding and discussion, and is laced with a practicality and a gently rebuking humour that keeps participants thoroughly engaged throughout.
“I suspect” says Coats, “that Bill Shankly, that famous, one-of-a-kind, Liverpool football manager, had it right when he said of the ‘beautiful game’: “It is a simple game made complicated by those who ought to know better". Leaders with their hand muddied by over-involvement in the operational side of things are no match for the changing world. “We need Leaders to get on the balcony and discern the emerging patterns and then be brave enough to help interpret those patterns together with those they lead.” says Coats. This is the real work of leadership and this is what ‘Global Trends Changing the Face of Business’ helps achieve…a balcony perspective which will make it very difficult to see business and strategic leadership in quite the same way as before
Keith Coats, Director of StoryTelling at TomorrowToday.biz, a consultancy which keeps one eye firmly on the emerging future, has developed a powerful multi-media presentation titled, ‘Global Trends Changing the Face of Business’. Having already shared these insights with business leaders in the United States, Keith has now been invited to share these insights at the Sweden Economic Forum with senior leaders from the business, political, academic and environmental spheres across Sweden. Besides this, Keith will again be meeting with HM The King following their earlier meeting last year where the focus had to do with global leadership. Keith presents / facilitates on Leadership and Strategy topics at GIBS as well as consults with an array of international companies and business schools.
