What is the one formula this business leader thinks is critical to transforming companies and society?
Mteto Nyati was born from humble beginnings in Umtata, a poor town in the Eastern Cape, a province of South Africa, during the height of apartheid, but he refused to allow his circumstances to define him.
By remaining true to himself from an early age, embracing who he is, a term he describes as personal mastering, focusing on the things he can change and sticking to his core values of family, fairness, excellence and integrity, his career has rapidly progressed.
The mechanical engineer has held various leadership positions at the South African operations of multinational companies, such as IBM and Microsoft where he has fine-tuned and refined his leadership style to become a master strategist, developing a reputation as a turnaround specialist and ethical leader.
From Microsoft, Nyati joined pan-African telecommunications network provider MTN and in 2017, South African-listed Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron), where he is currently CEO.
The highly self-aware and introverted businessman has transformed Altron into a serious contender in the technology space globally with plans to expand into the Netherlands, Malaysia and India.
In less than three years, he has more than doubled Altron’s valuation taking it to just over $642 million.
His success has not gone unnoticed. In 2019, he won the Business Leader of the Year award at the CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLAs) and the IPM CEO Special Award from the Institute of People Management.
Dressed simply but elegantly, in a navy blue blazer and light-blue shirt, the author of the number one best-seller, Betting On a Darkie, with candor shares his secrets of success with FORBES AFRICA.
With acuity, the story-teller says his success lies firstly in his team.
“It is really not about one individual, it is about building a capable team of people.”
To do this, you need to find the best people, surround yourself with them, and not be afraid to hire those that are even stronger than you in different areas, he adds.
Nyati asserts it is something he has done in almost all his jobs.
Secondly, he attributes his accomplishments to strategy.
“You always need to know where the company is going, your strategy is critical,” he remarks.
“But you need to design the strategy with others and give it time.
“I take at least three months.”
Why? Because it takes time to engage with various stakeholders, from customers to employees.
The inclusiveness of that process is also very important, says Nyati, as is “making sure that not one stakeholder but various stakeholders including your customers” are part of your strategy formation process so that the strategy you come up with is relevant for the company and talking to what your customers are looking for.
In developing his strategy, Nyati talks to employees and gets them to ask some tough questions like ‘where are we failing, where are we missing opportunities’?
The erudite CEO feels speaking to employees is crucial as they know why customers are frustrated.
“If you don’t ask and find out from them, you won’t be able to pick up that information,” asserts Nyati.
It is also critical, he adds, as “then the strategy that you come up with becomes a strategy that the employees can relate to because in reality, it is a strategy that was formed by them.
“When you go and present and say ‘these are the areas of focus, we need to concentrate on this, we need to fix this and fix that’, the things that you are talking about are the things they told you need fixing so they will embrace the strategy quickly.”
This formula, however, was not something Nyati followed throughout his career.
“It is something that grows. You learn, you try this, you try that and you read about how other people are doing things so over time, I have come up with some kind of formula but it is not how I used to do things 20 years ago, it is something that has been built over a period of time,” he reveals.
Asked if it was something he finessed at Altron, Nyati responds, “no, not at Altron, not at all. I would say that it would be at Microsoft”, which at the time was dealing with multiple challenges from staff to customer retention.
“The practices that I am talking about I used at Microsoft, the same way that I did it at MTN to try and address the challenges. I did not change anything when I came to Altron but I started putting together this formula at Microsoft,” he says pensively.
Having taken firm control of the steering wheel at Altron, Nyati wants to help the company that operates in seven African countries, and a few outside of the continent, become more global so that it gets a significant amount of its revenue and profits outside of South Africa.
He also wants Altron to become a paragon of an inclusive society.
Reflecting on this, Nyati says he wants to “demonstrate that you can have an entity where regardless of who you are – black, white, Indian or colored – we can have these people working together towards a common goal and being able to do great things. We need to show our country there is value in diversity, there is so much value in embracing everybody and that is what I am trying to do in Altron and I am amazed at how the people of Altron have embraced that strategy themselves and they are pushing and helping us do great things.”
More broadly, he would like to awaken the giant within society, something he has already started at Altron.
“We have got so much as individuals we can offer but we are playing way below our potential as human beings,” elucidates Nyati.
That is something this meliorist would like to change.
If he can lift that game and help individuals see their own potential and act on that potential, regardless of their background, Nyati says he would have achieved his mission in life. Ponder that.
–Monique Vanek