On Leadership: The Power of Revisitation

We often imagine success as a relentless march forward, always chasing the next opportunity, the next client, the next market, the next innovation.
Yet over the past two weeks, a different pattern revealed itself to me. Not going backwards. Not standing still. Still moving forward and making noise, as Jan Rabie’s fictional robot-character framed the secret to life.
Revisiting people, ideas, relationships, and opportunities that once shaped us, and discovering what they have become, and what we have become since our last farewell.

Who says we are ‘done’ after completing a chapter together, in the past?

I recently travelled to Johannesburg for the BNI South Africa National Conference. The conference itself was wonderful. More on that shortly.
In the lead-up to the conference, I revisited 3 relationships, all originating before my BNI membership started. One relationship stretches back to Grade Two. More than four decades of connection. Another began in 2008. Another in 2009.
Three very different entrepreneurial journeys.
Three opportunities to revisit.

Revisiting a business that outgrew its name, or perhaps just its surname…

One business had evolved from a bold accounting and advisory vision into a nationally recognised operation with international backing and a future that now includes acquiring and growing other firms. This revisitation took me back to a relationship that began in Grade 2, in 1983, and more recently to work we started together in 2017. Back then, I helped the founders articulate a distinctive brand identity and align their business model, positioning, and story. Today, the business has evolved far beyond its original shape, attracting national recognition, international relationships, and institutional backing. The revisitation was not about accounting or business advisory services. It was about identity. How should a growing group present itself as it evolves from an accounting practice into a broader investment and advisory platform? How should its voice evolve as its value proposition expands? Revisitation became an opportunity to align strategy, culture, operations, and communication with a new stage of growth — a new game on a multi-national playing field.

Animal health meets affordable, predictable home loans for retirement fund members

Another revisitation involved an entrepreneurial actuary whose side hustle has grown into a national animal-health wholesaler. ‘I find that dogfood grounds me after all the intellectual, actuarial work, you know?’ he said, back then. Our revisitation conversations revealed a number of opportunities to strengthen alignment between strategy, culture, operations, and future growth ambitions. The business is successful, yet every growth phase introduces new leadership and organisational questions. The same entrepreneurial team is also pioneering an innovative housing solution for retirement fund members who may not qualify for traditional home loans. I helped, in 2012, with the original business model and communication architecture.
Here, the proposed work focuses on clarifying the brand voice, stress-testing alignment between the business model and market promises, and facilitating connections with major institutional investors. Sometimes revisitation allows for questions which could not have been asked in the past. It becomes about discovering the next questions worth answering, en route to market establishment or scale.

Revisiting a hospitality business that’s developed two hearts

Another revisitation took me back to a relationship that began in 2009, when a guest house was little more than a dream and a handful of rooms. Years later, that same business has grown into something richer and more complex. It remains a home-away-from-home hospitality experience infused with the personality and hospitality of its owner, while also evolving into a venue for conferences, boutique weddings, celebrations, and gatherings. The revisitation was not simply about branding. It was about leadership and communication clarity, individual and team optimisation, business-model stress testing, leadership and operational role clarity, and ensuring that both value propositions can grow profitably and sustainably. The challenge is not growth alone. The challenge is integration. How do you honour the warmth and intimacy that built the original business while creating space for a second value proposition? How do two audiences, seemingly different, strengthen rather than compete with one another? Once again, revisitation revealed itself not as a return to the past, but as an opportunity to redesign the future.

One of the myths of leadership is that progress only happens through new beginnings

Years ago, I was invited into conversations about culture, business models, leadership, positioning, identity, and growth. Years later, I was invited back. Not because the journey was finished. Because growth had created new questions. One of the myths of leadership is that progress only happens through new beginnings. In reality, many breakthroughs happen through thoughtful returns. And why start with the people populating your CV since you left school? Go all the way back to your diaper-days, and revisit those who positively impacted you and your loved ones! Returning to a trusted relationship. An unfinished idea. A skill. A question. Returning to a dream. Sometimes the person who can help us move forward, or vice versa, is someone who has walked with us before. Perhaps the answer — or better questions — waiting ahead, is hidden inside someone we already know.

Celebrate the simple act of inviting people into meaningful conversations

The BNI National Conference reminded me of another revisitation. Revisiting my BNI chapter meeting, every week, with the expectation of good things happening, through a cultivated growth mindset and positive attitude. Hospitality. Curiosity. Connection. The simple act of inviting people into meaningful conversations. At the conference, I was privileged to receive my first national BNI award for inviting the most first-time visitors to our chapter. This led to our chapter, BNI Octane’s runner-up status in the Best Growth in SA category, over a 12-month period. ‘Most first-time visitors successfully invited to BNI…’ The award is wonderful. Yet the deeper lesson is this: People grow where they are welcomed.
Organisations grow where people are welcomed.
Communities grow where people are welcomed. Leadership often begins with an invitation.

Cultivate relationships. Cultivate opportunities

Following the conference, new opportunities emerged.
Conversations with multi-national business leaders. Two keynote presentations. A new networking platform.
Fresh introductions.
None of these arrived from nowhere. Most were the result of seeds planted long ago. The longer I travel along my road — my road never traveled before — the more convinced I become that life rewards thoughtful cultivation. Plant. Tend. Revisit. Grow. Repeat.

Perhaps the most important revisitation is personal

Many leaders spend their lives chasing the next level while ignoring the lessons and stories – the stories of people – already present in their own stories. What if growth is not only about expansion? What if it is also about remembrance? Revisiting the people who believed in you. Revisiting the talents you neglected. Revisiting the lessons you learned. Revisiting the values that made you who you are.

#NoOpportunitiesLeftBehind 

If you are leading yourself, a team, or an organisation, consider these questions:
Who have you not spoken to in years that may be worth revisiting, thinking all the way back to your diaper-days?
Which opportunity deserves a second look? What strength have you left behind only to discover you still need it?
Which part of, or person in your story is asking to be revisited?

Revisitation opens old doors to new possibilities

One of my favourite observations from recent years is this: The miraculous often hides in revisitation. The person. The skill. The relationship. The opportunity. The conversation. The lesson. The dream. Sometimes progress is not about finding something new. Sometimes it is about seeing something or someone familiar with new eyes. Keep moving. Keep growing.

Keep revisiting.

Real stories, clear thinking, practical application.