It’s a story that focuses on change.
A really big change.
Vernon professional speaker Dr. Mark DeVolder, 64, shares a story he was told by local physician Dr. Nicolette Dreyer, whose uncle, Dr. Wynand Dreyer, was Nelson Mandela’s physician while the South African man was imprisoned.
Mandela asked Dr. Dreyer to get a message to chancellor Mike de Fries of Stellenbosch University – the first post-secondary institution in South Africa to integrate blacks – “Byt Vas. Persevere (like a dog with a bone).”
With heavy risks involved, Dreyer agreed to deliver the message and drove to the university. After relaying the message, de Fries smiled and exclaimed, “What a man (Mandela).”
It was one of the items that led to ending apartheid in the country, something Mandela fought for most of his life.
You can find that and other stories in DeVolder’s new book, Perpetual Pivot – How The Best Leaders Adapt To Exponential Change, which shows leaders the future of work, how to adapt to rapid change, create inclusive teams empowered with synergistic potential and attract, empower and keep the best employees.
DeVolder used considerable downtime during COVID-19 to write the book.
“It’s about the ability to change,” said DeVolder, an authority on change management. “Change boldly, nimbly, quickly. The company that does that will survive in these times.”
DeVolder has spent the past 20 years travelling to 25 countries speaking to billion-dollar companies such as NASA, Suncor and Bristol Myers Squibb helping them focus on change. After working with these companies, and doing his own research, DeVolder said the pandemic gave him the time to get things down on paper and crank it out into a book.
“The material is all there,” he said.
Perpetual Pivot takes the reader through the confusing, uncertain and sometimes dangerous work of exponential change.
“Never before have leaders face the current level of fast and extreme change, where chaos, disruption and crisis have become the norm,” said DeVolder, who helps out by teaching the skills of the Perpetual Pivot, which is a continuous process of adapting, reinvention and anticipation.
“It’s about getting leadership to change and how to do that. And how to get people engaged in change.”
Information about the book, or DeVolder, can be found on his website, markdevolder.com.
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