We are Kgotla®

Picture: Jan Montyn (l) and Willem de Liefde (r)

Former navy officer and former director of companies such as Xerox, Ericsson, Rockwool. The last 15 years of his professional career he leaded Dröger Medical Systems in Benelux, France and Sub-Sahara Africa. In all senior management positions he used the Kgotla principles to transform organisations to profitable growth.

Lekgotla is an African word for a meeting circle and tribal management, on which this title is based, is founded on the African concept of Ubuntu meaning ‘I am because we exist’. In Lekgotla author Willem H.J. De Liefde champions the idea of the company as tribe. Inspired by the artwork of Jan Montyn , Willem developed the Universal Life Cycle analysis tool.

Picture: Klaus Elle (l) during a Kgotla Day

Artist and philosopher Klaus Elle was born in Leipzig, East Germany. He has worked as a professional artist for over 30 years and regularly collaborates with professors working on international sustainable programs at MIT Boston, the University of Tokyo and ETH Zürich. He plays a key role in our Lekgotla processes, helping to facilitate all kinds of dialogues thanks to his unconventional views and contagious imaginative skills. His input enables people to see how they may adopt a holistic approach. Using art he helps participants of our kgotla sessions access the wisdom they hold inside themselves by helping them become aware of the role their conscious and unconscious, and rational and emotional, processes play in their approach to decision-taking, change or their lives and work in general.