29 Oct 2009 Graduates were treated to tea at the South African Tourism head office in Sandton where they were hosted and addressed by CEO, Didi Moyle. With gusto and humour Didi showed graduates the international 2010 campaign run by SAT.

Aside from stunning visuals and poignant messages, she also showed the group the perceptions of South Africa by the global community. Looking at oneself from the outside in is not an everyday opportunity, and it was new to many that Richard Branson recently rated SA as his favourite destination of all, that 9.6 million tourists visited our country in 2008 alone and that tourism has overtaken gold in annual revenue generated in South Africa.

Didi’s view of 2010 was upbeat and she strongly urged regular South Africans to own the event for themselves and to recognize the invaluable contribution of tourism – if we get our service and attitudes right. Typical of Common Purpose engagements, there were lots of issues raised, dissenting voices heard and a variety of sectors, cultures and viewpoints present. We were especially pleased to have present Barney Mtombothi, Editor of the Financial Mail and Chair of the Common Purpose Board, Boniswa Pezisa, also a board member and executive of Network BBDO and Emilia Potenza and Ishmael Mkhabela, both members of the Common Purpose Advisory Panel and curator of the Apartheid Museum and Community Leader respectively.

As part of the 10/10 events all over the world, the Common Purpose community is committing to ‘new shoes’ experiences – doing something, going somewhere, listening to or joining something that is out of your comfort zone. Graduates at the event swapped stories and ideas about their own new shoes moments, including listening to a vernacular radio station, taking public transport for the first time and volunteering at a psychiatric hospital. South African Tourism challenged the Common Purpose team to make learning ‘the Diski’ a new shoes experience before 2010. With a spring in their step, new connections made and a whole new perception of 2010, graduates returned to their families and organizations re-inspired as leaders to bring a sense of common purpose into their communities and country.

What is Common Purpose?
Common Purpose is an international not-for-profit organisation that has been running leadership courses for people from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors for over 20 years. Common Purpose helps people, organisations and places to succeed, by broadening the horizons of their leaders and developing their ability to work together and lead complex change.

Common Purpose deals with real life issues and insights - courses are neither classroom nor lecture based. We go beyond standard leadership models and learn instead from the successes and failures of leaders from all sectors and backgrounds. This experience takes participants out of their familiar environment so that they revisit why, when and how they lead.