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CEO roadshow
Story:
Visitors to any Vodacom office will hear a certain word being used a lot these days. That word is ‘awesome’ and it’s being used so much because that’s exactly the way employees are feeling about themselves and about their company.
In their thousands they came, they saw and they were blown away when Group CEO Pieter Uys hit the road to celebrate Vodacom’s rebranding. In March 2011 Pieter and his team visited ten centres in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and Mozambique to tell employees about going red, about the new Vodacom strategy and what it means to be a purpose-based organisation.
There were lights, cameras, loads of action and plenty of laughs as Pieter and MC Robin Banks had audiences on their feet, air punching and shouting out loud how “awesome” it felt to work for Vodacom. In all, 5 176 employees attended the shows, with audiences ranging from just 45 in Polokwane to over 800 in Midrand. After an hour-and-a-half of being entertained and inspired, everyone got red bags containing all things red and bearing the words “speed, simplicity, trust”.
Feedback from employees was overwhelming. Midrand-based Nielen Thornhill commented: “Prior to joining Vodacom I was a consultant for 15 years and had engagements with various large corporates throughout SA, but I have never experienced a corporate vibe such as Vodacom's. The road show was stunning! No matter how long you work at Vodacom you will never grow old. If you do, it's your own fault. Well done Pieter, and thanks.”
Like many others, Khothatso Mosuoane from Lesotho used ‘awesome’ to describe his experience: “The CEO road show was awesome and that Robin Banks guy is out of this world.”
Nector Foya from Tanzania said the road show was “a jump start, very energising” adding that it left him “with a lot of energy, was very informative yet fun”.
There were plenty of unexpected sidelights to the road show. For instance, in Cape Town a member of the public visiting our offices found himself attending the presentation by mistake. He stayed for the show and was so impressed by what he saw that he told staff he was immediately switching his business to Vodacom. In Johannesburg an employee announced that he’d written a song to celebrate the company going red. He promptly stood up and sang it to Pieter and hundreds of colleagues. It was all pretty awesome.