An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove

In this edition we focus on ‘Conscious Choices and the Power of Self-awareness’ as well as introducing Wellness Within™ and The Wellness Way Africa™ in our Wellness Travel Segment.

We had the honour and pleasure of connecting with Phelisa Mangcu, the previous Director and acting CEO of Johannesburg Tourism, who recently concluded her most recent tenure as CEO of South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprises. ‘An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove’ was what stood out when engaging with Phelisa. Balance and integrity, with firmness couched with outward gentleness. On today’s business stage and beyond the metaphor; communicating in a balanced manner is probably one of the most important competencies demanded of leaders of our time. Phelisa reflects a communication and mentorship style that is forthright yet palatable, without diminishing the underlying objective of the communication, truly a leader of our times.

Phelisa shares her beautifully uplifting story of endurance and dogged determination to follow a dream and path to destination tourism development and marketing, which all started in 1985 while she was at high school.

“Now that I think about it, my standard nine (grade 11) teacher gave us an assignment, a composition, with a choice of topics. I chose ‘A Tour Package to Israel’. I wrote that assignment, the composition, so well and, in putting together this package of a tour in Israel, I totalled it. I was the highest in class. Amazing. And, yes, I was excited, but it didn’t mean anything after that. Looking back… it was the beginning of my career direction and an inner knowing and awareness of what I really wanted to do,” shares Phelisa.

Phelisa brought a wealth of global tourism experience to the KZN South Coast, having worked in the tourism sector in Washington DC and New York in the early 1990s. After returning to South Africa in 1999, she took on a position in the tourism unit at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), before relocating to Johannesburg Tourism.

In 2018, Phelisa made the bold decision to relocate with her four daughters to the KZN South Coast, where she took on the responsibility of growing the local tourism and investment offerings. She has enjoyed the fulfilment of her role at SCTIE, which has allowed her to continue improving the lives of South African citizens while showcasing the beauty of our country to the world, inbound international tourism always top of mind.

Phelisa is a tourism professional and specialist with broad experience that includes urban, semi-urban, rural and coastal tourism development. She has contributed significantly toward growing the South African economy through tourism. Her conscious leadership style, emphasising self-awareness, emotional intelligence and ethical decision-making, is coupled with a holistic business approach.

Phelisa comes from Ginsberg, a township on the west bank of the Buffalo River near King Williams Town, now known as eQonce, Her family lived in the same street as Steve Biko and Phelisa remembers vividly and emotionally how she, as a young child, watched Biko’s funeral procession driving down ‘her’ road.

[About Steve Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977)
Biko became one of the earliest icons of the movement against apartheid and is regarded as the ‘Father of Black Consciousness’. https://museum.za.net/ginsberg-an-early-history-researched/.]

Although the ninth in a family of 10 children. Phelisa was the first one of her family to receive a matric (grade 12) and go on to higher education. Despite not having education themselves, her parents had a great respect for education and readily agreed when her junior school principal motivated for her to go to boarding school in Fort Beaufort.

Phelisa recalls: “In high school my father was always on the road in his sales job, one of his routes wasin a town called Alice, just before Fort Beaufort and so he visited with a parcel often. Bless him! My parcels were nicely packed and, if I was in class, he would leave them with the matron.”

It was around first year varsity that Phelisa met her now ex-husband, who had studied at Wits. It was the beginning of a life overseas, as her husband had been admitted to study his PhD at Cornell University although, after they got married in 1992 and relocated to the US, they settled in Ithaca, New York, this after Phelisa had graduated with her BA Sociology and Political Science degree.

“We left around July 1992,” she remembers “On the way we had connecting tickets in Europe. We went to Spain and Portugal. It was in these moments I realised I was directly experiencing this yen to be in tourism, as my earlier school years flashed through my mind, demonstrating that wanting to be in tourism was still a strong desire; although I didn’t know much about what it actually was then. We stayed in New York City for a day or two and we did some sightseeing. I was fascinated by people carrying maps, stalls selling these maps and selling souvenirs alongside selling newspapers. The awareness heightened – these are tourists! That’s where my self-awareness translated into a desire and my ultimate goal.

“I started researching everything I could access, reading newspapers and magazines, totally fascinated by the tourism aspect of things. I would cut out newspaper articles and file them because, at this time, this subject was of intense interest to me and still is. It became a passion rather than an interest – it was much later that I embraced tourism from an economic development perspective.

“Then I wanted to study because that was the objective I had set myself. When we later visited Washington, DC. This awareness of understanding the tourists at the White House and the White House being a popular tourist attraction… I then began to ‘connect the dots’.

“I knew that this was my calling, my career… what I really, really intended to do.”

“I applied to Cornell University Hotel School, not really differentiating between hospitality and tourism. However, before I knew if I was accepted or not, I found out I was expecting twins and, due to a difficult pregnancy, did not continue with the application for the sake of my own health and that of the babies. I gave birth to my precious first-born daughter Thando and her stillborn twin and studies were put on hold for a while.”

When they relocated from Ithaca to Washington DC, Phelisa then started to knock on different doors in search of assistance to start a career in tourism and she met a certain Professor Goldblatt at the George Washington University and this is where her conscious choice of working toward her goal started coming together, when the academic exposure started. This is when she knew unequivocally that she wanted to do this destination management. Phelisa went on to complete her Master’s Certificate in Tourism Destination Management in 1996 at the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.

Phelisa’s husband, then got a position at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City and Phelisa, armed with her Tourism Destination Management qualification, began searching for a job and daycare for Thando.

“So I applied to an agent for a hotel role and the next moment the HR manager at the new Trump International downtown called, letting me know they were about to launch. They called me for an interview and I got the job as a coordinator. The company was hiring skills from different countries – totally multinational: Chinese, Russians. Ukrainians, there were Africans from central Africa and I was the only South African. This was a time of great learning and appreciation of how my path had evolved – divinely guided, I think.

“Just before we returned to South Africa in 1999 my second daughter Ranji was born. South Africa was a different place from the place we had left. It was vibrant, refreshing and I was glad to be home and in connection with my family.”

Once back in South Africa, Phelisa completed Master of Arts (Tourism Studies) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research topic was South African Airways as a national carrier: Reinventing identity through the culture of hospitality service. As she was finishing her masters in 2003 while with the IDC, her daughter, Bantu, was born. Her fourth daughter, Phumlo, followed in 2008 but, by that time she and her former husband had separated.

Phelisa was with the IDC from 2002 to 2006 as Corporate Social Investment Manager – Marketing and Corporate Affairs. She then joined City of Johannesburg Municipality as General Manager: Tourism Development and later became Director: Johannesburg Tourism Company (Acting CEO).

In the role of GM tourism development, Phelisa was finally where she had intended to be, doing exactly what she had always wanted to do and, following restructuring within, the full scope of: marketing, marketing tourism development and visitor information came under her control. It was at this time everything just fell into place, highlighting the importance of conscious choices and self-awareness in achieving career success.

“Self-awareness enables individuals to identify and capitalise on their strengths, address their weaknesses, make informed decisions, enhance interpersonal skills, foster continuous learning and build resilience. Self-awareness also positively benefits others because of the intentional effort to be open, vulnerable and relatable”. Sheryl Brinkley

In 2018 Phelisa interviewed for the position of CEO at South Coast Tourism and was appointed. One of the pressing issues at this time was: ‘How do we send tourists to rural communities? How do we take tourists there?’ Phelisa set about melding the coast with the rural opportunities, her vision being that it’s one destination, not two. “Even the politicians were not asking this question correctly,” she points out. “They were not saying why are the tourists not going to rural communities? They were not saying that. They were saying why is there no development? “

Delicate but doable! Yes Phelisa pulled it together! This and many other successes attest to the resolve of this incredible woman, quietly confident, erudite and business savvy. She earned her stripes overseas in and in South Africa, in both Gauteng and KZN and she has the credentials to back it up.

A thought leader in tourism and investment strategies she led a new team, coming from different work cultures and assisted them in understanding the mandate and their respective contribution to the outcome through their roles and responsibilities. With impeccable change management and transition capabilities Phelisa ensured that changes were implemented effectively and seamlessly. One of the outcomes was that the Ugu district achieved a 97 per cent occupancy rate, for the 2022 festive season, the highest in KZN. At the time of connecting with Phelisa, the 2023 occupancy rates had not been confirmed.

In conclusion I asked Phelisa this…

And at some point in the interview you said:
 “…and then I knew that was where I wanted to be.” And that, for me, is the story.
     I’m seeing this outward gentleness and inner strength and determination playing out in your life. I am awed by the way you did everything you needed to do to get to where you wanted to be, authentically and honorably.
    When you got to Johannesburg Tourism and you suddenly had met your dream of a destination-based tourism platform, how did you feel? Was it like ‘I’ve arrived’, or ‘I’ve always known this’?

She answered:
 “I don’t think I had the thought that said I had arrived. I just always wanted to understand the entire value chain, in terms of destination management and, finally, I felt I was in the position to do just that. When I became the acting CEO, I brought together both sides. Yes. With a combined purpose, a combined directive, in 2011 everything came together.
     When you look at South Africa, you are saying, okay, we have the big five, we have the ocean and we have rural communities with deep cultural roots.
     South African tourism initiatives should be selling everything about South Africa. Those mentioned are the primary three things that it would take to get South Africa to be regarded as a country of choice and an inbound destination for world travellers.

In 21 Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, the last law is the Law of Legacy. Maxwell summarises the life of a leader by saying:
 “Achievement comes when they do big things by themselves. Success comes when they empower followers to do big things for them. Significance comes when they develop leaders to do great things with them. Legacy comes when they put leaders in position to do great things without them.” He ends the chapter with the thought: “Our abilities as leaders will not be measured by the buildings we built, the institutions we established, or what our team accomplished during our tenure. You and I will be judged by how well the people we invested in carried on after we are gone. This is the greatest challenge a lifelong pursuit of leadership will face, but it is also the only thing that will matter in the end.”

I am grateful and blessed have had this time with this beautiful human and inspirational leader, Phelisa Mangcu. I have personally taken so much inspiration and courage away with me from our time together. Thank you for your candour and your guidance, Phelisa.

My ‘take-away’ from this led me to connecting to members of Phelisa’s team that she had empowered and guided over the years. Here is what they said… 

“Thank you for being a great leader. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.”

“Thank you for always inspiring us to push on, no matter what.”
“Thank you for your guidance; your reassurance helped me work through tough situations.”
“Thank you for always making time for me, for your patience and for listening ears.”