Change Wired
Leading Success Without a Map: Rashid Toefy's wild journey from apartheid to government leader, entrepreneur, and CEO before earning a PhD at 50.
In 1985, a 13-year-old boy watched his father sell the family house, move them into a caravan, and start training to cycle around the world โ at a time when South Africa was closed off from most of the planet. The trip never happened. But something about that audacity never left him. That boy is Rashid Toefy. By the time he sat down with Angela for this episode of Change Wired, he'd already lived what feels like several lifetimes: gap years in London and Washington, DC (where he watched Nelson Mandela walk free and his own country begin to transform), a career built almost by accident in the youth travel industry, a "six-month" move to Amsterdam with his new wife that turned into three years traveling to a different country every month across 30+ countries, seven years as CEO of the Cape Town International Convention Centre starting at just 37 , a bruising stretch as an entrepreneur opening the African division of a Geneva-based global company, a pivot into government where his job today is creating jobs across an entire regional economy โ and, at 50 years old, a PhD completed in three years on how leaders make decisions inside a crisis. Rashid and Angela cover all of it โ the exhilarating parts and the hard ones . Rashid opens up about growing up under apartheid, having to split from friends onto separate train carriages because of the color of their skin , and meeting Nelson Mandela as a student leader. He talks about 9/11 hitting while he had a hundred South African students on exchange visas stranded in the US. And he's disarmingly honest that he sees a therapist and works through personal challenges "day by day" โ because, as he puts it, trauma either shrinks you or grows you , and which one happens is partly a choice you make. What you'll learn in this episode: Why Rashid believes you can't plan a career from day one โ you can only make sense of opportunities as they come, and trust your gut once the fundamentals are in place What "sense-making" means, and how it differs from both blind risk-taking and overthinking every decision The one question his first-ever coach, Karina Anderson, taught him to ask after any setback โ and how it reframes adversity into fuel How 3 philosophies from 3 different cultures โ Japan's Kaizen (continuous improvement), China's guanxi (relationships before business), and South Africa's own Ubuntu ("I am because we are") โ combine in his approach to leadership Why Rashid believes refusing to settle for mediocrity isn't about ego โ it's about what we owe to the world we're passing on ... and so much more! Wow, in such a short episode it feels like we've covered a whole era! Connect with Rashid: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashid-toefy-phd-5b09689 / โ he's genuinely open to people reaching out about his leadership philosophy, his journey, or his PhD thesis on crisis leadership. About Rashid Toefy: Rashid Toefy is the Deputy Director-General in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism , with the mandate of creating jobs in the Western Cape economy. Rashid has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and has worked extensively in the travel and tourism industry, both in South Africa and abroad. He spent three years based in Amsterdam, developing business and marketing strategies for businesses in over 30 countries , working extensively in Central Europe and Latin America . He has a degree in Economics and Environmental Science, as well as an MBA, and has recently completed his PhD , focusing on "How leaders make strategic decisions in crisis conditions." Rashid hates settling for mediocrity and wants to do profound things that impact positively on all those around him . Text Me Your Thoughts and Ideas Support the show Brought to you by Angela Shurina Certified Health, Sleep, Performance & Executive Coach 360 with 18 years of experience helping people change to feel, be and do their best.
