What do you mean by Frontier? 

A frontier is an area close to, or beyond, a boundary. The term is French for the "borderland", the edge, close to the periphery.

The frontier of South Africa is a place for explorers, innovators and pioneers. It is a place where experienced leaders come up against new challenges and must unlearn old habits and build new ones.

Senior leaders in organisations spend most of their time focused on the teams they lead and the strategy of their organisation. This necessary focus leads to the exclusion of seemingly less-important information that could be the key to dealing with threats and enhancing business sustainability. Blind spots are a normal part of daily life and, given the rapid pace of change in the nation, important to overcome.

We need to know what we don't know, as much as what we do know. If we understand the changing context our organisation operates in, we will be able to affect the changes that will ensure its competitiveness in years to come.

The business context of the second decade of this millennium is uncertain. Traditional leadership programmes do not adequately address the leadership challenges of this uncertainty; if we don't have a thriving country, we can't have a thriving business.

What are the outcomes of participation in Frontier?

A Frontier participant will become a better business and societal leader, with the potential for significant impact. The outcomes include improved strategic thinking, better management of risk, insight into developing new markets, engagement of employees and insight into managing diversity. This leadership will be developed through an assessed programme in which participants:

• Develop a complete view of the strategic context of business;
• Generate fresh approaches to cross-sector opportunities;
• Gain a clearer reality and opportunity in South Africa;
• Build a more nuanced relationship between their own world view and the perspectives of diverse others;
• Determine their current impact and evaluate the legacy they are establishing; and 
• Learn the thought patterns from history-makers and society-shakers.

The process through which this takes place will include the production of a personal portfolio of impactful experiences.

Frontier is part of the Centre for Leadership and Dialogue at GIBS. This Centre develops leaders and hosts strategic dialogue to resolve the most urgent and complex South African and global challenges.

At the end of programmes run by the Centre for Leadership and Dialogue, participants report an enhanced appreciation for and commitment to the exciting country that is South Africa.

We have come to realise that leadership impact requires combining business and management experience with insight into ourselves, the people around us and our country as whole. Frontier, together with the GIBS executive leadership programmes, covers these twin elements of leadership. While each of the programmes is significant to leaders, the combined impact of both journeys is scintillating and impactful, addressing both the perennial and the transient dimensions of leadership.