31/10/2026
52 WEEKS A YEAR. THE SAME PATTERNS. WHAT ARE THEY COSTING MY BUSINESSES?
Today, I attended the Global Leadership Summit (GLS 2026) for the third time, and the opening presentation by Craig Groeschel, titled "The Invisible Language of Leadership," challenged me to reflect on something that has influenced my businesses throughout my entrepreneurial journey.
The patterns we create, tolerate and reinforce as leaders.
Every business has patterns.
Patterns in how we lead. How our teams perform. How decisions are made. What we tolerate. What we reward.
Some patterns drive growth and success. Others quietly cost us money, opportunities, productivity and valuable people.
And perhaps the most uncomfortable reality is this:
As business leaders, we may unknowingly be reinforcing the very patterns we complain about.
Craig's presentation focused on four essential leadership principles:
1. SEE IT — Pattern Recognition.
Recognise recurring behaviours and outcomes instead of treating every challenge as an isolated incident.
2. BREAK IT — Pattern Disruption.
Challenge established behaviours and deliberately interrupt patterns that prevent progress.
3. BUILD IT — Pattern Creation.
Establish new habits, expectations and behaviours that produce better outcomes.
4. PROTECT IT — Pattern Reinforcement.
Consistently recognise and reinforce the behaviours that support the culture we want to build.
Reflecting on more than two decades of building, acquiring and managing businesses, I recognise how easily patterns become embedded in organisational culture.
At Seeff Hermanus, we invest substantially in marketing, technology, CRM systems and the development of our people.
But even the most sophisticated systems cannot compensate for recurring patterns of inconsistent ex*****on, inadequate follow-up or weak accountability.
And if those patterns continue year after year, we must ask ourselves whether the problem lies with the people, the systems or the leadership that allows those patterns to persist.
The same principle applies to MyPropInsight, the AI-powered homeowner intelligence platform I am developing.
Technology can transform processes, improve decision-making and create efficiencies.
However, unless we understand and change the underlying patterns of human behaviour, we risk simply digitising the inefficiencies we intended to eliminate.
Technology changes what we can do. Patterns determine what we actually do.
My MBA provided valuable frameworks for understanding strategy, organisational structures and competitive advantage.
But years of practical business experience continue to remind me that organisational culture is shaped not only by what leaders communicate, but by what they consistently demonstrate, tolerate and reward.
And this is where Craig's message became particularly personal.
What patterns have I created in my businesses?
What behaviours have I unintentionally reinforced?
How many times have I addressed the same challenge without questioning the pattern behind it?
And perhaps most importantly:
How much have those patterns cost my businesses over 52 weeks, year after year?
My biggest takeaway from GLS 2026 is that sustainable transformation does not necessarily begin with another strategy, another system or another investment.
Sometimes it begins with the leader recognising that the pattern must change — and that the change must start with them.
SEE IT. BREAK IT. BUILD IT. PROTECT IT.
Three Global Leadership Summits later, I am once again reminded that regardless of how many years we have spent in business, leadership remains a continuous journey of learning, questioning and improving.
A question for fellow business owners and leaders:
Have you ever discovered a recurring pattern in your organisation that you eventually realised you were personally reinforcing?
And what did it take to break that pattern?
