Jane Raphaely scoops prestigious leadership award from UNISA SBL

The SBL and its Alumni Association recognised and paid tribute to the remarkable achievements of an inspirational business leader, who in leading women's magazine publishing in South Africa, has positively informed and influenced millions of women and men in a rapidly changing society. Her personal commitment to development and her fostering of the communal spirit have led to groundbreaking outreach programmes within communities.

Chairman of the SBL Alumni Association, Mr André Vermaak said that Raphaely has revealed the essence of real transformational leadership. "Her career illustrates that transformational leadership begins with a transformation of the mind. Jane has skillfully challenged the entrenched thinking on women in business, her journalism has shifted ageing boundaries and conventional beliefs and has pioneered a new role for the development of female potential in many spheres of business. She has confirmed what many have pondered over: Greatness is not the result of fierce combat, neither can it be achieved via repetition of old recipes. The pathway to greatness lies in triggering and in embracing new patterns of thinking and reasoning."

In her acceptance speech, Raphaely said: "To everyone here at the UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership, a huge thank you for honouring me with this excellent award, one which I will treasure and always appreciate. I am proud to join the distinguished company of previous LIP awardees and I am grateful to everyone involved in this process."

"I learned from people who I consider to be brilliant organisers, people like Wendy Luhabe, my late friend Adele Searll, Ton Vosloo, Tokyo Sexwale, Cathie Black, the CEO of Hearst Magazines, Bridget Radebe, Santie Botha, and of course, Oprah Winfrey, who is probably the best forward planner in history," she said.

"In giving a woman this award you have sent a powerful message to all other women who strive for excellence and influence, a message of encouragement and support. Thank you for that. I would also like to tell you how much it means to me, an ´accidental" leader who has had to learn my own lessons in leadership, to fashion my own leadership style in practice because there were so few templates in existence 40 years ago, and certainly none for a pregnant rooinek who may have known a lot about women but precious little about South Africa. You have also encouraged me to continue chasing the challenges, like our launch this week of Cosmo in Kenya. So thank you again for all of this, all of you. I am inspired," said Raphaely.

Raphaely, an authority in magazine publishing, has a stable of magazines which includes Femina, House and Leisure, Brides and Homes, Baby and Me, and Marie Claire, and she is CEO of the joint venture with Hearst and Harpo which publishes 0; The Oprah Winfrey Magazine. She is also the Editor in Chief of 0.

Says Raphaely: "I see my main responsibility as the growth and development of the Company. It is my duty to lead from the front, to inspire everyone who works here to grow and develop, to grow and develop the business and add to the value of its bottom line and other assets, to attract and train future journalistic and publishing talent, and as a by-product of our success in this field to generate work and jobs for others in the companies who deal with us, and get our business."

"I had to climb a very steep learning curve when we started Jane Raphaely and Associates to publish Cosmopolitan. Dividing my time between editing and running a business was a stretch, made worse when I edited Femina at the same time. Editing two magazines at the same time is not to be recommended at all. Also it is much easier to launch a new magazine than to try to turn one around. It takes much longer which is why it is essential to budget pessimistically," she says.

Raphaely says that the challenges facing women in the media are financial, personal and of a professional nature. "Firstly, women must get the same pay and perks as men. It's as simple as that. Personally, they must avoid the temptation to succeed by imitating the way men succeed. The Princessa by Harriet Rubin has the recipe for succeeding as a woman. And Oprah has taught all of us that the only way forward is to be the best you can be. Professionally one of the biggest challenges is to ensure that women get an equal share of media coverage without sounding like a stuck record. For instance, female MP's get 10% of the coverage that male MP's do. It helps to remember that there are a million more female voters here than male voters," she says.

She ascribes her success to "curiosity, being an extremely good listener, a sense of humour, infectious enthusiasm, and never being able to take no for an answer."

The Leadership in Practice (LIP) Award was first received by Dr Bill Venter, the Chairman of Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron), in 1989.

The SBL is honoured and delighted that she decided to accept the 2004 LIP award, thereby joining the ranks of previous recipients and distinguished South Africans including, amongst others, Pieter Cox (CEO SASOL), Dr Bill Venter (Altron) Allan Knott-Craig (CEO Vodacom), Wendy Luhabe (former CEO of Bridging the Gap), Clem Sunter (Anglo American), the late Aggrey Klaaste (Sowetan),Ms Cheryl Carolus (Chairperson of South Afrian National Parks Board and former CEO SA Tourism), Mr Reuel Khoza (Chairman of Eskom) , Judge Dikgang Moseneke (Constitutional Court of SA), and Mr Brian Gilbertson (President OAO SUAL Holding, and former CEO of BHP Billiton).