Professor Nick Binedell is the founding director and professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria. With a PhD from the University of Washington, an MBA from the University of Cape Town, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Rhodes University, he has dedicated over 30 years to business education and leadership development. As the founding dean of GIBS, he positioned the school as Africa’s premier executive education provider, ranked among the world’s top business schools.
His expertise spans leadership in emerging markets, strategic management, and organizational competitiveness. A frequent keynote speaker, Binedell has worked across continents including Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, sharing insights on leadership, global business challenges, and the execution of effective strategy. He has served on global boards such as the Association of MBAs and led associations like the African Association of Business Schools, shaping management education across the continent.
Professor Nick Binedell is the founding director and current professor of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and a leadership speaker.
He holds a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was a Boeing Scholar, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University.
After an initial career in the mining and manufacturing sectors, including a period as a general manager, Nick has invested the last 30 years of his career in business education.
In 1998 Professor Nick Binedell was invited to establish a new business school focused on meeting the individual and corporate needs of business in South Africa. GIBS has rapidly established itself as a leading business school in South Africa with a strong focus on partnering with leading South African corporates and providing a high level of local and international business education.
It is ranked as one of the top 40 global executive education providers by the UK Financial Times, while the GIBS MBA is ranked among the top 100 business schools globally in the prestigious Financial Times Executive MBA Rankings 2011 – the only business school in Africa to appear in these rankings.
His extensive experience in the field of management education includes being the founding director of GIBS where he is currently dean and the Sasol Chair of Strategic Management.
Nick is a board member of the International Management Board of The Association of MBAs (AMBA), which is one of the three leading global accreditation bodies. He also serves on the Academic Advisory Board for the same body.
He was the founding president and a past president of the African Association of Business Schools (AABS) where he served two terms. He also served two terms as the chairman of the South African Association of Business schools (SABSA).
Professor Nick Binedell area of interest in business concerns strategic leadership. He has a deep appreciation of the challenges facing executives in complex organisations and has a high level of interest in the competitive dynamics of companies and the challenging search for excellence.
Prof Nick Binedell is particularly interested in the link between strategy, leadership and execution.
He is a frequent public speaker regularly addressing executive teams and conferences on the area of competitive strategy, on global dynamics and their impact on competitiveness, on South Africa’s business challenges and the leadership skills, energy and capabilities required to manage in a challenging, exciting and fast changing country.
A determined traveller and explorer, his earlier roots included extensive travel and by the time Professor Nick Binedell was ten he had lived in Zimbabwe, Germany, Yemen, Kenya, South Africa and Britain.
Nick has spent five years in the US and in the past three years has travelled to and worked in Shanghai, Dubai, Lagos, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro and Ho Chi Minh City as well as European and American cities.
Professor Nick Binedell has a deep appreciation of the challenges facing executives in complex organisations. He retains a recognition of the effort, energy, insight and skill required to run an effective and focused business.
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Professor Nick Binedell explores the meaning and practice of strategy, tracing its origins from military roots to its role in modern business. Strategy, he explains, has two dimensions: the art of leadership (Strategos, the general’s role) and the content of strategy—the disruptive, market-shaping ideas that define competitive advantage.
In a world of rapid change, South African companies face the dual challenge of adapting locally while competing globally. Strategy, therefore, must answer: “What will we do next?” He emphasizes that strong strategy integrates market awareness, competitor positioning, and organizational capabilities. His litmus test for good strategy is: “What can this business do that the world wants, that competitors cannot?”
Binedell outlines three types of strategy:
He illustrates disruption with examples from Kodak to Instagram, Google, and the smartphone’s replacement of countless physical products. The lesson: disruption accelerates, and leaders must disrupt their own logic before markets disrupt them.
Strategy is not static but an ongoing discipline of insight, foresight, and adaptation. Leaders must balance managerial roles, leadership influence, and entrepreneurial innovation. He stresses the importance of purpose, clarity, and differentiation, urging organizations to stay externally focused on adding value rather than internally locked in routines.
Ultimately, strategy is about vision stronger than memory, asking relentlessly: “What will we do next, and how will it be different?”
00:00 – Introduction: What is strategy? Military origins.
01:15 – Two dimensions: leadership (art of the general) and content (creative ideas).
02:40 – Why strategy matters in a fast-changing South African and global context.
04:00 – The central question: “What will we do next?”
05:15 – The test: what can we do that the world wants and competitors can’t?
06:40 – Three approaches: non-active, reactive, proactive.
08:30 – Examples of disruption: Kodak, Google, smartphones.
10:00 – Strategy as discipline; vision stronger than memory.
11:00 – Conclusion: strategy is about adding value by deciding what’s next.
Professor Nick Binedell shares key insights from co-chairing the second Inclusive Growth Conference in the Drakensberg, hosted by the Halima Moosa Foundation. The gathering brought together 250 leaders from civil society, business, unions, government, and several ministers to discuss the state of South Africa and, most critically, the performance of local government.
Binedell highlights that local government is where “the rubber hits the road,” echoing Tip O’Neill’s observation that all politics is local. The provision of basic services remains central to citizens’ daily experience, making dysfunctional municipalities a pressing issue.
A notable dimension of the conference was the participation of the Chinese ambassador and his delegation, who presented China’s development model, including lifting 400 million people out of poverty within three decades. While impressive, his emphasis on surveillance technologies, such as facial recognition for law enforcement, sparked debate. Delegates questioned whether such practices align with South Africa’s democratic values, with one speaker humorously suggesting the risks of wearing a “Viva Hong Kong” t-shirt in Tiananmen Square.
The conference also addressed South Africa’s economic realities, including the reliance of 20 million citizens on social grants and the risk of generational exclusion from economic participation. Despite sobering statistics, Binedell emphasizes the value of dialogue, collaboration, and cross-sector partnerships as essential to moving the country forward. He concludes that constructive engagement and shared accountability are critical to building an inclusive and sustainable future.
00:00 – Introduction: Overview of Inclusive Growth Conference in Drakensberg.
00:40 – Local government dysfunction and service delivery challenges.
01:20 – Chinese ambassador’s presentation: poverty reduction, surveillance, and debate on democracy.
02:20 – South Africa’s economic realities: 20 million reliant on social grants.
03:00 – Importance of dialogue, partnerships, and collective responsibility.
03:34 – Closing: hope for future conferences and collaboration.
Professor Nick Binedell begins by situating South Africa’s recent political turbulence within the context of a young democracy. He notes that after years of under-reacting, civil society, business, activists, courts, media, and Parliament have stepped up, strengthening constitutional democracy. This, he stresses, is a vital part of the nation’s infrastructure often overlooked by business leaders preoccupied with trading and operations.
Turning to the economy, he highlights transformation as a central theme. At both the individual and business level, transformation must be intentional and purposeful. On a sectoral scale, industries such as mining, agriculture, and manufacturing must be modernized, made inclusive, and properly capitalized to sustain long-term growth.
Binedell warns of fiscal constraints following years of state mismanagement, which damaged creditworthiness and left South Africa in recovery mode. Higher taxes will be required, yet he remains cautiously optimistic. Institutions remain resilient, and with the right leadership team, there is potential for renewal. He emphasizes the unique opportunity for the current president, whose experience spans student activism, union building, business, and government to unify the nation.
Looking ahead, Binedell underscores that while immediate fiscal measures can stabilize the economy, long-term success depends on addressing unemployment, poverty, and especially education. He calls education the “hidden disease” of South Africa, equating its neglect to a cancer undermining future prosperity. In a services-driven, knowledge-based economy, education and skills development are non-negotiable foundations for inclusive growth.
He concludes with optimism tempered by realism: South Africa must deepen democracy, embrace transformation, and invest in skills to build an economy that supports both growth and equity.
00:00 – Introduction: South Africa’s political turbulence and democratic resilience.
01:05 – Transformation at personal, business, and sector levels.
02:10 – Fiscal challenges, debt, and recovery from mismanagement.
03:00 – Leadership opportunity and importance of the “right team.”
03:40 – Economic growth as democracy’s oxygen; education as the long-term challenge.
04:30 – Closing: building skills and inclusivity for a modern economy.
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Leadership, competitive strategy, execution, and global business dynamics.
Yes, he customizes presentations to reflect your market and strategic challenges.
Johannesburg, South Africa, available for international events.
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