Deon Basson brings a unique integration of strategic business acumen, understanding of AI, and a deep respect for human connection in communication. In this talk he draws parallels between this and the principles of completing the Munga, the toughest mountain bike race on earth. Deon’s participation in The Munga, a grueling 1,148km endurance ride, illustrates his belief in discipline yet agile, mental resilience yet clear decision-making, risk-taking yet calculated.
This talk provide great insight into business in a fun, yet emotional way.
The Munga is more than a mountain-bike race. It’s a five-day, 1,148-kilometer crossing of some of South Africa’s most brutal terrain — a race where heat, wind, and exhaustion test not only the body but the mind.
It’s a place where you face yourself. When the desert wind stings your face, when fatigue blurs your focus, and when the lights of the next checkpoint feel impossibly far, there’s no hiding. The Munga strips you down until only your mindset remains.
That mindset — the Munga Mindset — is exactly what businesses need today as they navigate the unpredictable landscape of AI. Because AI, like the Karoo, doesn’t care about your spreadsheets and plans. It cares about how you adapt when those plans don’t work out they way it should.
To survive The Munga — and to lead effectively through AI transformation — you must constantly evaluate four things: the facts, the process, the vision, and the emotions.
On the bike, awareness is everything. A whisper of wind might mean a storm ahead. A slight vibration in the wheel could signal a loose spoke. A patch of sand that looks firm can swallow your front tire in an instant.
The riders who finish are the ones who stay alert — reading the terrain, their bodies, and their emotions with precision.
In business, awareness is about reading the data terrain. It’s about understanding not just what the numbers say, but what they mean. Are the inputs still accurate? Are there hidden biases in your models? Have customer behaviors shifted while your dashboards stayed the same?
And when awareness falters, self-talk becomes critical. On the bike, that voice might say, “Check the map. Focus on your breathing. You’ve ridden through worse.”
In business and especially AI, it might be, “Slow down. Re-read the metrics. Don’t react — interpret.”
This initial program focused very much on showing salespeople how people differ in the way that they think as well as how personalities differ.
This program from Deon Basson was run for about 18 months, but from the experience it was realized that commonly found personality profiles did not serve the communication purpose effectively as they were not built for that (square peg in a round hole).
2interact and the people associated with the company realized that the true issue that they were trying to address was improving communication skills of salespeople and not personalities.
Deon Basson is a leading authority on sales communication, influence, and persuasion, and the CEO of 2interact. With a background in executive education and doctoral research, Deon has spent years studying what truly differentiates top-performing sales professionals and high-impact communicators.
His research revealed a critical insight: success in sales and leadership is not driven by process alone, but by understanding and applying the psychology of how people think, decide, and communicate. While many organisations focus on systems and scripts, Deon’s work demonstrates that persuasion and influence are fundamentally human skills.
Deon’s early work led to the creation of the Psychology of Sales programme, designed to help salespeople adapt their communication to different thinking styles. However, through extensive application in real-world environments, it became clear that traditional personality profiling tools were not built for communication effectiveness.
This insight led to the development of the 2interact communication framework, a practical, behaviour-based approach focused on improving conversations rather than labelling personalities.
Deon Basson is a leading authority on sales communication, influence, and persuasion, and the CEO of 2interact. With a background in executive education and doctoral research, Deon has spent years studying what truly separates top-performing sales professionals and high-impact leaders from the rest.
Through his research and real-world application, Deon Basson uncovered a critical insight: sustainable success in sales and leadership is not driven by process, scripts, or systems alone. It is driven by understanding how people think, decide, and communicate. While many organizations invest heavily in frameworks and tools, Deon’s work shows that persuasion and influence are fundamentally human skills rooted in psychology, awareness, and adaptability.
His early research led to the development of the Psychology of Sales program, which focused on helping sales professionals adapt their communication to different thinking styles. However, as the program was applied across industries and environments, Deon identified a major limitation in traditional personality profiling tools. They were designed to label people, not to improve real conversations.
This realization led to the creation of the 2interact communication framework, a practical, behavior-based approach that shifts the focus away from personality types and toward communication effectiveness. The framework equips professionals to recognize thinking patterns in the moment, adapt their language, and create meaningful influence without manipulation.
As a keynote speaker, consultant, and educator, Deon Basson delivers clear, evidence-based insights that challenge conventional sales thinking. His work empowers sales teams, leaders, and organizations to elevate performance by mastering the psychology behind every conversation.
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