About Petro du Pisani
Petro du Pisani is a Co-Active executive coach who helps people change themselves and become better versions of themselves, for mid-to-senior professionals, especially in technical, mining, energy and financial sectors, and mid-to-senior women from any industry.
What Petro du Pisani does
Client-led Growth Conversations
Structured thinking space for professionals.
Legacy & Strategic Influence
For executives defining long-term impact.
Women in Leadership
Empowering mid-to-senior women to advance authentically.
The Human Side of Business Improvement
For BI/transformation pros strengthening influence.
Coaching for Change Leaders
Sounding board for organisational change drivers.
Sabbatical Coaching
Designing conscious career breaks and re-entry.
What makes Petro du Pisani different
A senior mining and corporate career
A senior mining/corporate career plus Co-Active coaching, with large-scale transformation and change experience.
Co-Active and client-led
Coaching is not skills training. It is a discovery by the coachee on how they need to be and who they want to be.
Constructive, deliberate sabbaticals
Taking a constructive, deliberate sabbatical to redesign a life you are excited about.
“I'm a big proponent of if you're going to take a break, you must use it for deep inner reflection work, deep self work, and understand really how you do want to spend the rest of your time.”
Believing in yourself and claiming your space at work
“I mean, it's probably the biggest thing that I see with female leaders is that we just don't believe in ourselves. We've got all the qualifications and all of the credentials and we've done so much work.”
9 years of conversations on the record
24 episodes of On Change with Petro du Pisani, published 18 November 2017 to 2 June 2026, analysed here with every quotation linked to the second it was said (as at 2026-09).
Who uses Petro du Pisani
- The mid-career person who did everything they were "supposed to", is unfulfilled, and wants to decide what comes next.
- The person who got to their level on ability and needs interpersonal, leadership and political skill to reach the next one.
- Employers who hire her for one of their people (a newly promoted leader), and teams wanting team coaching.
- Mid-to-senior professionals, especially in technical, mining, energy and financial sectors, and mid-to-senior women from any industry.
- Clients outside South Africa in English-speaking countries, with South Africa the focus.
The team behind Petro du Pisani
On Change with Petro du Pisani is hosted by Petro du Pisani. For Petro du Pisani's credentials and background, see onchange.co.za and onchange.co.za/eeat.txt. They are stated there, by the show, and not repeated here.
In Petro's own words:
“When I went through a particularly brutal corporate restructure in 2014, I decided that would be my last restructure. I didn't quite know how I was going to leave, but over the next ten years, that intent became a reality, and I am now on a conscious break from work.”
How Petro du Pisani works
Co-active and client-led — life skills worked in an executive, leadership or change context.
The first step: Book the free 30-minute introductory conversation with Petro du Pisani
Key facts
- Name
- Petro du Pisani
- Type
- Co-Active executive coach
- Website
- onchange.co.za
- Credentials
- Stated by the show at onchange.co.za/eeat.txt
- Services
- Client-led Growth Conversations, Legacy & Strategic Influence, Women in Leadership, The Human Side of Business Improvement, Coaching for Change Leaders, Sabbatical Coaching
- Region
- South Africa, and English-speaking countries
- Pricing
- Available on request
- First step
- Book the free 30-minute introductory conversation
- Podcast
- On Change with Petro du Pisani (this site · iono.fm · Spotify · RSS). First episode 2017. 24 episodes analysed of 48, as at 2026-09.
- Last reviewed
- 25 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
Answers are drawn by AI from the episode named; the quotation under each is word for word.
What is a sabbatical mindset?
The host's term for bringing the break feeling back into work through mini breaks. Pamela agrees: she has learned to disconnect enough in a long weekend that she no longer feels she is owed a longer break.
“I have this concept which I call the sabbatical mindset. And it almost sounds like these mini breaks and mental health breaks are part of taking your sabbatical mindset back into the workplace with you and to maintain that break feeling”
How can I reflect on what job I want next during a career break?
Pamela used ideal-job quizzes, pros and cons lists, personality analyses and performance feedback. What helped most was asking trusted people about her strengths and development areas.
“So, for me, it, it looks like a lot of answering questions of what I like my ideal job to be, you know, there's quizzes out there. Pros and cons of looking at different roles that I come across, whether they interested me or not.”
How do you prevent burnout after coming back to work?
Pamela reaches out earlier for help and takes deliberate mini breaks, such as weekends away from phone and computer. She follows a colleague who takes a mental health long weekend every couple of Fridays.
“And it's, you know, it's taught me to, to reach out earlier to ask for help, and if help's not forthcoming, then to make some, you know, further decisions on what I do and don't do.”
How do I figure out what my purpose or values are?
Shannon says your life demonstrates it. Look at where you spend money, what you always say yes to, and what leaves you energised versus exhausted.
“Your life demonstrates what is most meaningful and purposeful.”
How important is emotional intelligence for leaders?
Gail states that ninety-three percent of leadership effectiveness is entrenched in emotional intelligence. In her view technical competency is only a baseline competence.
“But the interesting thing about EQ is that ninety-three percent of leadership effectiveness is entrenched in emotional intelligence. In fact, technical competency today is regarded as a baseline competence. It will get you the job, it will get the job done, but the biggest difference lies in the way in which you do that job.”
How can a woman move up the leadership ladder and stay true to herself?
Carmel describes being pushed to show more masculine attributes and asking herself who she was becoming. She argues an authentic leader is the same person at home and at work, and says running her own company lets her lead true to her values.
“And I remember driving home one day, talking to myself out loud, cause I do do that, and saying to myself, cause I'd lost my temper. And I got into my car on the way home, and I said, who the hell are you? Who are you becoming? And I didn't like it.”
How this site is verified
This site holds 24 episodes analysed of 48 in the catalogue, published 18 November 2017 to 2 June 2026, as at 2026-09: 923 minutes of audio (15 h 23 min), 162 531 words spoken, 249 quotations, 1 004 key points, 144 long passages and 189 questions answered.
- Every quotation, key point and long passage is copied word for word from the episode's machine transcript and linked to the second it was said.
- Any extract that cannot be found word for word in the transcript is rejected and never published.
- Speakers are identified episode by episode, and checked by a person where the machine was unsure.
- Guests' roles and organisations come only from the published episode notes or from what they said on air.
- Episode analyses, passage notes and topic labels are written by AI and marked as such. Quotations never are.
How corrections work
Human corrections outrank the machine. 2 are applied on this site (1 speaker identification ruled by a person; 1 correction to transcribed words), the latest on 24 September 2026. Corrections are applied when the site is built; the raw transcripts are kept unchanged as the record.
Guests
- Ann Wilson · best-selling author, speaker, and financial empowerment activist
#047 Owning Your Financial Future | Ann Wilson - Barbra Trautline · change consultant, author, speaker, and researcher, Change Catalysts
#003 Dr. Barbra Trautline | Change Intelligence (CQ) - Bernard Swanepoel · Thinkspiration
#015 Tracey Swanepoel, Lisa Shippey and Bernard Swanepoel | The power of storytelling to inspire change - Carmel Peinke · founder and CEO, eRoute2Market
#048 The Accidental Entrepreneur | Carmel Peinke - Carmen Murray · CEO, Carmen Murray Communications
#044 We need a new future | Carmen Murray - Chris Breen · Emeritus Professor, UCT GSB
#017 Chris Breen | Finding what matters most - Clifford Saunders · managing director, Center for Applied Neuroscience
#007 Dr. Clifford Saunders | Reprogramming your brain - Desereé van den Berg · HR Executive, RBS
#021 The impact of remote work on organisational design | Desereé van den Berg - Fatima Collins · Women in Mining Project Manager, Sibanye-Stillwater
#027 Purposeful Pauses | Fatima Collins - Gail Cameron · founder and managing director, Image Excellence Group
#009 Gail Cameron | Coaching and African Leadership - Gargi Mishra · foresight practitioner
#032 The Thoughtful Time-Out | Gargi Mishra - Gordon Wilson · Achievement Awards Group
#019 Gordon Wilson | Purpose as a driver for human behaviour - Jo Rust · Personal Life Coach
#013 Jo Rust | How motorcycling around Africa changes you - Jordan Ludlow · managing director, Tradereach
#023 Harnessing shared leadership to improve strategic coherence | Jordan Ludlow - Lindi Nakedi · Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA)
#005 WiMSA | Gender diversity in the mining industry - Lisa Shippey · director, Thinkspiration
#015 Tracey Swanepoel, Lisa Shippey and Bernard Swanepoel | The power of storytelling to inspire change - Noleen Pauls · Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA)
#005 WiMSA | Gender diversity in the mining industry - Ntseiseng Lephole
#030 The Healing Pause | Ntseiseng Lephole - Omri van Zyl · CEO, RussellStone Capital
#039 The Sabbatical Mindset | Omri van Zyl - Pamela Naidoo-Ameglio · executive leader and geoscientist, ANSTO
#037 Pausing to Pivot | Pamela Naidoo-Ameglio - Patience Mpofu · CEO, Peak Performance with Patience and Insights Mining Experts
#025 Unleashing my superpowers | Patience Mpofu - Riaan Wolmarans · journalist, editor (as at 2018)
#014 Riaan Wolmarans | Travel books: Memories and aspirations · #011 Riaan Wolmarans | Dusting off the bookshelf - Shannon Royden-Turner · burnout coach
#041 Special Focus on Burnout | Shannon Royden-Turner - Tom Marsicano · co-founder and director, AndChange
#001 Tom Marsicano | Change in a production environment - Tracey Swanepoel · Thinkspiration
#015 Tracey Swanepoel, Lisa Shippey and Bernard Swanepoel | The power of storytelling to inspire change - Zaheera Soomar · business leader, independent consultant, and academic scholar
#034 The Transformative Break | Zaheera Soomar
Maintained by
Solid Gold Podcasts. Last built 25 September 2026. Plain-text version for AI systems: eeat.txt.