#025 Unleashing my superpowers | Patience Mpofu

Patience Mpofu, guest · [06:18]So when I got my scholarship, went to Australia, studied my PhD. I did it for three and a half years. I published on how to recycle more water, as I mentioned, for particularly clay minerals. So when I came back, I was sponsored by Anglo American. So I had to come back and work for Anglo American for two years. But guess what? I stayed for ten years. So I was employed as a project metallurgist. I used to travel to all the operations, you know, Amanda Belt, Union Operations. I used to go there, wear the overalls. Sometimes that looked much bigger on the, on, on the waist. But that's the thing about the mining industry. It presents you with all those challenges, right? I learned quite a lot. I built a lot of relationships with people in the operations. And one of the things that I actually learned, and what I always coach most of the women in mining, is as a woman in STEM in mining, you need to get your hands dirty. And that's one of the things that I actually learned as I was going in the operations. I spent almost three years as a project metallurgist. Then I moved to Anglo American Research when the, when the merger actually happened, because before I was at Anglo Research, Anglo Research. Then Anglo American and Anglo Platinum Research merged. I was now looking after some of the operations in Chile, in Brazil, across all the Anglo American operations, doing benchmarking work on water optimization. So I spent another two and a half years, then I moved to the head office at Anglo Platinum. Why did I move into, head office, Anglo Platinum? It's all about the challenges that we face as young women. I had a son. It was very difficult for me to travel and leave my son. I didn't have, I'm a single mom. I didn't have anyone else to look after my son, and I had to make a decision. I remember one day I saw an advert that was looking for a planning analyst. And in my mind, I already know I want to look for a role that will help me to integrate my personal life and my work, which means I can have enough time to come home to my son and hug him and not rely on other people to take care of my son. So these are some of the things that we talk about, the challenges as a young woman in mining. The question is, how are organizations now structured to be more inclusive for young women, right? To allow them to still be mothers at home and still be able to deliver at work.

Patience Mpofu, guest · [14:17]So I reflected on my journey and I said, you know what? As a strategist, there are three things that I want to do. Number one, I want to do a survey. I'm a researcher at heart. So the first part of the legacy project, which is part of the IWF Fellows Program, I did a research. I interviewed, well, not interviewed, I did a research survey of more than 150, 200 women. Mostly sixty percent were in mining. We were asking them questions. What made you succeed? What are the challenges that you're facing? Because I always believe in also data, because somebody's going to challenge you to say, why are you saying this in your book? Did you do anything? And as a researcher, I needed to then get data, and that's what I did. Through social media, connected with people, got a huge network, and it was really successful. People volunteered, and they provided. So we did it through Monkey Survey, and the results are available on my website, UnleashingMySuperPowers.com. Then the second part, we asked the question, I then wanted to do interviews, because I thought, I can put my leadership story, but I want to understand other women who have succeeded. Let me do a 100-day campaign. Let me interview women who have succeeded, people like Deshni Naidu, Raksha Naidu. So I invited a lot of women and I said, can you participate in this interview, 100-day campaign? I interviewed the women over a period of about three to four months across the globe, and mostly it was women in STEM, but I also included women leaders like Professor Shelley Zhen. I interviewed her because I wanted to get a perspective of leaders who are at C-suite board level to understand what does it really take to succeed in a male-dominated work environment to break the glass ceiling. It was phenomenal. The interview is available on YouTube. It was phenomenal because a lot of women, they kept asking me, oh my God, this is amazing. Oh my God. Because the interviews, like what you're doing right now, it will stay. The key messages are there. So we did that, and then the third part was then the book, Unleashing my Superpowers, which I published last year in August, and fortunately I became number one bestseller on Amazon, on different categories, but it's not just about being number one bestseller. It's about the message that you hear from the people who have read the book. For me, that is impact. That made me feel I have achieved what I wanted to achieve. When you hear women say, I read your book, I feel myself in this story. I wish I had this book. It's like a manual. I don't leave this book with me. This one lady will say to me, Patience, my daughter, I'm keeping this book for my daughter. This is an important book for my daughter. If she wants to pursue STEM, this is the book.

Patience Mpofu, guest · [17:39]So I wrote the book. I used to journal. I mean, as a leader, you want to reflect and you want to journal. So I used to do that. I used to reflect and journal. So I took all the journals that I had, you know, put it together. And all of a sudden I asked myself, what is the title of the book? I don't even have the title of the book. Then I came with Unleashing my Superpowers. You know why? Because in each and every part of my story, there was an up and a down, an up and a down, an up and a down, but it was an upward moment. And what does it tell you? It tells you that life It's not a straight line. A career is not a straight line. You will face challenges. You will face adversity. It's about how you rise as a leader. How do you rise? It's much easier when you're rising, but when you fall, how do you rise again to become the leader that you're called to be? That's Unleashing my Superpowers. You need something extra to get you to that level. And this is where leadership is tested. What type of a leader are you in a crisis when everything's all fine? Everybody can be a good leader. But when there is a crisis, what type of a leader are you? Are you a compassionate leader? Are you a leader who stands and leads people? Are you a caring leader? Do you make decisions in crisis? And that is the reason why I call my book Unleashing my Superpowers.

Patience Mpofu, guest · [20:33]Number two, as you rise, who is your cheerleader? Who is your cheerleader? Who is in your network? Who is that person who is going to help you to rise, right? Because you may be very good at what you do, but sometimes you may self-doubt yourself. As I said, there are challenges. And I'll give you an example. One day I went for a, a retreat, and I was climbing this pole, a Large pole, which is the size of a, of a plate, right? It was a challenge, Tony Robbins challenge. And I was, as I was rising, people were cheering me, oh, peak performance with patience, peak performance with patience. Everybody was cheering. They were so excited. There were about 60 people. We divided into two. So it was a challenge to challenge you to get out of your comfort zone, right? And as I was climbing, as I was reaching the top, I got stuck. I was stuck. I couldn't stand. The whole idea was to climb this 60 meter pole. When you get to the top, you stand, you grab a trapeze, and that shows that you have achieved. I couldn't do it. I think I was stuck for almost 15 minutes. Pedro, it was, it was embarrassing. I think people were thinking, what is this African woman doing up there? Because I was the only last one who was there. I was the last one to actually do the challenge. But anyway, the peak performance with patience, people were shouting, peak performance with patience. But when I was stuck, there was no one shouting, cheering me. Only two people, my coach, Dan, and Hayley. She was my buddy. Big performance with Patience. Patience, you can do this. You can do this. You're amazing. And Dan, Patience listened to me. This is what you can do. But I had fear when I was at the top. I was so scared. I wasn't even listening to him. The moment the fear disappeared and I listened to Dan, the coach, I could stand. But all of a sudden, everybody started cheering me. Big performance with Patience, right? So this is what I talk about. You need a Hayley and a Dan. A Dan is a coach. Do you have a coach? Do you have a mentor? Who's going to encourage you when you face challenges?

Patience Mpofu, guest · [23:02]In life, we don't live in isolation. We live with people. And even in organization, do you have buddies? Do you have supporters? Do you have sponsors? Do you have champions? We often overlook having champions. And the question for me, especially for mining industry, male leaders, who is your champion? Whom are you championing? Whom are you mentoring? Whom are you sponsoring? And I think in my book, I talk about sponsorship. How do we level the ground? Because studies have shown that males, they mostly sponsor other males. How about females? When they go for drinks, they sponsor the males. How about females? And I think that's the challenge for me that I'm giving to the mining industry. How do we unleash the superpowers of females? Become a sponsor to a female. Become a champion for female. Become a champion for diversity, equity, inclusion, right? Be the leader. That stands on your own. That's why I have this on my hardcover. You're standing here on your own. You're saying, you know what? I am standing against discrimination. I'm standing against sexual harassment, and this is what I stand for. We need those kind of leaders. That's Unleashing my Superpowers. You need to unleash something extra to be the change you want to see in the world. It's about getting out of your comfort zone, using your voice to be the change you want to see in the world.

Patience Mpofu, guest · [24:45]You know, when I get up in the morning and I feel I've transformed certain people's lives, for me, that's my highest value. When we did a value system when I was at NCR to say, what are your values? I realized my highest value is impact. And that is why the role of sustainability, the role of ESG, the role of communities, the role of impact, right? The role of corporate affairs when I was VP corporate affairs, I, I used to ask myself, why did I love this role? It is because my highest value is impact. When I know I have impacted somebody's life positively, that's what makes me get up in the morning. When I get up and I know I am making a difference, be it in an organization, I always found that I wasn't driven so much about financial return. I never used to negotiate too much on salary, right? But whenever I felt that my leader unleashing my superpowers, I'll do more because I'll be stretched. And when I felt that I'm impacting in an organization, it's not work for me. So for me, impacting and seeing that I'm making a difference in an organization. That's what gets me up in the morning. And I think we talk about ESG. I'm really passionate about ESG, environmental, social governance. I was already doing part of the ESG. I was already advancing ESG, PhD. It was environmental. I was solving sustainability issues. Social, when I was vice president corporate affairs, sustainability was my baby. That's what I used to do, working with communities, helping them. A shared value concept is one of the things that we need to really start thinking about as an industry. And of course, governance. You cannot succeed in a, as an organization. Repetition or risk, what do you do? Human rights, that's so important. So that gets me up in the morning, knowing that I'm impacting, knowing that I'm living life to my fullest, but most importantly, knowing that I've used my voice, you having the courage to use my voice. There hasn't been anyone who has been so honest in this book. And be vulnerable in my book and calling out to say, you know what? We don't want boys club. We want male champions. Not many people have done this, and I'm proud that I've done it because I thought to myself, if not me, then who? If not now, then when? Somebody has to do it. I remember one lady said to me, Patience, you know what? You're so courageous. You wrote a book about mining. It's an industry that not many people write about. And I said, you know what? If not me, then who? If not now, then when? And I did it, and I'm glad I did it.