david da silva

I was born in a small town that borders on the Orange River called Aliwal North. I grew up on my parent’s farm which was situated 10km other side the river in the province of The Orange Free State. Till today I remain a Cheetahs fan. From grade 5 I attended boarding school in Grahamstown; it was costly for my parents sending my brother and me to Kingswood College for many years; I am grateful to them and the school for the privilege.

I am married to Andreja (Slovene). I have an amazing daughter Demi who is finishing matric at Collegiate in PE. My wife Andreja has a leadership role in a well-respected Slovene company. Andreja has two great kids, Rok is first year Varsity and Nina is 16 (going on 22, nicely). We are blessed that all our kids have strong values. About 96% of mothers in Slovenia work, so home tasks of cleaning and cooking fall onto both parents; I don’t cook so Andreja has a tough time with this South African man. Women in Slovenia are in my opinion a much stronger race than the Slovene men, hopefully Andreja has other benefits

I don’t find writing about myself “easy”, I have always believed that it is more relevant what others say about you than what you say about yourself. As I get older I am more inclined to write about my experiences in order to share that which I have had the privilege to learn in my life. My drive is a desire for others to know early on what took me 50 years to learn. I have paid school fees for 50 years and I am committed to keep learning and sharing.

We all learn life lessons throughout our lives. My dad taught me that a simple life has its own rewards and to always pay your debts. My parents embedded in us from childhood a behaviour of “your word is your honour”. Boarding school taught me the values of being independent from a very early age. When my dad dropped me off at Kingswood as a 10 year old his only advice was “always own up”. I truly believe that the accountability and responsibility instinctive in me comes from my schooling where not owning up was branded as being “yellow”.

I don’t believe that you can over communicate or over train. If I could change anything in my past it would be to have given greater attention to more effective communication. It is important to keep learning; I have found that on the job training makes up 90% of our learning after university. I was fortunate to start my working career with a global company and an icon in SA at the time, Goodyear. I travelled the world, I met incredible people and I got the opportunity to live abroad.

My last 10 years in the corporate world were probably my greatest learning in life. Working for an American company and living in Europe gave me insights into both good and bad of these two nations and hopefully I have adopted the great of each. My last 4 years were easily the most challenging; my boss who was President and CEO of the company had incredible strengths and incredible weaknesses (in my opinion). It is not the purpose here to expand other than to say that I was privileged to be part of such a dynamic process and practicing the strengths of my boss make me a much more effective individual.

A large part of my success in the corporate world was founded on TRUST, a combination between sincerity, ethical behaviour, empathy and subject matter competence. I got away with a lot because people trusted that, when I said something it was said with belief and sincerity. I have strong opinions, my opinion vs. your opinion – I win; your facts vs. my opinion – you win. I never take positions, I have no ego about my opinions; I am driven by continuous improvement and will always change direction when information points to a better solution.