South Africa’s business environment remains marked by persistent economic pressures, high staff turnover in key sectors, and ongoing uncertainty that challenges leaders and employees alike. Executives grapple with sustaining momentum amid volatility, while professionals at all levels confront questions about career progression, job security, and what it truly takes to advance or even stay relevant.
Debbie Goodman, CEO at Jack Hammer Global, says certain questions continue to persist across all professional levels, despite the insights that can be garnered from books, AI, and LinkedIn posts.
“There is much advice out there, but often it feels too surface-level, too sanitised, too curated to land. Professionals and leaders need real advice, real-life advice from those who have navigated the kinds of challenges they face in our unique landscape,” she says.
How do you lead effectively when everything feels uncertain? What genuinely drives executives to stay in demanding roles or prompts them to leave? Why do so many well-intentioned workplace initiatives fall short? In an environment that often feels hopeless, is there still a way to reach one’s full professional potential?
“I realised there is a need to get raw insights from those who have successfully walked the path, and as a result, embarked on a series of conversations which we at Jack Hammer Global hope will provide fresh momentum for South African professionals across all levels and industries,” she says.
The result of these important discussions will be publicly accessible as of today, January 29, 2026, on Season 4 of On Work & Revolution, the all-star CEO series of host Goodman’s podcast. The podcast consistently ranks in Africa’s Top 10 for Business and Management, and the latest instalment addresses the realities of the SA business landscape head-on through raw, candid conversations with South Africa’s most respected CEOs – those leaders who manage hundreds of billions in assets.
Leveraging her long-standing relationships with these titans of business, Goodman, one of South Africa’s most influential voices on leadership and workplace transformation, facilitates unrehearsed, human discussions that go beyond polished performance metrics to explore personal journeys, mindsets, doubts, trade-offs, and moments of near derailment and victory.
“These critical, everyday concerns resonate far beyond the C-suite, offering valuable lessons for mid-level managers, emerging leaders, and anyone ambitious about building a meaningful career in a tough market,” says Goodman.
“Ultimately, the message we have is that there is hope, even within a landscape of often chaotic uncertainty. These are not insights you will get from a LinkedIn overview or an AI search. This conversation series is about showing that even the ‘queens and kings’ of the corporate world are human – with good moves, stupid moves, luck, and vulnerability. It’s a timely reminder that success is relatable and achievable, and we hope that it will give ambitious professionals reasons to stay, ascend, and rewrite their own trajectories.”
