Not in a dramatic way.

Not with grand gestures. Just consistently, sincerely, and with genuine intent over time.

As I finished school and moved into university, we would meet in his office a few times each year -structured, intentional conversations about my direction and growth.

He would ask simple but profound questions. Questions that made you think:

And then there were always books.

The ones that mattered most were the ones he inscribed. Even now, with the passing of time, and having scaled down significantly, they remain some of my most treasured possessions.

In later years, when I was working abroad, we would often meet up on his business trips to the city.

One day he phoned me with a request. He had been given a copy of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – and there were none available in South Africa.

“Buy as many as you can find.”

I scoured bookstores across London until I found a dozen copies.

It’s hard to imagine now – 40 million copies later – but at the time they were difficult to find. When I finally did, it felt like I was handing over something that mattered.

As it turned out, the principles in the 7 Habits became one of the anchor points of my life.

There were others like me – people he was quietly and consistently investing in.

Guiding. Challenging. Shaping. Believing in.

It wasn’t something he did occasionally.

It was who he was.

Many years later, he gave me a small bronze sculpture … a Sleeping Tiger.

A symbol of his philosophy about people and potential.

Inside every person lies enormous energy and potential.

Most of it stays dormant. But if you pull the tail – if you challenge, provoke, and awaken it – the tiger rises and releases its potential into the world.

That idea lodged deeply inside of me.

It gave me purpose and ultimately shaped the work I do.

This remarkable man passed away recently.

I had the privilege of spending two quiet hours with him before he died.

We spoke about life. About what mattered. The future. And we recounted 40 years of memories and shared experiences.

At one point, recalling Pink Floyd’s iconic song, he said to me, “Don’t ever be another brick in the
wall.”

Reminding me that our responsibility is not just to live – but to fully awaken what’s inside us, and to do the same for others.

Right up to the end he remained true to the idea that defined his life:

The greatest tragedy is not that life ends …
but that we stop living before it does!

Somewhere in your life is a sleeping tiger. Will you walk past it? Or will you pull its tail?

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