BACKSTORY: Louis Carstens of Partners in Performance

What’s your one top tip for doing a deal

Any deal — financial, investment or personal — needs to have a solid foundation of “what good looks like”. I prefer the word “good” to “great”. Once “what good looks like” is the foundation, you can engineer the deal. I will always trade off short-term gain maximisation against longer-term sustainability of a result.

What was your first job?

One of my first jobs I got paid for was as a student working at a Free State gold mine as an onsetter — I was in charge of the cage that conveyed mineworkers underground, between levels, and between underground and the surface. Doing double shifts and working over December holidays did wonders for my cash flow.

My first proper full-time job from a career perspective was in training — involvement in executive assessments and a range of management training courses. Even though I did not spend any significant amount of time in training, it did give me a good understanding of human behaviour in the workplace, which helped me after that.

How much was your first pay cheque, and how did you spend it?

It was probably R10,000 or R15,000 a month or thereabouts. I bought myself a Kawasaki Z750E motorbike. Motorbikes have been a passion of mine since my schooldays.

What is the one thing you wish somebody had told you when you were starting out?

Make career choices based on your strengths and what comes naturally to you, as opposed to following the more formal career management approach. Chasing the next promotion is only good if there is a natural fit with your strengths. Chasing the next promotion for a bigger pay cheque is not smart.

If you could fix only one thing in South Africa, what would it be?

Job creation — and doing it sustainably.

What’s the most interesting thing about you that people don’t know?

I summited Mount Everest on May 23 2010 and by doing that became only the 296th mountaineer to climb the Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each continent. As of today only about 500 mountaineers have achieved that.

What’s the worst investment mistake you’ve made?

Investing in diamonds on the advice of a friend. I lost every cent of my investment. I was naive and did not do my homework on the investment case.

What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? And how much of it was due to luck?

Financially speaking, my best investment decision was when I started to own my investment portfolio, as opposed to just outsourcing that to a financial adviser. Every fund I have been in for the long term has given me good returns. If one has a long-term view of investments, one does not need luck — one needs patience.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently and why did you like it?

The best business book was The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. I believe in grounded, commonsense business fundamentals, and as I was reading the book I thought about how many of the fundamentals were perhaps overlooked in the face of charismatic leadership and wealth on paper, as opposed to cash in the bank. Vision matters, but you cannot build a sustainable business on the foundations of vision and charismatic leadership.

Another book that made an impression on me was The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley — the first person in history to swim all the way around Great Britain. This book offered practical lessons on mental and physical toughness.

What phrase or bit of jargon irks you most?

I have two. The first one is: “Let me circle back to you.” And the second is any sentence in business that has the word “pivot” in it.

What is something you would go back and tell your younger self that would impress them?

Job satisfaction matters; I have made career choices that have given me an immensely satisfying career. I think I have worked for the right organisations at the right time throughout my career as I continued to figure out my strengths and natural skills.