PCB CEO Resignation

Andrew Layman:  PCB CEO

I am extremely grateful to the many people who have sent me messages of goodwill since the announcement of my move to the Durban Chamber.    I had no desire to leave my present job, nor the city which has been so good to my family and me since 1983 when I came here from Durban.   My decision to accept the post offered to me was motivated entirely by the possibility of earning extra money during the last years of my fulltime working career.    The PCB cannot compete with its Durban counterpart as far as annual budgets are concerned.  The Durban Chamber, for a start, is more than three times the size of ours in terms of company membership.  Recently, the Durban Chamber held its annual dinner and, just a week ago, a special function to celebrate the arrival of the Indian labourers 150 years ago.   These were supported by huge numbers of business people, mostly at corporate tables bought by Durban businesses.    The access that Durban has to corporate decision-makers way outstrips our situation which, by comparison, is decidedly provincial.    I say this without regret.   Our Chamber is at the heart of a business community which consists of many people who know, and have regular contact with, each other.   It has an element of ‘family’ which metro chambers cannot emulate, simply because their members are much more widespread geographically and the central point, wherever that may be, is difficult for all to reach easily.   Here, we are situated quite centrally in the Showgrounds and we are able to establish and sustain excellent relationships with our members.

We have another distinct edge.   Unlike most chambers (I am in regular contact with chambers throughout the country), we have a staff with an average length of service of thirteen years.   This is remarkable by any standards and reflects that it is a good place to work.   If I had something to do with this, I’m very pleased to have been able to contribute to the happiness of my staff.   Since I have also enjoyed a similar degree of job satisfaction and happiness I put it down to the extent of the good will of our city’s business community and the people who populate it.   For me personally, being in the situation of becoming acquainted with the people who lead the community here has been an absolute pleasure.   I could not have wished for greater job satisfaction where I have had many challenges to meet, but always people on whom I could rely to help me.    I have always been very conscious of the fact the chamber president who appointed me in 1997 stuck her neck out to do so.   I was not the universally popular choice, as far as I know.   It was a measure of the chasm between Education and Business (which is still far too wide, by the way) that I started the job with a degree of mutual ignorance about the respective worlds.    I was confident in the job, however, because I had had experience of representative organisations and administration and management featured quite prominently in my CV.   I thought I could learn something about Business, and in the course of time I have been able to learn a good deal.    I am grateful to all the people who indulged me in my ignorance and wonder what sort of blunders I made in the early years which people were too polite to draw attention to.

I am wrestling somewhat with the question of conscience.    I am one of those who believes that when a person has earned a salary through hard work and devotion, neither employer nor employee owes the other anything.   I also believe that if the PCB is not able to flourish under the direction of whoever is appointed to take my position, I will have failed in an important part of any leadership position and that is to strengthen the institution so that it is not reliant on an individual.    Time will prove whether I have managed this or not.  

In the meantime I will serve out the last weeks of my tenure with as much effort as I can muster.    I have been truly blessed in my work here and I thank everyone who has made it such a rewarding and happy phase in my life.     

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