Speaker Kivi Bernhard Brings the Bush to the Boardroom

They can spring into motion at a moment's notice and reach top speeds of up to 37 miles an hour. They are graceful as well as powerful. Using stealth, cover, and camouflage, African leopards are the most successful predators on earth. What does that have to do with business motivation?

Well, Kivi Bernhard attributes much of his success in the world of diamonds to business motivation lessons he learned from this majestic animal. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Bernhard was entranced by the leopard after the first safari he took with his father, when he was seven years old.

"I became absolutely addicted to it. Like they say in Zulu, 'Ubuntu,' it just kinda got in my blood," says Bernhard. "Any opportunity I had to be out in the bush I took. When I got a bit older, I developed a keen relationship with a fifth-generation Zulu tracker who took me deep into the African bushland in a whole new way." On and off, he estimates he has spent close to a year in the bush.

"I always knew that Africa's rhythm and wildlife would call to me my entire life," the 42-year-old Bernhard articulates in his thick South African accent. "What I didn't know was that it would be the most successful feline predator that would come to motivate me during my most challenging time and later become the basis for a theory of business motivation."

In 1997, after having three cars stolen, his home broken into three times, his sister hijacked at gunpoint, and his best friend shot in the leg, Bernhard, his wife, and their four daughters arrived in Pittsburgh to start a new life in America. They came to the country with $860.22, his entire net worth, and $30,000 worth of diamonds that he had to sell within 60 days or return to South Africa.

It was no easy feat. "The diamond industry is based on trust and time-tested business relationships," notes Bernhard, who had no U.S. contacts when he arrived in the country. Rejection was a constant in his life.

"Then, the strangest thing happened," he recalls. "It was the visceral memories of my experiences and time in the African bush and the leopard—the solitary hunter that is so absolutely result-centric—that started to play over and over in my head. I stopped selling diamonds and starting selling me, the human being."

It worked. He sold a lot of diamonds, growing Kivi International LLC into a multimillion-dollar loose-diamond wholesale and distribution business. Bernhard's thinking also led to the creation of Leopardology, a book and multimedia keynote presentation on business motivation that he brings to corporations and organizations across the globe. His keynote transports groups deep into the African bush, on a hunt with a 185-pound African leopard.

Hunter or Hunted?

On the African savanna, you are either the hunter or the hunted. Today's world of commerce isn't much different.

"The days of huge corporate conglomerates with unlimited resources, like a lion pride, are over," says Bernhard. "In yesterday's economy, if we didn't have it, we bought it; if we needed it, we went out and resourced it. Today it's about personal efficiency. Global consolidation and the new economy insist that every single dollar we spend is accounted for."

Adopting the personal responsibility and result-centric behavior of a leopard is more important than ever, he asserts. "Effective and efficient teams are simply a collection of effective and efficient individuals. The function of leadership today is not to take care of the well-being of the team, but to empower and enable the individuals within the team."

The leopard has a phenomenal close rate of 76 percent, compared to the 52 percent rate of lion prides. "Plus, the leopard is a solitary predator, relying strictly on its own tooling and apparatus, while a lion pride consists of huge massive machinery and infrastructure," Bernhard likens.

Leopardology, used in leading business schools across the United States, consists of six pillars of positive predatory thinking: 1) Know what you are, 2) Study your market territory, 3) Study your competing predator, 4) Study your prey, 5) Hunt your hunt, and 6) Assess the risk-to-reward ratio and maximize client retention and profit.

Although he may have all the attributes of a leopard, Bernhard and his business motivation theory were not immune to the attacks on the meetings and incentive industry. "I lost five speaking engagements in March of 2009 alone. Two were for AIG, one was for Merrill Lynch in Costa Rica, another for Bayer Corp., and one for Northwestern Mutual," he lists. "It was effortless for President Obama to stand up and slander the meetings industry, but I am not sure that he was fully cognizant of how dramatically he impacted the morale in the workforce."

Those companies that canceled or postponed their meetings and incentives are feeling the effects now, reports Bernhard. "I know in my gut, and I've heard it straight from many planners from organizations across the board, that those who canceled meetings are paying the price. By not having face time with their staffs, it has cost them badly in terms of business motivation. They're starting to see the cost of that trickle through, with really low morale, a sense of despair, and loss of motivation among employees."

Bernhard shares Leopardology with sales, leadership, and management teams all over the world and has keynoted conferences for many Fortune 500 companies. He also shares his love of the African bush with his four daughters. "I believe the discovery of life in general happens in the world of nature. We're gifted through our lineage. The African wildlife savannas and bushlands are part of our heritage. The United States has beautiful expanses and countrysides, but Africa is Africa."

Africa is a place like no other. Not even the world's most talented photographer or skilled writer could catch the true essence of the continent without losing some of its magic. Bernhard does his best to capture that spirit and teaches some important business motivation skills along the way.

Originally published Sept. 1, 2010

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