Jan Joubert has fought in some of Africa’s nastiest wars, trained presidential bodyguards to scupper assassination attempts and run a diamond mine in the face of rebel threat. But what was really hell, says the former private military contractor, was taking on an MBA at Henley Business School in the UK at the age of 40.
The South African, who joined the military at 17 and became a commander in 44 Parachute Brigade’s Pathfinder unit in Namibia and South Africa, has been used to giving orders all his life.
But signing up for an MBA meant hours of collaborative discussion instead and refraining from “negative criticism” in what lecturers said was “a safe space”. “In the military, the guy with the highest rank is the final authority. He decides we go left; everybody goes left. There are no questions, there’s no debate about it; that’s it . . . It’s not a two-way communication,” says Mr Joubert.