From Jozi to Rotterdam and Atlanta, Nicola Kleyn reflects on how Johannesburg shaped her lifelong relationship with change – and why embracing curiosity matters more than chasing a so-called ‘worldview’
As someone who leans into change, people are often surprised to learn that I spent the first fifty years of my life living in Johannesburg... I remember once hosting a high-level delegation of visiting academics during my time as dean at a leading Johannesburg business school. After marvelling at the beauty of the Jacarandas, gasping at the stark contrast between Alex and Sandton, and wondering how anything could function amid power and water shortages, one of them asked me: “Doesn’t living in one city your whole life constrain your worldview?” The question unsettled me. On one hand, I knew that I had lived in a country that had experienced more change in a few decades than some see in a century. Growing up and living in Jozi before, during, and after South Africa’s formal transition from apartheid had forced me to question and re-question many of my assumptions. And although I had never lived outside Johannesburg, my work as an academic leader had taken me to multiple cities around the world. So was my worldview really limited? It’s been seven years since that question was asked. In that time, I condensed my most important belongings into two suitcases and moved to the Netherlands during our brutal Covid lockdown. I shifted from navigating fearless Jozi taxi drivers to cycling through ice and snow in a Rotterdam winter. In 2023, I swapped my bicycle for a car and began driving on twelve-lane highways in Atlanta – a city where indicators are optional and the traffic is legendary. I’ve worked with people from dozens of countries, stumbled through meetings in new languages, and learned to traverse the cultural nuances that come with living in different places.
I’m now better prepared to answer that question about my worldview. In short, I don’t think any of us truly has one – and perhaps it doesn’t matter. While we may all be part of humanity on this fragile planet, instead of striving for a mythical “worldview,” I believe we should focus on broadening our individual views. That happens when we seek out and embrace opportunities that push us onto new paths, when we engage with others in the spirit of what one of my favourite academics, the late Edgar Schein, called humble inquiry, and when we turn curiosity into action that creates positive change. These motivations underpin my choice to collaborate with the Change Science Institute. Is change sometimes hard? Undoubtedly. Navigating the unknown – whether it’s a new family, job, relationship, country, or life – takes courage, belief, and support wherever you can find it, plus a little skill. But as a proud South African now living abroad, I know that exploring the world beyond our borders didn’t create my ‘change muscle’. Growing up in Jozi did. It’s in this remarkable city that my roots – and my appetite to learn, engage, and adapt – were built. As Alf red Lord Tennyson wrote in Ulysses, “I am a part of all that I have met.” Those I met in Jozi taught me, in the great spirit of a city built on discovery, migration, and reinvention, to question my views about the world rather than chase the myth of a single, all-encompassing “worldview.”
Nicola Kleyn is the Change Science Explorer at the Change Science Institute, which makes the science of personal change useful and practical.
Find out more: www.changescienceinstitute.co.za
