Nobody's perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?
The ability to read minds! On a more serious note—wisdom. We acquire knowledge at a tremendous pace, and using it wisely is a real skill.
What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?
The Art of Managing Professional Services by Maureen Broderick. It contains practical tips and insights on how to deal with matters that are often unique to professional services firms. It offers guidance from leaders of some of the world's most successful professional services companies.
Someone you would most like to have met, living or dead, and why?
Steve Jobs. I am an Apple junkie all the way!
What do you consider to be your major achievement (in life or business)?
Convincing my wife to marry me and then stay beside me, no matter where life has taken me.
Who or what do you think is overrated?
Picasso, caviar, politicians, peas and definitely broccoli.
What mistakes have you made (professional or otherwise) and what did you learn from them?
Accepting at face value that what was told to me was both true and what the person believed. I have learned that, as a leader, one can never assume that what you are hearing is what the person saying it actually thinks and believes.
Which one piece of wisdom would you pass on to your successor?
Make time for yourself and your family.
Who has been your inspiration professionally?
No-one.
How would you like to be remembered after your retirement?
I hate to even think that far ahead!
Do you have a quote or motto you live (or work) by:
No matter who you are, you are never as important or indispensable as you think.
Rob Otty is the managing director of Norton Rose South Africa and is based in Johannesburg. Prior to being appointed MD, Rob practised as a litigation lawyer specialising in insurance law and professional indemnity insurance litigation, as well as in engineering and all construction-related litigation. http://www.nortonrose.com/
