Have you found the career of your dreams?

Have you found the career of your dreams?

Tower Group CEO, Kerry Morris, shares advice on creating top-class HR solutions

By Charndré Emma Kippie

Kerry Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Tower Group (Pty) Ltd, hails from Durban, Kwa- Zulu Natal, and is incredibly passionate about enabling growth and development in others. With expertise in leadership, recruitment and business process outsourcing, Kerry is the driving force behind Tower Group’s business solutions, and is strategic, flexible and future-focused in all aspects of her career.

Tower Group is one of South Africa’s leading providers of recruitment services and integrated business solutions. The organisation comprehensively analyses client requirements and constructively develops customised recruitment and integrated business solutions to suit any business organisation’s unique needs and objectives.

Q: What are your main career objectives? How do you hope to make a difference?

A: My main career objectives are to continue building a company that contributes towards growth and transformation in South Africa and that continues changing peoples’ lives and making a lasting impact.

Q: Please could you tell us a bit about your background – how did you get to this point?

A: Since leaving school, I have been in the Recruitment industry for 21 years, and it has become a deep passion of mine. I have always had a natural entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to grow and develop.

Q: What excites you the most about the work that you do?

A: As a leader, the part that excites me the most about my job is being able to change someone’s life by helping them find the career of their dreams. Being in a position to encourage and enable growth and development in others, and to watch them continue to succeed in life, is extremely rewarding for me.

Q: What life mantra/ inspirational quote do you live by?

A: A life mantra that I would choose is to “Live every day with intention” – this is something I am mindful of daily.

Q: What 3 tips do you have when it comes to implementing solutions in your field?

A: • Be crystal clear about the solution and what the final product looks like once implemented.

• Remain fluid when implementing any solutions in your business. When implementing a solution, it may not always work the first time around, however, instead of looking at this as a failure, adjust the implementation plan and try another method.

• The implementation team is critical to the fulfilment of solutions. Ensure that you have the very best people in your implementation team, regardless of their role within the business – often the best skills / ideas will come from people not employed in that specific area of the business.

Remain fluid when implementing any solutions in your business.

Q: Have you read any booksthat have inspired you andyour career thus far?

A: I am an avid reader, so I haveread many books that haveinspired me in my career thus far.I am currently reading AtomicHabits by James Clear, and amthoroughly enjoying this book asit’s practical, very engaging andchanges your outlook on everydaylife – I highly recommend it.

Q: What is your ‘why’i.e. Bottom line? And how doyou stay motivated?

A: My “why” is to make an impacton those around me. Stayingmotivated is not always an easytask, we are all human and weall have our good and our baddays, but focusing on my why,and remembering how far I havecome, and what I still have left toachieve gets that driving force inme daily.

Be clear on who you want to be, and what you want to achieve in life and then go for it.

Q: Outside of work, are youinvolved in any extracurricularactivities and/or communityoutreach projects?A: I have a very soft spot foranimals. As someone that grewup with dogs and always had adog as my best friend, I alwayssupport animal shelters i.e. theSPCA. There is a massive needfor us as humans to supportthese causes, for the greaterneed of innocent animals. I alsosupport Summerhill House, abeautiful NGO for orphanedchildren on the North Coast ofKwa-Zulu Natal.

Q: Who or what inspires you on adaily basis?

A: Most definitely my Mother! Shehas been an inspiration my entirelife as she is resilient, patientand caring and loves with noboundaries. I can only hope that Ibecome more like her every day.

Q: What advice do you have foryoung women who aspire to workin your industry?

A: Be clear on who you want to be, and what you want to achieve in life and then go for it. Find someone that can mentor you. I was very fortunate to have had an older female mentor early on in my career which most definitely gave me invaluable life experiences that I wouldn’t have got elsewhere.