Lazola Tutani grew up in the Eastern Cape raised by his mother, worked weekend night shifts at a petrol station to pay for the half of his engineering degree his bursary didn't cover, and now runs a 245-person business unit for Continental in Sumter, South Carolina — where he is the only African and the only foreigner in the building.
In this episode he tells Justinus Adriaanse and Flip van der Merwe what it actually takes to earn authority over people whose culture isn't yours, why he deliberately studied American college football and joined a local church before he tried to drive change, and what two years in Hanover taught him about the difference between people who seem cold and people who are only warm on the surface.
This is for operators leading teams abroad, South Africans weighing up a move, and anyone who has had to rebuild credibility from zero in a new country. He is also unusually direct about growing up without a father, and about what he is deliberately doing differently with his own son and daughter.
And when asked how you fix a country, his answer is smaller and harder than you expect.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
04:17 The Coach Who Straightened Him Up
08:17 Breaking the Academic Barrier
11:41 Growing Up Without a Father
14:08 Night Shifts to Fund the Degree
16:08 Brotherhood and the Eastern Cape
17:38 From the Factory Floor to Hanover
19:03 Adapting to Germany
21:41 Germany vs America
24:18 Leading 245 Americans
26:50 Sport and Church as the Way In
32:16 Bafana Bafana in Los Angeles
35:24 Ironman as Practice for Work
41:04 Building a Country That Works for Everyone
47:58 The Weight of 2027
Winning The Away Game is brought to you by The Lekker Network. The Lekker Network brings together South Africa's top entrepreneurs, executives, innovators, and everyday people from all over the world to connect, engage, support, do business with each other, and create lasting impact. Find out more at https://thelekkernetwork.com/
Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/26fB2unP9Ih6IA3QkjnGQF?si=4b4380f24a144716
Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/winning-the-away-game/id1853818584
Connect with Justinus:https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinusadriaanse/
Connect with Flip:https://www.linkedin.com/in/flipvandermerwe/
Check out our other channels: Website: https://wtagpodcast.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/winning-the-away-game-podcast/
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Winning The Away Game is produced by Jonathan Warncke Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E%99-jonathan-warncke-45b2095/
Ping Productions: https://www.pingproductions.net/
