Janet du Preez, creative visionary, owner and lead facilitator of Tools of Greatness, had a wonderfully rich upbringing, resulting in a deeply adventurous spirit, a fascination with the diversity of human experience and a great sense of awe at the miracle of life, creativity and teamwork. Before turning 18 she had attended 6 different schools, lived on 2 continents, in 3 countries, 6 cities and at least 10 different houses. Although she has been physically settled in Johannesburg since 1978, she has turned her attention from geographic adventure to the exploration of human behaviour and personal and business effectiveness.

Janet is uniquely qualified with masters level studies in health sciences, psychology and business, to understand the psychological and practical systems which underlie behaviour and outcomes. Her broad-based work experience includes time spent in governmental, non-profit and volunteer organisations, small, medium and corporate businesses, service and trade enterprises, retail, financial and medical industries. She has worked with children and adults, in roles as diverse as child development and medical care, credit control, call-centre team leadership, sales, customer service, mid-level management and executive leadership. A Gallup-trained Strengths Performance Consultant for individuals and teams, she describes herself as a strategic maximiser and change protagonist, constantly alert for good people, good ideas and good systems which can be made even more effective. She has a deep love for people and places huge value on both their extraordinary individuality and synergistic potential. Janet’s own fascination with learning and creativity provides a wealth of diverse knowledge upon which she draws, as required, with her emphasis being on sustainable, practical application rather than adding to information overload. It also drives her to utilise extremely creative teaching and facilitation techniques and to prize enjoyable, interactive and participative transformational experiences over formal unidirectional training approaches.

Janet’s organisational development paradigms are strongly informed by her medical background which provided her with deep insight into the challenges of managing dynamic systems towards optimal health and effectiveness. She is the Chairman of the Gauteng Branch of the South African Organisation Development Network and is on the Academic Board and Faculty of the Academy for Organisational Change.

Tools of Greatness is dedicated to providing human capital and organisational development resources to individuals, teams, organisations and communities which will promote their effectiveness.