Standard Bank's Peter Schlebusch shows that bankers are never too busy to lend a hand to the homeless for education
The words 'speed' and 'accuracy' are often those associated with banking. You might think that a leader working in that sector might well have no time to consider those that don't fit this picture. Not so. Standard Bank Group's Peter Schlebusch talks through his motivations for participating in The Sun International CEO SleepOut™ for the second year in a row.
You'd be surprised at just how observant corporate leaders really are.
Take Standard Bank Group Personal and Business Banking CEO, Peter Schlebusch, for instance. Banking is no doubt a very busy sector; it follows thus that a leader in that sector would be incredibly busy that they might not notice others. Not Peter though: “It always saddens me - you see people, how desperate and destitute they are and how tough life must be, living on the pavement. I think it’s an exceptionally hard life and it’s really sad that one feels that it’s these people that are often ostracised from society and having to endure that type of life.”
What is the motivation behind Standard Bank and Peter's participation - two years in a row even - in The Sun International CEO SleepOut™?: “For me, it really is about the awareness. I participated last year and I think it’s raised tremendous awareness and also as one of the most successful fundraising events that we’ve done as a country and as CEOs, so I think it’s really good and I think what it also does is it helps you be much more empathetic in a way, because last year, even though it was a sanitised environment, and it was secure, you can’t really sleep. Although you get warm, you can’t get comfortable: so you don’t sleep at all; and that was a sanitised environment - imagine how much tougher it is for people who are actually alone, sleeping out in the streets?”
Peter joined the Standard Bank Group in 2002 as Director, Retail Products. In January 2006, he was appointed as Deputy Chief Operations Officer. In September 2006, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group's Personal and Business Banking, SA (PBB) and in March 2008 he was appointed Chief Executive of PBB SA. In November 2012, he was appointed Chief Executive of PBB for the Standard Bank Group. He is a member of the Standard Bank Group Executive Committee.
Peter has called on Deputy CEO of First Rand Group, Allan Pullinger to Rise Up To The Challenge #4Leaders4Change