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 organisations unique needs and objectives.
What are your main career objectives? How do you hope to make a difference?
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.
Please could you tell us a bit about your background – how did you get to this point?
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.
What excites you the most about the work that you do?
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.
What life mantra/inspirational quote do you live by?
A life mantra that I would choose is to “Live every day with intention” – this is something I am mindful of daily.
What 3 tips do you have when it comes to implementing solutions in your field?
- 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.
Have you read any books that have inspired you and your career thus far?
I am an avid reader, so I have read many books that have inspired me in my career thus far. I am currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, and am thoroughly enjoying this book as it’s practical, very engaging and changes your outlook on everyday life – I highly recommend it.
What is your ‘why’ i.e. Bottom line? And how do you stay motivated?
My “why” is to make an impact on those around me. Staying motivated is not always an easy task, we are all human and we all have our good and our bad days, but focusing on my why, and remembering how far I have come, and what I still have left to achieve gets that driving force in me daily.
Outside of work, are you involved in any extracurricular activities and/or community outreach projects?
I have a very soft spot for animals. As someone that grew up with dogs and always had a dog as my best friend, I always support animal shelters i.e. the SPCA. There is a massive need for us as humans to support these causes, for the greater need of innocent animals. I also support Summerhill House, a beautiful NGO for orphaned children on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal
Who or what inspires you on a daily basis?
Most definitely my Mother! She has been an inspiration my entire life as she is resilient, patient and caring and loves with no boundaries. I can only hope that I become more like her every day.
What advice do you have for young women who aspire to work in your industry?
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.
By Charndré Emma Kippie – Top Women
