Leaders are defined differently to managers and true leaders are rare in most industries. To be recognised by peers and colleagues as an established leader in the ICT industry, with such industry veterans as Henry Ferreira saying “Paul is an excellent leader and manager and displays an incredible work-ethic.”-Henry Ferreira, CEO, Pinnacle Holdingsis highly gratifying. As a professional senior management leader in the ICT industry with over 20 years of varied experience, I am able to lead companies and teams in this complex and highly dynamic sector. In being in the business for so long I have witnessed the most disruptive technology revolutions such as client/server, Y2k and the advent of the Internet and I excitedly look forward to the most pervasively radical change to date, the “Internet of Things”.The changing nature of the business in RSA today has called on my entrepreneurial nature many times and has resulted in many Industry and Personal awards. In April 2016 my unique abilities and experience were recognised with an appointment as a Director of South Africa Day, a Business and Government initiative aimed at recognising and celebrating what it means to be South African. This non-profit initiative is due to launch officially later this year and has the patronage of such luminaries as Advocate George Bizos and Ahmed Kathrada.I am the owner of The Influence Academy, an educational and consulting company dedicated to the teaching of the science of influence and persuasion to companies and individuals. Understanding the psychology and practice of this ancient art has been an obsessive passion for over 15 years. I have developed a number of talks, training and consulting aimed at demystifying the power of influence, thus enabling individuals, companies and associations to both influence and persuade far more effectively by following a number of simple rules.