In Zimbabwe and other high-unemployment economies, retention is often treated as proof of strong culture and good leadership. That assumption is dangerously flawed.

In this episode, we unpack why people stay even when they’re disengaged, how labour-market scarcity distorts retention metrics, and why organisations confuse stability with health. We explore how risk-avoidance, delayed talent decisions, and fear of exposure quietly erode capability while headcount remains unchanged.

If your people aren’t leaving, the real question is not why they stay, it’s whether they would choose to stay if they had options.

Staff surveys are supposed to build engagement, but here’s the irony: when handled poorly, they actually create fear and disengagement.

In this episode of People & Platforms, Carlo-Marcel Dube unpacks the hidden dynamics behind staff surveys the promise of anonymity, the fear of reprisal, and the way managers often mishandle team debriefs. Instead of building trust, surveys can erode it when leaders take feedback personally or turn results into blame sessions.

Because surveys don’t build trust. Leaders do.

Performance management is supposed to drive growth, development, and accountability. But let’s be honest in most organisations, it has become compliance theatre.

In this episode of People & Platforms, Carlo-Marcel Dube unpacks why performance management often feels like a corporate game instead of a growth tool.

Key Insight: Performance without learning and development is a dead end.

This is a call-out to HR, managers, and leaders: stop treating performance management as paperwork. Redesign it to create real growth, or accept that you’re running a game no one believes in.

Why do we get nervous around our bosses even when we’ve done nothing wrong? Why do some employees shrink when leaders walk in the room?

In this solo episode, Carlo-Marcel Dube explores the unspoken fear that shapes so many African workplaces. From hierarchy and job insecurity to trauma from past managers, Carlo unpacks how fear is built into the system and what both employees and leaders can do to rebuild trust and safety.

In this People & Platforms episode, Carlo-Marcel Dube unpacks a hard truth every professional must face: potential doesn’t last forever.
Drawing from two eye-opening conversations with senior leaders, he explores how many talented people lose relevance not because they lack skill but because they hold back, stay quiet, and wait to be discovered.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between being talented and being seen, this conversation is your wake-up call. Stop waiting for recognition. Start managing your relevance.

Most organisations say culture is an HR responsibility. That belief is comfortable and dangerously wrong.

In this episode of People & Platforms, Carlo-Marcel Dube dismantles one of the most persistent myths in organisational life: that culture is created by HR policies, engagement surveys, and values statements.

Culture is shaped by leadership behaviour, power dynamics, and what gets tolerated when results are delivered under pressure. It lives in promotions, protection, silence, and consequences not in posters on the wall. This episode explores why culture follows power, not policy and how leadership behaviour teaches people what is safe and what is risky. This is the first episode in the Culture Without Excuses three-part series. If you are a leader, manager, HR professional, or board member, this conversation will challenge how you think about culture, accountability, and responsibility.

I’m breaking down how companies use social media for background checks and why it’s super important to keep your social media posts in check! Don’t let your online presence cost you opportunities!