Bernadette BoasExecutive Leadership Coach, Trainer and Speaker, Ball of Fire Coaching · Become the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow and No One Can Overlook.

Sawubona: Seeing Others to Transform Your Organization

31 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this keynote excerpt, the speaker introduces the Sawubona (or Sabona) concept—meaning “I see you”—and argues that when organizations truly see and accept individuals for who they are, a reciprocal dynamic of mutual seeing and acceptance emerges. This shift changes conversations from lecturing to listening and learning. The speaker highlights that millennials repeatedly express three core workplace needs: to feel heard, to use their gifts, and to have meaning and purpose. When the speaker polls other generations, every hand is raised, demonstrating that these are not generational preferences but universal human needs. The overall claim is that embracing the Sawubona principle can transform organizational culture by fulfilling these fundamental needs across all ages.

Chapters

So what is it about sabona that could transform organizations? Sure. So sabona means I see you. And we have found that when we see and accept people for who they are, they in return see and accept us for who we are. And a different conversation unfolds, not one where we're lecturing to each other, but one where we're listening and learning from each other. I have found in all my conversations as I go do keynote speaking to groups of people, millennials will come up to me and they'll tell me many needs, but the 3 needs that keep echoing is they want to feel heard, they wanna use their gifts, and they wanna have meaning and purpose in their lives. Now you have to understand when I asked the other generations in the audience, how many of you want that too? Every hand goes up because it's not a generational need. It's a human need.