BIOGRAPHY

Petro du Pisani started her career the way most geophysicists do: with a degree that took some explaining at family dinners (Exploration Geophysics and Mathematics, since you’re asking) and a deep, genuine curiosity about what lies beneath the surface.

What followed was a 25-year career in the mining industry that she did not entirely plan. From exploration geophysicist at BHP Billiton, conducting field surveys across South Africa, Zambia and China, to Senior Research Geophysicist at the CSIR specialising in borehole radar technology; from Principal Geophysicist at Anglo American to heading up business improvement and change management programmes across four continents.

Somewhere along the way, she also completed an Executive MBA with distinction at UCT, chaired Women in Mining South Africa, and became one of the WIM100, the world’s 100 most influential women in the global mining and metals sector.

Her MBA research looked at the role of leadership in reducing fatalities in South African mining. (Being on the CEO’s Elimination of fatalities task force at Anglo American was a deeply meaningful part of her career)

In 2024 she took a conscious sabbatical, launched On Change, her executive and leadership coaching practice, and started asking a question that eventually became this keynote: why had no one pointed out earlier that everything geophysics had taught her, about separating signal from noise, building models with incomplete data, and making decisions when the picture is still fuzzy, was basically a masterclass in leadership?

She is still working that out. This talk is part of the process.

Petro is a Member of the International Coaching Federation, an External Examiner for the UCT Executive MBA programme, and host of the award-winning On Change podcast.

Quote “Your geophysics training is not just a qualification. It is a way of thinking. And that way of thinking will be useful for the rest of your career, in ways you haven’t imagined yet.”