Kahn shares his insights on how cultural context is critical to individual performance. In this TEDx talk, he explodes the myth that team performance is a function of the talents of individuals and explains how it is rather the environment in which they operate that determines performance.

The key to improving that environment, according to Kahn, is the notion of the freedom to perform  the idea of being able to act autonomously and on the basis of one’s own intuition and judgement.

This, says Kahn, is a particularly human question which is decidedly absent from any environment with rigid rules where machines could conceivably perform better than humans.

Dr Marc Kahn is the global head of Human Resources & Organisational Development for Investec. He is a psychologist (HPCSA & PBA), a chartered business coach (WABC), a certified master coach (IMCSA) and a seasoned management consultant. He is also the author of Coaching on the Axis: Working with Complexity in Business and Executive Coaching.