Tracy du Randt of NationBuild shows SMB owners and solopreneurs how to break misalignment, hire smarter, and build teams that actually perform.
GROWTH PILLAR: Leadership & Ops
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Corporate escapees / Leaders building teams
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: How to spot misalignment before it costs you — in hiring, in leadership, and in your own career path.
Most people don't quit bad jobs. They quit misalignment.
Tracy du Randt knows this firsthand. A car accident in South Africa — 72 hours, one suit, and 6,000 rand — pushed her straight into recruitment without a plan. Two decades later she's the founder and CEO of NationBuild, a global talent strategy and coaching firm helping businesses hire faster, lead better, and grow with intention.
In this episode Tracy breaks down what alignment actually means in business — not the buzzword version, but the practical daily discipline of knowing who you are, what you need, and who belongs on your team. She covers the costly gap between filling a role and finding the right person, why the next generation of workers struggles to communicate in interviews, and how her coaching approach has helped organizations reach 33% growth.
Key topics covered:
Connect with Tracy: NationBuild website | LinkedIn | NationBuild Blog
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Bernie (00:05)
Question to the listener. Are you stuck in a role, a business or a career path that drains you instead of energizing you?
And you have no idea how to align your work with who you really are. That's exactly what our guest dives into in this episode. She shows you how to turn breakdown moments, stalled careers, and misaligned hiring decisions into a real direction, renewed confidence, and high performance teams. Our guest today is Tracy du Randt from NationBuild. She's the founder and CEO of NationBuild, a seasoned talent strategist with more than two decades of experience in global recruitment, HR consulting,
executive search. industry began unexpectedly after a life-changing car accident pushed her to choose work over going home. choice that led her straight into recruitment before she even knew
what the field truly was. Since then, she's built a career helping companies across technology, data science, AI, fintech, manufacturing, and healthcare attract high performing hard to find talent. Tracy has led data-driven hiring strategies, scale teams, and embedded AI powered recruitment models for organizations including Zindi, Africa, DAV, and AdCorp, Terry Labs, and NationBuild TalentBuild.
Known for her hands-on human-centered leadership style, she believes recruitment is less about filling roles, more about aligning people, processes, and potential to move organizations forward. Today, she continues to partner with companies seeking strategic and recruitment leadership, operational excellence, a deep understanding of talent ecosystems, inspired by role models like Elon Musk and Steven Bartlett. Tracy.
Absolute pleasure having you here. Welcome and do you have a favorite quote or saying?
Tracy (01:45)
Thank you, Bernie. And thank you, Wayne. The favorite quote I have is from Confucius, who was 300 BC. And he said, if you believe you can, or if you believe you can't, you're right. And it's really true. So that's a quote that I often live by when I have to pull myself up by my bootstraps. If you believe me, it's going to be a bad day, or it turns out to what you're aiming at. That's my favorite quote.
Bernie (02:13)
So when was the first moment when the light bulb came on high? I'm aligned in what I'm doing and this is working out really well in life. When did you first realize, hey, hang on a minute, let's catch that bus.
Tracy (02:25)
You know what is so interesting, and this is why energy and what you're talking about, energy matters. So I grew up and I was on my bicycle ride, go riding around the neighborhood and just really out seeing which houses are for sale. And then I started at the age of four and I put a table down and a phone and I'd be negotiating.
and I'd be playing a game of just done a deal and then I'd go like this. ⁓ I never realized this. I only heard this from my sister. It must have been 15 years ago. But I was really focused on business. So the alignment part came when I kept getting fired in England, where the recruiters would put me into admin jobs.
And then they would say, listen, please type this on Word. And you're supposed to, hi, welcome to ABC. How can I help you? And then you transfer the call. But I wasn't that kind of a person that would just type and then leave it to somebody else. I'd actually read what they were thinking. And then I'd put some notes in the margins and say,
I think you should look at that strategy and you're missing this part because this trend is emerging. So it was the sweetest young souls. I think there was 67 and 72. And they said, Tracy, please, please, please, for the next placement that we will place you at, you just do admin? Don't think. So alignment, I work very spiritual.
different word to use in business. It can be taken in very different ways. When I use the word alignment, I'm talking about the frequency at which you're operating. So alignment means that you wake up in the morning and some people are morning people, some people are evening people, but you put your feet down. What is the first thing that you do? Is it gratitude? Is it going in
taking my phone, what are the habits that you start? Because instinctively, in the first five seconds of your day, you're setting it up. So alignment, for me, is about having the discipline of being silent and reviewing what you're doing. So I see patterns all the time. one thing is around alignment. I get answers when I keep quiet.
So that's where everything started. And I'll go into it a bit later about how the car accident happened and how it ended up in the industry.
Bernie (05:01)
Go for it, you might as well fall right into it!
Tracy (05:04)
Okay, so I I arrived back in South Africa. I'd been in the US and UK and I didn't seem to be flowing very well. And I had 6000 rand in my bank account, which was a lot in 1996 or 1997. And I flew home, but I, I just realized I could not stay home. So I went to go visit my boyfriend and
That was like a five hour drive. And if I had the car accident, then the excess would be 5,500. So no accidents. But anyway, I met him and I put on a few pounds because I was in there in the winter and I'd eaten a lot. And he made me really angry. He just said, no, Trace, I don't want to introduce you to my friends. I'd be quite embarrassed because you've put on pounds. So lose it. Lose it first. Anyway.
So I was driving and you guys talk in miles and we talk in kilometers. And I was in a 60 zone and there was a car that hit me oncoming at 160 kilometers an hour. I don't know how much that is in miles, but it's pretty darn fast because it crushed the car from the bottom to the side to the bottom to underneath. And I got out and I called
my boyfriend at that stage said, listen, can you help me? And he said, why, what's happened? And I just explained and he said, oh, well, good luck with that. So I was in a place of nowhere with a telephone. There used to be telephones that you would actually put money and coins in and you could phone someone. So I phoned my sister in London and I said to her, what do you think I should do? So she said, press, got one teacher, you go back home or you find a job.
And so absolutely as God is my witness, I am not going home. I am. I've got 72 hours before they take the five five. So I rented a car. I got a friend of mine from university. His car could barely go about 50 miles, but he came out and he got me back a friend, allowed me to stand on couch for a week. And I just, I literally went for interviews. I dressed, I had one suit. I dressed and I got into recruitment.
And I've got a job offer and I'm like, yay. And then I thought, okay, I don't know what recruitment is. So what is it? So my, manager at that stage, it's her hard works is you've got to do billing. think of any, any, any kind of product. If you're selling a product, if you're selling a service, you you've got to do an oil sing. So basically they would say, um, here's a desk, here's a phone. Go sell.
So she trained me, but I still had no clue of what they had to do. So what I decided to do was I decided to wake up every morning at 3 a.m. and then go and study. It was still in the FAX days. We had internet, but it was in the FAX days. And then I'd study up what is Delphi? What is a programming language? What is that? And long story being short, I self-taught myself.
I would make sure that and also we had target boards. The one thing that I have to say is that I was not a team player at all, which frustrated the heck out of the team because they would come every morning and wanted to go, yay, well done. This excellent. We're all revving up for the day. It's going to be great. And I would say, I don't want to be in the meeting. There's no point. And I'd close my door and I'd focus, but I would, I would literally pace. So.
A normal biller, about 50k a month, my billings were 250k a month. And then it started increasing. So they gave trips and they gave awards, but that wasn't what was driving me. I had a countdown board of 12 months because I couldn't pay back for the training, which was 5,000. And I was determined that I was going to be a management consultant.
speaker-1 (08:41)
with the
⁓
Tracy (09:03)
So I was counting down and when it got to month 11, I got excited. I got my CV ready and I went out to agencies and they said, you're earning what? And I gave them a number and they said, you've done what? And I gave them the information and they said, no, sorry, you're earning more than most of our CEOs earning because you're coining it. So if you're going to give up, then you're going to go straight back down.
speaker-1 (09:23)
⁓
Tracy (09:32)
And at that stage, actually miss, hadn't yet found my mentor in life, the people that cross your path. And so I chose to stay in recruitment and that led me to, they said, Trace, we want you to also list company, create a brand for us, but just create teams. So what I think did with my team members is I got to know what drives them because everything drives somebody.
And the one thing that people do in sales that they forget is you've got to ask somebody what they are wanting. Don't sell at them. So I did that and then it's going to be a longer thing. But I went on holiday in 2008 because I needed a, I needed a holiday because the CEO of the whole listed brand said, well, you're
You're making over a month with four or five people. Please, can you just come back and make us more? But I said, well, what's the value proposition? What do our clients get? What do our people get? And he said, nothing. You just, get the recognition. And I realized you've missed the mark. So I then went and started my company. And again, the thing with me was I thought, okay, I've got a two year restraint of trade.
speaker-1 (10:24)
at the.
Tracy (10:49)
I'm not going to contact anybody, I always made a rule to save the name, the number and contact email address of every person I've ever dealt with. And I literally started calling. How are you doing? Catching up with you. I've started a company and they would say, well, come and have a cup of coffee with me. And this is the business problem that we have. And long story being short, Traject was created and that was for talent acquisition. And then it moved into
leadership development and then it led into helping small to medium enterprises. And then we flipped again in 2016 where we went global. So we got, we only worked globally in terms of roles and coaching. And then in 2021, I wrapped up that cycle and I focused on going into businesses to help them figure out what, what are we missing? What, what's wrong? Because
Everybody always puts on that mask that says, I'm so excited or I'm so present. And actually inside they're sitting down and thinking, I this. And why do I have this low performer and don't understand what's going on? And my personality is that of when I close the door, nothing is going to leave this office. It's between you and I. And that's how business grew. I trained my people that came into my companies.
speaker-1 (12:06)
And I.
Tracy (12:10)
I trained them to be better than I could be. And if you look at them, many of them are out of the country. They're in different countries now running their own businesses. So very long-winded way of answering your question.
Bernie (12:23)
the first year I was doing this podcast, I'd meet a guest and I said, so what have you learned that's really instructed you? And then I realized what the question I wasn't asking was more important. What did you have to unlearn that really changed things? So why don't you tell me what you had to unlearn to get where you are?
Tracy (12:40)
had to unlearn being an introvert because I never wanted to be on camera. I never wanted to go to company functions. I never wanted to talk to people. It actually scared me and made me nauseous. So had to unlearn that. And the minute that I did that,
But I always make sure that I would be, I would never sit. I would always stand and pace. So I'd have earphones in my ears. And I remember the first CEO of a listed entity, I had to prime him on a candidate before he was about to meet him. And he said, young lady, what are you doing?
speaker-1 (13:19)
I've.
Tracy (13:20)
I'm CEO of the solicitor company and I know exactly who I'm seeing tomorrow. And I said to him, respectfully, sir, that's what you see on paper. That's not why I'm telling you that he's the placement. So I did everything either way around and I had to unlearn being an introvert.
Bernie (13:35)
Wow. So that change, and you're also looking at people and making that assessment going high. Here's not only the change, but here's also the potential. there's two components there. One, I know, let's do a change, and this is where you're going to thrive, be in alignment. How long does that cycle take? How long is it? How does that process, is it tomorrow?
the switch is flipped on or is it a do you work over over a period of time, depending on on the who the client is or what's the scope.
Tracy (14:06)
So it depends on if I'm running a project or if we're dealing with recruiting. So everything is basically anything that I can automate, I do automate. But change, enough, and this is the funny thing about change, you've got to want it. Because I've sat where people have got the money in the bank, the board signed off, Exco signed off. They want to change.
But it's getting them to change. And that's the one thing that you've got to understand with people. It's exactly like Tony Robbins will say, when he will jump up and down and go and have an ice bath. You've got to want to change. So for me, when I'm sitting with an individual or a stakeholder or a business, I want to know what would you rather be doing than what you're doing right now? Because if we stay where we're at,
you're going to be in that seat for a number of years. If that's what you want to do, then change management is not going to execute. However, if there is a reason that you want to exit and you want to exit on a high, then we need this change. So it's got to make sense. You meet somebody where they're at. It's like a date. So all my first meetings with people when they talk about change, I always want to know why. And I'll remember one of the
Billion of companies came to me and they said, listen, here's a really amazing team, but we need you to go in and just help them build their business. So I walked in and the first thing that I could see from the two was Stanton Pelay and Leonie Sonia. They did this.
speaker-1 (15:43)
when I woke.
Tracy (15:44)
saying, okay, so what are going to teach me? I started laughing and I said, I'm going to teach you nothing. You guys had the vision to create this business. So yeah, let's just first take a step back and tell me what you're doing. And as we were talking, my first question was, why are you doing this? Why does it energize you or does it?
speaker-1 (15:47)
and
Tracy (16:08)
Are you trying to make a paycheck? Why are you doing this? And they said, no, but we've got a passion for what we're doing. And what we realized is both of them wanted to exit at the same level. But the problem was the CEO was passionate about process and the COO was passionate about sales, but they were in the wrong positions. So we had to switch them. And as you switch them,
They started to be in their flow and then suddenly time would go by and they weren't counting it and looking at the bank account and counting it and looking at the bank account. They just, got in flow. And as they did within less than a month, they had built $325 million based on their sales and their products, because it's about how do you influence people? You make it about them. And you've also,
speaker-1 (16:46)
⁓
And.
Tracy (17:03)
Also, it's the tone of how you come across because you can meet somebody and go, Hi, my name is Tracy. I'm here to change your life. mean, really, really by anything from somebody that sounds like that. So yeah, that's how I normally work with individuals, but I explain to them, I'm not here to make you comfortable. I'm here to make you uncomfortable so that you can be super comfortable and be in
If you want to have your pension earlier, if you want to get out of the business world at 50 or at 45, whatever, work with me. But if you want to stay where you're at, we're not going to get anywhere.
speaker-1 (17:38)
then.
Bernie (17:42)
That presentation of the person you didn't think would sell, you'd be amazing if the product you were selling was Quaalutes. That would work.
Tracy (17:51)
The heck is Quaaludes?
Bernie (17:52)
It's a hallucinogenic drug. was a bad joke. By the way, Canadians are, we think, in a metric tube. Woohoo!
speaker-1 (17:59)
Okay.
Tracy (18:00)
I'd be excellent at selling kweiludes and I'd be excellent at selling religion if I had to because people buy it. They like rules. So they don't question anything. I question everything. That's why people say, Tracy, don't come to the, what do you call it, bribe or because I get very irritated if I've got to sit around for four hours talking about nothing. ⁓ need to be
speaker-1 (18:18)
⁓
Tracy (18:24)
talking about something and engaging with people. So I normally just say, ⁓ do you have children? And that's my way to just make sure that I can go somewhere else in my head and they can feel very welcome.
Bernie (18:35)
You've inspired me, I'm starting a religion about Queloads! Woo!
Tracy (18:39)
Go
away, go away,
speaker-1 (18:42)
Thanks.
Excellent.
Bernie (18:45)
I really like is ⁓ when you talk about misalignment, the two obvious misalignments are you're fired and you've had a heart attack. Those are the two famous ones. What are the early signs that you can spot before they burn the house down?
Tracy (19:00)
If it's somebody I don't know, then there's something. So if it's somebody that I don't know and I've entered into this space and I need to be able to answer this, what there is, you know the saying gut instinct. Yeah. Under a man's pectoral muscles and under a woman just underneath her breast is actually, it's a link to, it's a brain.
It's a sensory brain that links up with the top of your brain, but it's got a really good gut instinct. So I ⁓ often use that if I haven't met the person before, but because I don't have background history, and then I'll start to see that they sluggish or they're not making eye contact or they disengaged. it's many seconds that it happens.
And that's why people will say, Jesus man, when we're buying a house, I don't know, but I walked into that house and I got that, I didn't get the great feeling, but I walked into this one and it's just shining. And the minute that I go there, I have, and because I've died and I've come back with a gift to be able to read and understand people, I literally make an appointment with that person so that it's, and it ends up being something that's either,
relevant to change in the business or I don't feel good enough or I'm not able to make this or give them a safe space to talk. So that's how I normally deal with people that are misaligned and they don't necessarily know the answers. So what I normally do is I will just and it's very strange, I will just close my eyes for three seconds and I'll just ask what's the answer and it'll come through.
That's why it's something strange, but the Akashic records, have you ever heard of that?
Yep. So allegedly the occasion records was everything that consciousness God created and it turned out to be written in a book, but it sank like Atlantis, but it has been found, but nobody knows where it is. And that when I talk about alignment, I'm talking about, I get a download of information. It's if you ever watched Abraham Hicks,
and you get a download of info, I'll get a yes, yes, yes, and then I'll go forward. And if I get no, then I stop. And it's amazing. It's amazing how long it actually lasts with that person. And it's also what I've learned. And this is the other thing. Tech is really great, but it doesn't, it actually creates more problems than we imagine because you can actually offend somebody on a tech.
like WhatsApp, somebody can say just not today. And you mean well, you weren't being sarcastic, but the person receiving it takes it to heart and says, they've been being rude, I'm not going to get back to her. yeah, I hope I'm answering your question.
speaker-1 (21:43)
⁓
Bernie (21:55)
When you're talking to somebody, sometimes if someone's up for change, there's a desire. And then sometimes the desire is not really truly aligned to their core. It's sort of like, I wouldn't mind owning a Bugatti and was whipping down the highway. just is, they don't have the skillsets to keep the car on the deck and without it.
Maybe perhaps doing 160 kilometers on the wrong lane and that they were driving slow. How do you rectify where the person has a desire and where they should be sitting? Obviously, you can't force a horse to drink water, but how do you get them to go light bulb? This is where it should be. actually, you're going to run better that way.
speaker-1 (22:37)
you
Tracy (22:38)
So if I'm meeting people, there's two ways that I do this. if I'm brought into a project or a business in a company to talk about where they're at, I always do assessments with them. There's no right or wrong, but just assessments in terms of where they're at so that I can get face time with each person individually.
In a group situation, what I normally do is I normally say to them, have any of you, do any of you feel times in the day that you have, you're low on energy? You just, you just feel, I have to do this again? And then some people in the group don't want to answer you on it. And so what I explained to them is I give them a very real story. So, have you ever heard Jack and Jill?
Okay, I can't remember the words right now, but if one of you could AI write it. I think it says Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail of water. Jack fell down, hit his crown and something about the water. I can't remember what it is.
Bernie (23:37)
Bill
came tumbling after.
Tracy (23:39)
There we go. Okay. And I'm saying to them, when your energy is dipping, your alignment is telling you you're not in the right place. You cannot stay in that place because it's going to kill you and you're going to continually learn the lesson. And when I say to people, if you are ready for change, because it's going to take effort, it's going to take practice and it's going to take
Have a sense of humor, have laughter, but it is gonna hurt because some of the stuff you're gonna have to do, you don't wanna do because we're comfortable. We're all, we're human beings. We love comfort. And normally I'll only get one or two or three people that'll say, listen, please help me. I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do. The how will come, but what I need to do is I need to work with them on, are we grounded?
Where are we? Where are you at financially? Where are you at mentally? Where are you at in your family? Where are you at in your relationships? Where are you at? And then what are you expecting? Because very often they expect that somebody else needs to save me. They don't realize that they've got to go inside with themselves to save them. So I set it up so that we've got very clear agendas that we do, but I also do what I call shock time.
And I said to them, if you stay, and it can be on a personal level, so they're overweight, if you continue to do and eat what you are eating right now, from a year from now, are you still going to love the person in the mirror?
speaker-1 (25:09)
or
Tracy (25:10)
If you are prepared to have something that's reasonable that you know you can apply a year from now, where are you going to be? And the answer is always, I don't want to be in the same place because it's going to take me. I don't want to be fat or I don't want to be in this position anymore, but I'm afraid of what's out there because I don't know what is out there. And that's the easy part is we plan how we're going to grow your career, how we're going to help your business, how we're going to do that.
But at the end of the day, really even marry you married people will say marriage isn't easy because sometimes you want to say something to your spouse, but you can't say it to them because you'll offend them and you want to stay married. once laughed with a colleague of mine, said, Trace, I'm short. My wife may not like it sometimes, but I love her. So I'd rather be married than right. So.
speaker-1 (25:56)
I love my wife.
Tracy (26:03)
At that stage, people, they call themselves, I'm stuck. And that's who I deal with. I work with people who are stuck and businesses who are stuck because I'm getting them out of the quicksand. What they don't realize is you've got to start visualizing. What was the name of the car, Bernie, that you were talking about?
Bernie (26:22)
⁓ the ⁓ my gosh. Bugatti, yes. Well, it's a motorcycle too.
Tracy (26:24)
Bugatti.
Okay, but give me give me a car and give me a color.
Bernie (26:30)
Okay, Makati, it'll be a gray-red shrimp.
Tracy (26:33)
Okay, great. So you decide that that's what you want. Okay, for some reason in life, you feel that that's what you you want parked and you want to be able to shut off. The minute your mind does that, your conscious mind will block it. That's nice, Bernie, but you you can't afford it or it's not good on petrol fuel or whatever. But your subconscious doesn't know the difference. So what you then do at night,
speaker-1 (26:47)
So.
Tracy (26:58)
before you go to sleep, as you say, I'm really comfortable in my Bugatti and I'm going to have a good drive tomorrow.
Bernie (27:05)
don't know if I'm gonna fit though. I don't know if I physically can fit in the car. It's meant for sleek. So, this is a side. ⁓
Tracy (27:12)
Then
get the bike version. Then you get the bike version. But what you'll start to see is you will see Bugattis everywhere. If you're that focused, you'll see it's color red. I'm seeing it here. I'm seeing it there. Why am I seeing a Bugatti at this date and time? It's like I've got guides and I get tapped on the shoulder. So it sounds very esoteric. for your listeners, maybe it's woo woo.
But so I was driving at a stage, my CLK Mercedes, and I love, love, Nickelback. So every time I was finished with something, then I'd put Nickelback on and I'd play it. Every time Bernie and Wayne, I played Nickelback, my guide would switch the radio off. Every time I had to say to him,
Vincent stopped switching off my music. I want to listen to Nickelback. And it turned out because he was a 16 year old boy when he died and then he decided to be a guide. So I know it sounds woo woo and you can edit that out. But the point being is that if you have got your subconscious to buy in and that's why it's so important that your phone is not the first thing you reach out to in the morning and at night.
that you just say, listen, the Bugatti, look forward to it and I thank you, Universe, for providing it for me. You'll start to see it and you'll start to attract it. But that's why people have to stop. If you don't have, if you're not driving your own car in your head with your mind, somebody else is going to be driving your life for you. So you might as well drive your own life. And that's how people create whatever they want to create.
Bernie (28:51)
and the scientists would call it the joy of reticular filter. Another story where we see what we expect, expect what we see. Yes. You're very intuitive. You rely heavily on discernment. And now you're going to tell me about AI. There's either brilliance or a train wreck there. One or the other. Help me.
Tracy (29:10)
There's actually a third option, which is AI can just basically take out planet. So AI, what's happening, and this is why I'm saying, you've got Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? most people reach self-actualization, and you can't hold it against somebody to where they're at in life. So when it comes to AI,
AI, it depends on what they're using it for. do you know what a chassis is?
Bernie (29:39)
Yes.
Tracy (29:39)
Okay, so for the female people in your podcast, a chassis, how do you explain a chassis to a lady? What's a chassis?
Bernie (29:46)
The thing that the car is built around.
Tracy (29:48)
Great, the frame.
Great. So you've got ⁓ Toyota, for instance, they make a race car that looks at literally it looks like a Tesla where you get in and it's a sports car. And then you get a normal Toyota that's a family car, but it's all it's as the same chassis. So the point that I'm trying to make is that AI is people are using it for to chat, dbt, then they're using it for different areas. My question is what it's.
What are you using it for? Because we're at a point right now where they're saying, it's like a junk in, junk out. AI is a large language models where to date it's only been able to do images and then language. Now you've got small language and now you've got videos. So you've got to decide what it is that you're building because right now it's
People are playing around with it. And then I've dealt with nuclear weapon companies where they're going serious with it. So the idea around AI is most people are on the good side. One of the liberties I met in the UK, her 13 year old daughter is, she's on the spectrum.
speaker-1 (30:44)
⁓
Tracy (30:59)
what do you call it? It's not dyslexia. It's when you are ADD, neurodiversity. So what she did is she put in papers and said, create papers for the following topics. What was it? I think it was algebra and calculus and get the answers for me. And it created that. But what's now going to happen is
Have you ever heard of something called wiping?
Bernie (31:25)
piping?
speaker-1 (31:26)
down.
Tracy (31:27)
not vaping.
Bernie (31:27)
You know, it's no, no puff. The only, the only viper, the only viper I know is a, either it's a car, it's a viper or it's a snake.
Tracy (31:35)
No, so, viping, what's happening now, with the people that actually know how to do this, and they don't have to be programmers, I promise you. Viping is when you utilize AI to build something that's like 3D printers, but you combine different things. So I'll give you a process. So I want to build a AI process
speaker-1 (31:43)
you
Tracy (32:01)
that leads all the way through to making sure that the company that's listed will be making 33 % higher. Okay, so I literally play around with Vyping and what it means is all of the coders, know, people are saying we need coders to create this. You don't, you literally ask it, please code in the following, this is what I need. So you actually create a plan and you ask it.
speaker-1 (32:11)
EBIT.
Tracy (32:27)
And Stephen Bartlett did this. He asked an AI, so how do we make sure that AI doesn't help? How can we end the world using AI? And he kept asking the questions, and then it would come back. And then he'd ask the questions. And then at the end of it, it came up to, you need to have a second AI.
because it's going to be the two AIs fighting and then Earth will probably be taking out the equation. it literally, viping is taking something that should take enormous amounts of time, like nine month project, and you can literally put it down to two days. And that's when you are super clear on what you're doing. I do not code, but I have an entire toolbox of skills where people can walk in and I can say, you need what? Done.
You can need work done, but you've got to be super clear. And that's why I'm saying what be very careful. It comes out of your mouth. Be very careful. What comes out of your head because your AI tool, it's not thinking yet. It's only operating on the information that's in it. But as I've seen with certain companies, there's a company in Switzerland that in the last two years, they have fired.
They started using AI to just replicate skills that they didn't need, including doctors, because one of the areas was healthcare, to get rid of doctors. And in their first year of running AI, they just emulated everything, took all of the information, put it into the system. Second year, the CEO got rid of 33 % of the workforce. Year two, they are now up to 11 % workforce, period.
The company is now making four times as much money as they were before because everything has been automated. So it depends on where you look at it because most people think, chat, GBT. That's what I'm using. Viping is it's it's soldiers. You literally are creating an entire scenario of if you go left, this is what's going to happen. If you go right, this is what's going to happen. So be careful what you put into it. I mean, I've even done it where
find me a man who does this, da da da da, and show it. And I did an AI where I said, okay, but it did a video on me and I'm overweight. So I said, the video was created and I said, no, redo it, but make Tracy thin. And there she was, she was thin and done and it was amazing. So I've been hit on by a number of guys and what I've seen is my first question is,
Can we have a video call? Because I know that if you're in Africa, they think you're stupid. And this one guy sent me a message with him on he said he's Canadian, but he came to South Africa and he's in Cape Town, blah, blah. But he sent a video and his arm kept doing that twice. And hi, Tracy, how was your day? And immediately I knew it was bought. So I said to him, thanks very much. Your AI bot was nice.
But if you actually have the guts, let's have a video call. But otherwise, leave it. So Wayne, think power, people have to realize that we're all affected by it, everybody. And who is it? There's a country that is stopping Facebook and Instagram up until the age of 16 as of the first of January next year.
I can't remember the country, I stand corrected, I'll look it up, but they're stopping it so that kids can't do TikTok, they can't do Instagram, they can't do Facebook, they're blocked from it. So I think it's a good thing, but you've got to be understanding why you're using it and what tools to do.
Bernie (36:13)
⁓ Tracy, it's interesting as you're talking. You mentioned it earlier on the onset of the interview about the boyfriend complaining, ⁓ Tracy, you got to lose weight. And I'm not being a thin person myself at a certain point in time. Sometimes, if you're male, you're male. And this isn't about gender.
Tracy (36:14)
See you
Bernie (36:35)
This is like you are what you are. And if you're happy with what you, where you are, not where you are, but what you are. In other words, know, if I have facial hair, right? So I'm happy with the facial hair. In fact, I keep the facial hair and I could shave it off. So I know I can make that instant change. Is there a part in time where, you know, when you find that sweet spot of who you are,
The people around you may not be, in which case you might have to relocate or adjust who's in your companions around you. Where you are in your best spot, because it aligns well with you. Much like a task, like a job. Is there a way that you go, listen, I appreciate your opinion, but it's an opinion, but it's not me. Do you help the person get to that point where they can go click?
That's nice. Hold that thought. Carry on. I'm in my Bugatti with the red, you know, this gray with the red trim. You know, do you help them get to that point?
Tracy (37:28)
Yes, because it's and you use words like that's interesting idea. That's interesting. It's a new way of thinking of things because people are not used to actually opening their kimono. Truly, we're talking about how I truly feel, you know, deep down where I, you know, I don't go, I go for a beer with my mates or something. I don't even share it with them. But what I've found is I always connect with a human being because they,
I immediately know the sweet spot and that's why my alignment has to be aligned. And I'll always ask the question because I get yeses and nos. And then I'll ask where are we going to go? Because it's not so much about where we're going to go. It's about you've got to love yourself enough because when you open yourself up, it comes back down to that thing that's under your rib cage, your gut instinct. Because when you get there,
You are so free because your mind suddenly can create and you are that's your opinion. As Mel Robbins would say, let them. So if somebody is saying bad things about you, let them. You don't have to see them again, but it's about you'll find that most people don't have deep conversations anymore. They have just how, how is it? I'm so tired from work. I just want to watch television and go to sleep.
So I always walk with them on a path. And yeah, it comes up with different things from divorces to addictions through to just a whole lot of things. But people don't know themselves because they don't ask the questions. They'd be living outside in, not inside out. And my job for them is if it starts knocking, if you start getting that feeling of,
I'm frustrated. I can't do this. Then you know, absolutely, that I promise you, as God is my witness, you are on a trajectory that's going to change your life for the better. But don't wait. Because fear scares people. So I don't come across as a wussy or as a fearful person. I come across as somebody that says, if you don't want to change, that's fine.
and then be who you are because there's so much, there's so much good that you actually bring to the planet and we need people on the frequency. And that's what's going to happen in 2026 is the frequency of people needs to change. Because if you're constantly in moaning mode or doing mode and you're not cognizant of how am I actually good and getting things done, living the life that I want and attracting
speaker-1 (39:40)
them.
Tracy (40:03)
Law of Attraction. How am I going to, it's like what Wayne Dyer used to say.
something to do with, you don't have to do anything with life, life will do it with you and it becomes a flow and it really does. So people allow me in as far as they will and then the rest that comes to it because I've also had clients where they've started it but they are so busy being busy being busy that I let them go and I said, well, come back to me, you know, when you actually want to live the best life and we go from there.
Bernie (40:35)
Tracy, all I can say is wow. Having said that, it's a good wow. Having said that, if a person wants to dive deeper, or do you have a book? Do you have a podcast? Or where do we get ahold of you?
Tracy (40:49)
⁓ that's that I'm busy with it now. So I'm busy with the ebook now and then the podcast. But I've got to set it up and I'm working with international clients because I've reached that point right now where I'm at the T junction and I really know which way I've got to go. But I need to do sustainability. How sustainable can you make it?
So nothing that I can say ⁓ you can reach me, but they can reach me on my email address or on WhatsApp or telegraph. But I do coaching sessions with teams, with individuals. And then yeah, we building the feedback because every time I've taken the feedback from businesses and it seems to be the same thing of replicating that they're not.
You know, they start the day off and then they kick their toe and then suddenly know I'm back into my old habit. So not yet, but it will change in 2026. Thanks, Wayne.
Bernie (41:43)
So Tracy, if someone is looking for work, do they reach out to you and just say, hi, here's my profile? And do you help assess them and then say, listen, I will put you in the roster if something comes along. And if I'm a company also saying I'm looking for this type of individual, this is the nature of our work. So you handle both ends of the spectrum then.
Tracy (42:05)
We do. So the teams are running. So we've got search teams on both sides for the customer. Where I want to be positioned is to actually help the individuals. So we've got from graduate program, when they have a gap year through to, you you've been working for three years, you know, want to make a move. And then companies who are wanting to grow. So ⁓ that's my passion is working with organizations on where they're at.
speaker-1 (42:18)
⁓
Tracy (42:33)
and getting them to 33 % growth, which everybody will say, that's impossible. You can't get that done. So if you send me an email, then I will redirect it. But there's a serious need for the next generation because they grew up pre-COVID times. So their social skills are everything is on the phone, but they don't actually know how to communicate. And that's when they can't get interviews.
speaker-1 (42:47)
in the
Tracy (42:57)
So that's one of the things that we train them on.
Bernie (43:00)
to thank you to Tracy, my co-host Wayne and you the Knack 4 Business listeners. If you found this conversation interesting, you're looking for work, you're looking to hire people, you're trying to find best fit, reach out to Tracy and it's about having your alignment and who you're working with having alignment in that space so that it's a good fit. No point trying to use a left-handed screwdriver if you're always going to go to the right hand.
And if you don't get that joke, well then you should have a chat with Tracy anyhow, because that'll help sort that out for you.