Magic Chats: Rael Levitt’s book on finding tenacity after the tsunami

Entrepreneur, author and business leader Rael Levitt is the guest on this week’s episode of Magic Chats with host Viasen Soobramoney.

Levitt has recently published an autobiographical book ‘It Takes a Tsunami’, where he shares his personal story of facing adversities and drawing lessons from them.

“The book is a metaphor for catastrophe or for problems that we have in our lives. But the truth is, I actually was in the real tsunami in 2004 in Thailand. And then about 10 years ago I was in a media tsunami. The name of the book comes from dealing with both of those two tsunamis, and the lessons that come out of it,” he said.

As a former high-profile auctioneer, Levitt shares his account of one of the biggest scandals in the South African auction industry that went on to become a media sensation. He was accused by a billionaire bidder of using a ‘ghost bidder’ to push up an auction price.

The media tsunami he faced involved the selling of Quoin Rock in 2011, which also marked the last time he auctioned. He said writing the book was part of his healing process.

“It was therapy by memoir. I’ve been working on this book for ten years. Truth be told, in the beginning, I wanted to tell my side of the story.”

Recalling the real tsunami he faced in Thailand, he said one lesson he learnt from the traumatic experience is that life is fragile. He lost a friend who was tragically killed in the wave that left devastating effects.

“It takes bad times to bring out the best in you. Adversity actually does bring out the best in people,” he said.

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