The Training Clipboard

A newsletter of skill-building tools and ideas from Keynote Speaker and Training Consultant,

Morris Taylor

June/July 2008

 In this issue:

* Eight Lessons of Leadership

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Motivation and Leadership -

Eight Lessons of Leadership

This July, Nelson Mandela will celebrate his 90th birthday.  For

his courageous fight to liberate South Africa from apartheid and

to simultaneously help unite the country's whites and blacks to a

degree that could scarcely be imagined only a few short decades

ago, he is hailed by many as the world's greatest moral leader.

In an interview published in the July 21 issue of Time magazine,

writer Richard Stengel explored what he calls Mandela's "eight

lessons of leadership."  I encourage you to look up this

insightful article and read it in its entirety, but in the

meantime I want to share with you in an abbreviated form my

understanding of those lessons and how they can impact each of

our personal efforts to become more effective and influential in

our role as leaders.  Here, then, are Nelson Mandela's eight

lessons of leadership.

1. Courage is not the absence of fear - it's inspiring others to

move beyond it. 

There are times when a leader will feel afraid, but s/he must

give the appearance of being brave, calm and confident.  This act

of appearing fearless inevitably inspires others.  One example

that immediately comes to my mind is the massive amount of change

that we currently see occurring in organizations all around the

country.  The ability of leaders to convey assurance and

confidence to their subordinates -- in spite of any personal

emotional turmoil they may be experiencing -- is essential to

weathering the storms of change and uncertainly.

2. Lead from the front - but don't leave your base behind. 

As they move forward, leaders must take their support base along

with them.  Sometimes this may require you to slow down in order

to meet with individuals and small groups to explain your

strategies and persuade them to adopt your vision.  Otherwise,

you may one day turn around and find that your one-time

supporters have abandoned you.

3. Lead from the back - and let others believe they are in

front. 

When meeting with their constituents, wise leaders allow their

supporters to speak first and are careful not to interject their

own thoughts and opinions too early.  By waiting until the end

of the debate, they are able to methodically summarize

everyone's points of view and then share their own thoughts,

subtly steering the decision in the best possible direction.  As

Mandela says, "It is wise to persuade people to do things and

make them think it was their own idea."  In addition to being an

important leadership tactic, this approach is also frequently

utilized by individuals who are called uipon to coach or counsel

others.

4. Know your enemy - and learn about his favorite sport. 

During the 1960's, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language

of his white South African oppressors, because he wanted to

understand the Afrikaner's worldview.  He saw learning the

language as a way to understand their strengths and weaknesses

and formulate his tactics accordingly, but he also felt it was a

way to ingratiate himself with his enemy.  As a result, his

staunchest opponents were impressed by his willingness to speak

Afrikaans and by his knowledge of Afrikaner history.  Mandela

also brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners'

favorite sport, and engaged in detailed conversations on the

subject with his captors.  Later while in prison, he used his

experience as a lawyer to help his warders with their assorted

legal problems.  Both Mandela and those enemies he interacted

with benefited greatly from this strategy as it provided both

sides with an opportunity to see the other with new eyes.

Many of you will recognize this strategy as one that is also

essential when preparing for a negotiation.  When negotiating,

it's important to know what you want and why you want it, but

it's equally important (and wise) to understand what the other

side wants and why he wants it.

5. Keep your friends close - and your rivals even closer. 

Mandela made it a point to interact, both socially and

politically, with people he did not wholly trust.  He invited

them to dinner, consulted regularly with them, recognized

significant events in their lives and often gave them gifts.

Later, as the first President of a unified South Africa, he even

went so far as to appoint some of the leaders who had kept him in

prison to his Cabinet, even though several of them were among

those whom he most deeply despised.  Mandela believed this was an

effective way of controlling his rivals.  He reasoned that if

they were included in his circle of influence, they were less

dangerous. He believed the way to deal with those he didn't trust

was to neutralize them with charm.  This strategy has many

implications in the typical corporate environment where

departmental silos are common, and protecting one's "fiefdom"

and its related knowledge sometimes jeopardizes the

organization's overall success.  How might we go about

"charming" our business rivals?

6. Appearances matter - and remember to smile. 

Mandela was always careful to dress appropriately, whether he was

an aspiring but poor law student, the iconic leader of the

African National Congress, or the retired president of apartheid-

free South Africa.  He recognized the relationship between dress

and appearance and a leader's ability to influence and persuade

others.  In addition, and in spite of the many difficult

challenges along his personal road to freedom, he always wore a

smile.  His enemies perceived his positive and welcoming

continence as evidence that he was sympathetic to their concerns;

his supporters saw it as the sign of a man who was confidently

determined to triumph over any and all odds.

7. Nothing is black or white. 

Nothing is ever as straightforward as it initially looks, and

successful leaders are comfortable with contradiction.  They

recognize that life is never either/or.  Issues are always filled

with a host of competing factors that must be fully considered

in order to choose the most appropriate course of action.  For

his part, Mandela was a pragmatist.  Although he was clearly

against apartheid, he knew that its causes were complex,

involving a host of historical, sociological and psychological

factors.   To negotiate these complexities, he regularly asked

himself, "What is the end that I seek and what is the most

practical way to get there?"  These are always essential

questions for any leader to consider when making critical

decisions.

8. Quitting is leading, too. 

Mandela understood the importance of knowing when and how 

to give up on a failed idea or relationship.  During his career

there were a handful of issues he championed that he later

abandoned because they did not receive the popular support

he had hoped for. 

In a similar fashion, Mandela also knew that leaders lead as

much by what they choose not to do as what they do.  Largely

because of this, he refused to accept the suggestion that he

become his country's President for life.  He felt it was

important to allow the democracy he fought to achieve to take

its natural course, and he believed the best way to do this

was to turn over the political reins to his newly united

countrymen.  Hence, Nelson Mandela is today recognized as the

man who gave birth to South Africa but refused to hold it

hostage.

Nelson Mandela's leadership philosophy was forged over 60 years

of political struggle and personal sacrifice.  Fortunately, you

and I can implement and benefit from his lessons in work

environments that involve much less personal risk, and with the

assurance that the strategies are sound, tested, and have proven

to be unquestionably effective under even the most adverse

circumstances.

Yes, I'd say we are quite fortunate indeed.  Thank you, Mr.

Mandela.

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Quotes of the month

"Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality."

- Jules de Gaultier

"I will not let anyone walk though my mind with their dirty

feet."

- Mahatma Gandhi

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