Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Nelson Mandela on leadership

The long flight to Greece gave me plenty of time to read through a stack of magazines, including TIME, which has a great piece on Nelson Mandela's eight leadership principles. The lessons and applications are clear for coaches.

[Following are excerpts from the article.]

1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it. Mandela was often afraid during his time underground. "Of course I was afraid!" he would tell me later. It would have been irrational, he suggested, not to be. "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front."

And that's precisely what he learned to do: pretend and, through the act of appearing fearless, inspire others. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear.

2. Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind. Prison gave him the ability to take the long view. It had to; there was no other view possible. He was thinking in terms of not days and weeks but decades. "Things will be better in the long run," he sometimes said. He always played for the long run.

3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. When he finally did speak at meetings [with his staff], he slowly and methodically summarized everyone's points of view and then unfurled his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he wanted without imposing it. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."

4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. This was strategic in two senses: by speaking his opponents' language, he might understand their strengths and weaknesses and formulate tactics accordingly. But he would also be ingratiating himself with his enemy. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players.

5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. Mandela would often invite into his home men he didn't fully trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.

Mandela would always include in his brain trust men he neither liked nor relied on. He would pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays. He would go to family funerals. He saw it as an opportunity."


6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile. We sometimes forget the historical correlation between leadership and physicality. George Washington was the tallest and probably the strongest man in every room he entered. Size and strength have more to do with DNA than with leadership manuals, but Mandela understood how his appearance could advance his cause.

7. Nothing is black or white. Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn't correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.

8. Quitting is leading, too. Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make.

[Mr. Mandela's bio is here.]