Applying Nelson Mandela's Leadership Skills to My Leadership - Essay Sample

Introduction

Nelson Mandela is a former South African head of state that has been credited for the end of colonization and the Apartheid era in the country. Due to his fight for freedom, he ended up being arrested and detained for 27 years, 18 of which were spent in Robben Island prison, known for the tough conditions that the prisoners were subjected to (Sampson, 2012). Mandela is also known as among the few world leaders who advocated for unity and the restraint from revenging for the treatment he was subjected to. When he was released from prison, he formed the government. He advocated for a rainbow nation- a country whereby white and black people would live in peace, without the need for retaliation for the ill-treatment that they had been subjected to. He is also known for not being power-hungry, unlike most of the African leaders post-colonialism who held on to power to the point of becoming dictators. Mandela served for only one term as president and left the mantle for others whom he felt were more deserving and experienced to lead the country (Sampson, 2012). This being so, there are many leadership skills that I can borrow from Nelson Mandela and become an effective leader in the different aspects of leadership that I will be involved in.

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The first aspect that I could copy from Mandela's leadership skills is applying ethics in one's leadership. While the political climate in South Africa during Mandela's time called for violent protests, he was a vocal advocate for peaceful protests and not repaying evil deeds meted by doing evil to their oppressors (Mangcu, 2019). Having ethics in one's leadership will ensure that they do not engage in actions that would lead to the loss of ethics in retaliation and acting in the manners determined by the people they are interacting with. Communication is another aspect that should be considered when following Mandela's leadership qualities. Mandela was arrested for stopping his ideology that called for equality in treating the black majority who had been treated badly by their colonialists. Despite his absence from the general population, his ideas still steered the people into fighting for their independence. Through following Mandela's idea on communication, I believe that through developing effective communication skills, I will lead the people I am in charge of to produce the best outcomes even in my absence.

Charisma is another aspect of Mandela's leadership that I plan to apply in my leadership. Mandela's charismatic ideas were groundbreaking and motivated South Africans to fight for their leadership (Mangcu, 2019). When I apply charisma to my leadership skills, I will be able to inspire my team members to believe in themselves and my leadership abilities to achieve the best possible outcomes from my reign as a leader. Through charisma, my leadership will show the leaders that everything is achievable and push themselves to the limit despite challenging situations.

Mandela was also an inspirational leader who motivated the people he led into buying into his vision for the country and working towards achieving the best outcomes. When I apply this to my leadership, it will become easier to lead the organization to achieve the best outcomes from all the tasks allocated to me. Finally, transformation is another aspect of Mandela's leadership. Mandela had a vision of transforming South Africa and the world from the practice of apartheid and segregation of black people to a situation whereby the different races could live in peace and harmony (Mangcu, 2019). By having a vision of transformation, I will transform the lives of the people I will be leading, the organization, and society positively.

References

Mangcu, X. (2019). Mandela: The Untold Heritage. Journal of Southern African Studies, 45(6), 1033-1050. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2019.1688000

Sampson, A. (2012). Mandela: The Authorized Biography. Vintage. The insights of biographical research. Leadership, 12(2), 186-197. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1742715014550541