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Mandela, a man of engagement
Who doesn’t know Nelson Mandela? Most people have
heard about the man who liberated South Africa from a system
of Apartheid. Most people have heard about the prisoner,
the Nobel Prize winner and the President. But aside from
those great achievements that represent him as an iconic
figure, not many know who he was aside from what he did
for the struggle for freedom and peace. Wasn’t this
same man imprisoned for terrorism? Wasn’t his family
life a failure?
As we know, Nelson Mandela is a man of engagement. And
as he specifies, his achievements are driven more by his
sense of justice rather than by moral preoccupations. When
the peaceful struggle became inefficient, for example, he
decided to use violent practices. And in terms of his family,
it was his biggest source of pain. This other side of Nelson
Mandela is often glossed over by the mass media, which prefers
to conceal the darker sides of Mandela’s life. In
reality, Mandela isn’t a man with super-human abilities
for fighting injustice – he is a man with weaknesses
and defects like any other. In short, he is a common man
who led his life according to his convictions.
He grew into integral leadership with moments of epiphany
across different realities - individual and collective,
inner and outer. Upon his release from prison, we could
have easily thought that he would have been weakened by
27 years of incarceration. In fact, he was stronger than
ever and deeply connected with people. Consequently, he
was able to bring about the political transition from an
Apartheid government to a democratic one using peaceful
means. This could not have been achieved if both white and
black people hadn’t subscribed to his philosophy of
reconciliation and forgiveness. Mandela is more than a good
leader; he is a great leader.
Today, at eighty six, he’s still active and still
exerts an influence on different conflicts all around the
world, despite the fact that he is no longer active as a
politician.
We present this leadergraphy as a piece for reflection
for leaders everywhere, in the hope that the courage, wisdom
and sense of justice conveyed by Nelson Mandela become a
greater part of our common aspirations. Let us be inspired
by the strength of his mind, by the effectiveness of his
actions, by the ingenuity of his structural creations and
by his mark on our cultures. And, last but not least, as
human beings, let us be inspired by his spirit of collectivity.
As he said: “I would like to be remembered as part
of a team, and I would like my contribution to be assessed
as somebody who carried out decisions taken by that collective,".
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CHOSEN LEADERS AND THEIR RESEARCHERS
