- What Makes Nelson Mandela A Good Leader?
- Leadership Qualities Of Nelson Mandela
- Leadership Traits Of Nelson Mandela
What Makes Nelson Mandela A Good Leader?
Nelson Mandela, who was also regarded as the father of the nation in South Africa, was a global icon and a world leader.
He was the leader who spent 27 years in jail raising his voice against the oppression and injustice in South Africa.
He was actively stood up for the rights of the black community, and also was an anti-apartheid revolutionary activist.
The renowned and compassionate leader later became the first black president of South Africa in 1984.
He was also called “ Madiba” by the people of South Africa which means ‘father’.
The legend also was the recipient of more than 250 awards along with the Noble Prize for peace.
Here we are decoding his leadership style, personality traits, and more to understand him better and learn from it.
Leadership Qualities Of Nelson Mandela
He was Perceptive
Mandela was always perceptive his approach to understanding the people he wanted to serve.
He knew how critical is to understand the background of the people to really connect with them.
A leader needs to be perceptive in order to penetrate through the hearts and minds of the people he or she aims to.
Mandela also was great at identifying the true nature of the people and their potential as well.
He is never judged for who they are but always seems what they can be. He was perceptive enough to not form an opinion of a person from their initial impression.
He truly believes everyone deserves a chance to reach their full potential.
He Was Always The Man Of Truth
The leader is always expected to be someone with ultimate accuracy and validity. Nelson Mandela was exactly the man of his word.
He was always truthful and never lied, even if the truth hurt his own followers. He knew the consequences of lying and how dishonest it is to others and oneself as well.
At the time of the clash between Zulu Inkatha and ANC supporters, he could be he didn’t put all the blame on the existing opposite party at that time.
He never seems to look for the easy out and, do the right thing, remain true to his people.
In fact, then he accepted the fact that his followers were indeed engaged in violence and murder. No matter what, he is known for propelling the power of the truth and acceptance of it.
Nelson Mandela was A Unifier
Nelson Mandela is definitely predominantly known for his fight for the rights of black people.
However, he has become the unifier of all the communities when he became the president of South Africa.
He worked hard to develop unity amongst different communities existing such as white, black, and other various minorities as well.
He also said on the public platform that he is the president of everyone, not just black people.
He also stated his fight is against oppression, not just for black people or against a particular race.
Mandela’s vision to ensure peace in the world and he believed the bringing unity is the only thing that could bring it.
He Was Passionate
Passion is also a critical component of becoming a successful leader. It allows people to acknowledge why they are doing what they are doing.
Nelson Mandela was passionate about what he does as it was something that truly comes from his heart.
He also believed in acknowledging and celebrating the milestones as it fuels the passion and helps a person to move forward.
Passion is contagious and Mandela was very capable of spreading passion to people around the world.
He Sacrificed A Lot
A true leader is someone who never hesitates to sacrifice for the benefit of their people or to attain their goals.
Nelson Mandela did exceedingly well on that metric proving himself one of the most selfless leaders of all time.
He was even imprisoned for 27 years at the time of his youth and he could have done anything with those precious time.
Even when he had the chance to be free, he chose to stand for his people and sacrifice for them.
Mandela Was A Curious Learner
Nelson Mandela always gave utmost importance to the power of knowledge and learning.
He always valued it and consider it opening new doors for a person full of opportunities and explore new horizons.
Even though his time in prison wasn’t comfortable, he could still read plenty of books and further continued his education.
Mandela was always a humble person, ready to learn from anyone. Even later in his time, he was never hesitant to learn from his followers.
He Was A Positive Thinker
Nelson Mandela was always a positive thinker even if all he went through his life was struggle and pain.
He faces nothing but numerous challenges but it was his inner positivity that kept him strong all this time and moving forward.
Mandela always had positive thinking even in the darkest time and lead people toward change in society.
He never moved towards negativity in his life, no matter how hard the circumstances were.
He Was Courageous
It won’t be wrong to consider Mandela a true form of courage that is inspiring and aspirational to the people.
He never feared anything in his life and kept on going, no matter what.
He was literally tortured mentally and physically in prison but still continued preaching and fight against oppression.
He even managed to gain thousands of followers from the prison only because he is courageous and inspires people to be courageous.
Courage is an essential aspect of leadership as it gives leaders the ability to execute and move further even if things seem impossible.
He Led With Empathy
A true leader understands his people. He or she doesn’t look down on them. Mandela was capable to lead people with empathy.
He always came from the place of understanding them rather than preaching or ruling them.
However, understanding doesn’t mean agreeing with them, as a leader knows what’s good for their people.
Mandela was exactly that. He certainly never aligned himself with anything that hurt people or was not right for them, no matter how hard it is to tell them.
He remains truthful but also empathetic. That’s a very rare combination to see in a leader.
Leadership Traits Of Nelson Mandela
The endurance level that Mandela showed over his long-struggling life, especially going through those horrifying 27 years of imprisonment, is amazing.
His tolerance to pain and suffering makes him one of the most high-level endurance leaders in the world.
Not much pressure can trigger them into doing something out of character as they sustained even harder situations.
Since he bravely survived all those years of consistent mental and physical torture, he gained endurance levels of mountains.
Nelson Mandel is known for his true nature of compassion and love for the people. He is totally a kind, forgiving, and loving leader with immense heart in everything he does.
Over the period of time, people have learned more and more about his forgiving nature, even his enemies.
He even didn’t think twice about forgiving the office who tortured him all those years in the prison cell.
He wanted to leave the world with the message of love, equality, and compassion, and he certainly did.
Leaders today are driven for and by money, power, and fame. Not necessarily wrong about that but mostly it drives them to do unethical ways of achieving it.
Nelson Mandela on other hand is far from all, a leader which is driven by bringing positive change in society.
His code of conduct runs on ethics, not on profitability or self-gain. Mandela never walked to the path where he had to or be part of any unethical way even for the right reasons.
Nelson Mandela was an ethical activist and leader putting his morals at the high ground all over his life.
There is nothing more inspirational than Nelson Mandela’s life and his leadership. He is the unwavering source of motivation when it comes to leading the world with heart.
The path might be hard, in fact impossible, but Nelson Mandela shows a level of perseverance that can help you achieve anything.
He is also an example of how to embrace struggle and pain in his life and still shower love to the world.
Apart from that, his leadership skills where his followers believe in himself and invested in his cause. He never let anything discourage him. He never stopped, even from a freaking prison cell.
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Carol T. Mahaffey is a certified American Author And a creator of Theleaderboy. Carol is a Self-Taught Marketer with 10+ Years of Experience. She brings her decade of experience to her current role, where she is dedicated to writing books, blogs, and articles, inspiring the world on how to become a better Leader.