Jack Eaton
September 28th, 2015
Transformational
leaders influence, inspire, move, and literally transform followers to achieve
organizational goals beyond their self-interests, thus initiating and bringing
about positive change (Weiss, 2011). Nelson
Mandela served a twenty-seven year prison sentence for rebelling against racial
segregation and mistreatment in his country.
After he was released from prison, he later was elected president of
South Africa. He was then in charge of
the very people who imprisoned him. Most
people would seek revenge in that situation, but Mandela did not. Instead, he became one of the greatest and
most influential leaders the world has ever seen. Not many people will argue with that
statement. What makes him so great is
not what accomplished, but it is exactly how he accomplished the things that he
did. Historically, Mandela is perhaps
the best example of a transformational leader and a servant leader we have ever
had.
Servant leaders
“transcend self-interest to serve the needs of others, help others grow and
develop, and provide opportunity for others to gain materially and emotionally
(Daft, 2011).” This is exactly what
Nelson Mandela was. He listened to his
people, and he did everything he could to understand them. He was compassionate and self-aware. He had wonderful methods of persuasion. He was fully committed to the growth of his
people and community. Mandela also symbolized forgiveness, and “he was perceived
as a beacon of freedom and accepted as an authentic example of the concept of servant
leadership (Giles, 2013).”
Richard
Stengel is an American Author who helped Nelson Mandela to write his
autobiography. In 2008, Stengel
published an article in Time Magazine about
what made Mandela such a great leader.
It started with his upbringing.
Mandela was raised by a tribal king named Jongintaba. When Jongintaba met with his followers to
discuss issues, every man present was given the opportunity to speak. Only after listening to everyone would the
king speak. Mandela learned that the job
of a leader was not to tell people what to do but to form a consensus. “Don’t enter a debate too early,” he used to
say (Stengel, 2008). By listening to his
followers, Mandela put their needs ahead of his own interests, thus bringing
about a positive change. This is yet
another example of why he was considered a transformational leader.
The
ability to listen might be the most important aspect of being a servant leader
and a transformational leader. When a
leader listens to understand, they are responding to a problem by listening
first. Servant leaders listen before
they speak, as they speak, and after they speak (Schwantes, 2015). Mandela
always did this. When held meetings with
his trusted cabinet members, he would sometimes be criticized for not being
radical enough or for not moving fast enough on issues his cabinet were
passionate about. He would always listen
before he spoke. When he did speak, he
would slowly and methodically summarize everyone’s point of view and then
provided his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he
wanted it to go. The trick to leadership
is allowing yourself to be led too.
Mandala said “it is wise to persuade people to do things and make them
think it was their own idea (Stengel, 2008).”
Mandela
cared a great deal about his people. He
was committed their well-being. A
servant leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything in his
or her power to nurture the personal growth of his or her followers (Schwantes,
2015). While campaigning for the
presidential election, Mandela was in a small plane that experiences engine
failure. While others on the plane began
to panic, Mandela calmly read his newspaper as if everything was alright. The plane ended up landing safely, and he
later admitted to being terrified. This
is just a small example of how Mandela contributed to the well-being of his
followers. He believed that as a leader,
you cannot let your followers know you are scared. He felt as though the act of appearing
fearless was inspiration to others. By
pretending to be fearless, his followers achieved the strength and courage to
overcome their fears (Stengel, 2008).
Like
all servant leaders, Mandela was self-aware.
“Servant leaders have a strong sense of what is going on around
them. They are always looking for cues
from their opinions and decisions. They
know what is going on and will rarely be fooled (Schwantes, 2015).” Even great leaders will have the occasional
bad idea or at least one that is not very well received. In 1993, Mandela proposed the idea that the
voting age in South Africa should be lowered to 14. Virtually no one supported this. Even though there was good reasoning behind
his idea, he quickly learned that his vision would not happen. “Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task,
or relationship is the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make
(Stengel, 2008).” Mandela had the
awareness to know that his followers did not share his view and to make the
decision to move on.
Nelson
Mandela was a man that had every reason to be bitter, miserable, and mad at the
world. He was mistreated, put on trial,
and imprisoned for wanting equality for his fellow countrymen. Instead of being upset and seeking revenge
upon his release from prison, he became a great leader. He put the needs of his followers ahead of
his own needs. He cared about his
people. He listened to them. He understood them. He knew how to persuade them. He was compassionate and self-aware. He was fully committed to the growth of his
people and community. He was the
champion of forgiveness. By doing all of
these things, he inspired his followers to achieve great things. Nelson Mandela truly was a transformational
and a servant leader.
References
Daft, R.L. (2011). The Leadership Experience
(5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Giles, F. (2013).
An African Who Raised the Bar High. Times, The (United Kingdom), 14-15.
Schwantes, M. (2015). Servant Leadership. Leadership
Excellence, 32(5), 30-31.
Stengel, R. (2008). Mandela:
His 8 Lessons of Leadership.
(Cover Story). Time, 172(3), 42-48.
Weiss, J. W. (2011). An
introduction to leadership. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
www.businessinsider.com (photo)
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