adminShelter Chieza Change Management
We also take time to salute one of the greatest leaders of our time, former South Africa president Nelson Mandela. With the amount of eulogies and media limelight his death has taken, you cannot afford to ignore it. I also took some time to listen and watch some of the citations and was quite impressed. As managers, we ought to take a leaf from his life. It’s never easy to reach out to your former enemies, but Nelson Mandela did it. He was the first democratically elected president of post-apartheid South Africa. Given such a position one ought to make some positive changes and his first step was to channel out messages of hope.
I am amazed at the level of change management he brought about. His role was to effectively make a turnaround for the nation of South Africa. Leadership is about empowering those that are following you. I recall what Bill Gates said at one point that: “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those that empower others.” Effectively a leader must have followers. Mandela demonstrated by doing things and introduced new behaviours at the top. I believe he went to the extent of cutting his own salary. How many leaders around us would do that?
How many of us can be offered a job and say I will only serve one term. But Mandela served for one five-year term and the amount of progress he put was remarkable. He understood that the nation is larger than one person.
Leaders are not domineering — I-want-to- grab type of people. Often when a leader gets into a place, you may sense a certain charisma and order. This effectively means that a person in the formal role of a leader may not possess leadership skills nor be capable of leading. There is a certain degree of influence combined with skills and abilities that define a great leader. Many people use management and leadership interchangeably, but they are not the same.
Management is “getting things done through others” while leadership is “getting others to want to do things”. You cannot be a leader if you are not able to motivate and influence others in a positive direction. I remember an interview he recalled how much he was afraid when he was in solitary confinement. He, however, said that leaders must not publicly display that they are in fear, but “must put up a front”. I adore such qualities.
Truly so, Nelson Mandela has left us with a legacy of great visionary leadership. He did not spend a long time in office, but the structures he set up are enough to cascade down and influence those that come after him. His demise has put a spotlight on even the ANC as a people’s party. We salute this visionary leader of our time and we say “Hamba Kahle”.
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” — Nelson Mandela.
Till next week, may God richly bless you.
Shelter Chieza is an advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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