Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
Activity #17 – First Draft
of
Leadership Research Paper
Nelson Mandela was a great leader. He was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, South
Africa. Mandela was a freedom fighter during the apartheid time in South Africa. Later on
became the first democratic president in South Africa. Nelson Mandela has many leadership
qualities, including leading from behind, dedication and delegating, rethinking strategies, being
persuasive and social, pragmatic strategy, and communication when planning.
Mandela is close to royalty. His father was “the equivalent of the king’s prime minister,”
but was dismissed (du Preeze, 2011, p.5). Two years later Mandela’s father died of tuberculosis;
this changed the young man’s life completely. His mother wanted Mandela to have a better
future, so she sent him to live in the “Great Place.” There, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo “would
be his guardian for the next ten years” (du Preeze, 2011, p.7). As a young boy Mandela has
always showed interest in the “political structures, leadership, and decision making of the
traditional Thembu chieftaincy. He later stated that his own notions of leadership were
“profoundly influenced” by observing the regent and his court” (du Preeze, 2011, p.9).
When observing the regent “at regular intervals, the Thembu men would arrive at the
Great Place for discussions on matters concerning the people: drought; orders given by the
magistrate; matters regarding cattle; or serious disputes among members of the
community.”Mandela describes the process as “democracy in its purest form.” Democracy
Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
means that “all men were to be heard, and a decision was taken as a people. Majority rule was a
foreign notion. A minority was not to be crushed by a majority” (du Preeze, 2011, p. 9).
During his years in prison Nelson Mandela’s reputation had expanded and became very
steady. “The Defiance Campaign officially started on June 26, 1952, a date now remembered in
South Africa as Freedom Day” (du Preeze, 2011, p. 55). After so many times being arrested and
imprisoned Nelson decided to turn his life around. Nelson chose to meet his goals from four
years ago and became president of South Africa.
Nelson Mandela, through all his efforts to have peace in the world, abolished apartheid.
“Apartheid is the only word in the Afrikaans language (spoken by minority groups in South
Africa and Namibia) that is recognized all over the world. It means “separateness.” Apartheid’s
aim was a complete political and social separation of race groups divided into whites, Coloureds
(people of mixed race), Indians and blacks” (du Preeze, 2011, p.59).
Nelson Mandela’s first key principle is leading from behind. He views it as a leader being
the shepherd who leads the sheep, “staying behind the flock, letting some race ahead, others
follow slowly, all the while being directed from behind” (du Preeze, 2011, p.9). Mandela states,
“As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the
Great Place. I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion
had to say before venturing my own opinions. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent
a consensus of what I heard in the discussion” (du Preeze, 2011, p. 9). I believe leading from
behind is a great feature because Mandela couldn’t have done it alone.
Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
Mandela’s second key principle was dedication and delegating. Mandela knew how to
project his ideas and plans. He planned accordingly and this was because he was such a great
lawyer. Delegating works take a lot of time, patience, and knowledge. Nelson Mandela had to
plan everything out so he could make others see his plan too. He also had to see out of the box so
that he could see other point of views. Also he had many obstacles that he had to struggle
through, and yet he never gave up and was able to reach his goal(s). For example, Nelson
Mandela was able to reach his goal of becoming a lawyer and the first democratic president of
South Africa.
Mandela’s third key principle was rethinking strategies. In one instance, Nelson Mandela
knew that his speeches, demonstrations, strikes and marches were doing nothing to provoke the
National Party government, so he had to rethink of an effective strategy to get them moving (du
Preeze, 2011, p.62). This helps a leader a lot with having to think things through more than once
and plan things out accordingly. This result of having great effective plans is being successful.
Mandela’s fourth key principle was communication when planning. Mandela believes
that communicating and just having no interruptions; obstacles or struggles can make one more
productive. For example, when Nelson Mandela and his main men were put in the same prison
he said, “The government wanted to immobilize us and put us out of action. Instead, in some
ways we were able to do more political work than before when we had to worry about problems
of communication. We were all in one place and were able to plan strategy and tactics together”
(du Preeze, 2011, p. 74). Communication is key.
Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
Mandela’s fifth key principle was to be persuasive and very social. By using his talent of
being persuasive and very social Mandela was able to become great friends with one of the
lieutenant that was at his prison watching over him. Becoming great friends with the lieutenant,
he was able to find out their plans and moves. But more importantly was able to succeed.
However, Mandela at first was surprised how much the lieutenant actually wanted to get
involved and help Mandela. He didn’t trust the lieutenant until Mandela got him to snoop and
find something that was hidden from everyone, except the commander. This was the Freedom
Charter. Freedom Charter was a very important document written by Mandela, stating that all he
wanted was peace and to have the apartheid abolished because he wanted all the whites,
coloured, and blacks to be treated equally. But this document was never seen by anyone else
other than Mandela, Mandela’s men, and the Commander. After this the lieutenant was shocked
and started to become closer with Mandela. Because of Mandela’s persuasiveness and social
skills, South Africa has abolished apartheid, as well as coloured and whites are united.
Mandela’s sixth key principle was pragmatic strategy. Nelson Mandela had “to deal with
the prison authorities. The prisoners had to maintain the moral high ground at all times. But there
would also be no compromise on assaults, verbal abuse or extreme conditions. Such instances
would be formally protested against. The aim of this strategy was to make life in jail as tolerable
as possible while continuing to campaign for better conditions” (du Preeze, 2011, p. 153). This is
such a great skill to have because Mandela was able to live comfortably in prison while having
the prison authorities respecting him and not having them touch or abuse Mandela.
Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
As a future business leader, I have many goals. One goal is to improve my
communication with others. This way I won’t just have a voice when I speak but a voice on
paper as well. I would like to eventually be able to conquer this skill and become a well known
business person. I want to be able to negotiate and still be able to make a profit. Another goal I
like to improve on is the skill of pragmatic strategy. This is because I would like to learn from
the past and be able to not make the same mistakes, but instead to successfully expand on that
plan. Also would like to mature my skill of rethinking strategies so that I may think of another
plan depending on if my previous don’t seem to work out, I’ll be prepared and have a plan “b”.
This will help me to always plan ahead of time, like playing the game of chess. I believe a
business leader should have all these great skills.
For my business career my goal is to be able to lead from behind. I want to be a shepherd
who gets sheep to follow, just like Nelson Mandela see’s it. I can use this tactic so that everyone
can be doing what they’re best at with me just making sure that my plan follows through
accordingly and not having to rush anyone with their work. Instead, I’ll be watching carefully
my plan rolling out as planned.
My opinion of this book, “The Rough Guide to Nelson Mandela,” by Max du Preeze was
really interesting. It was easy to read and understand. This novel made me feel as though I was
there with Mandela seeing his point of view. It had capture me and made this research paper easy
to write because it had several of key principles. Within these key principles also came examples
and small messages that can benefit anyone who would want to become a leader someday. I
learned a lot from this book about life, but also about Nelson Mandela’s life.
Nathalie Agudelo
BUS 110 – 51
04/13/2012
In conclusion, I recommend you to read this book. It has many valuable lessons that can
be used for many scenarios in life. The following skills are needed to become a great leader.
These skills are: leading from behind, dedication and delegation, rethinking strategies, being
persuasive and social, pragmatic strategy, and communication when planning made Mandela an
exceptional and successful leader. I plan to use these leadership skills as a future business leader
and in my business career.