This two-cent on leadership changed my perspective | #DailyBlink27
Leadership ain’t easy. Lately, I have been learning a lot about leaders be it from movies, autobiographies, biographies, ancient Indian history, and plays.
“My life changed the day I stood in Nelson Mandela’s prison cell on Robben Island [July 2016]. I’m in the process of writing a chapter on how the experience reshaped me as I handcraft my new book. Yet I wanted to share a little right now… …I took the ferry over to Robben Island. It was a cold day of a South African Winter. My guide — a former ANC political prisoner — walked me down the brutally sparse corridors. Past the office where letters would be censored and by the eating area where those incarcerated would be given food unfit for dogs [yet another form of abuse; designed to break a human spirit]. I was shown the area where Madiba would shower — while the young guards would mock this naked elder. And then… …I was led to Nelson Mandela’s cell. 18 years on Robben Island. Away from his family. And the world. I read that his greatest regret was not being permitted to leave the prison to attend the funeral of his oldest son, who had been killed in a car accident.
18 years in a tiny cell. No bed. Just a tattered blanket. On a freezing floor.
And yet, on release — facing a nation that I’ve grown to love that was at the brink of civil war — he spoke of unity. And peace. And forgiveness.
And in every photo that I’ve seen of this great leader since his release, I’ve noted one trait: he’s smiling.
I learned so much from that day on an island just off the coast of Capetown. Of genuine leadership. Of self-mastery amid deep difficulty. Of forgiveness and kindness. And of being an instrument of service for the upliftment of a greater world.”
18 years in a tiny cell, hard to imagine what he must have been gone through. He has been one of the greatest leaders of all time on the face of history to look back. Any word cannot describe the situation he must be through the years and all it ended in a way that literally moved the whole world. An impactful leader to remember.
Some of the sayings from him:
“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.”
“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
“As I have said, the first thing is, to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
“A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it’s lowest ones”
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
