Nelson Mandela as a Servant Leader

Nelson Mandela as a Servant Leader

Nelson Mandela was the first African American president of South Africa in 1994. He was considered a symbol of global peacemaking. Mandela was in charge of a movement that was peaceful and nonviolent against the South African government for its unethical and racist policies. Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with President F.W. de, Klerk for their efforts towards equal rights. Mandela was a true Servant Leader for the actions he took during this time.

Nelson Mandela was considered a Servant Leader for many reasons including: commitment to his community, his willingness to share his leadership, and his efforts to unite people rather than to divide them. One aspect of Servant Leadership is to accept others including their "flaws". Nelson Mandala did this by peacefully arguing with the government. He accepting them as the people they were and understood they may have good intentions but also did not accept their poor performance, which in this case was discrimination in their policies. He accepting the people but did not accept  their actions in government.

Mandela also did a great job setting a vision and persuading others to follow him. He did not forcefully make people follow and listen to them he made his case about how people should be treated equally and others followed. He had to courage to go out ahead and understood that it would not be an easy road, but was willing to lead the way for his followers and help to create a better community. As Greenleaf wrote, "A leader says: 'I will go; follow me!' and this is exactly what Nelson Mandela did for the people of his country.

Lastly, he did a great job at sharing leadership and empowering others. Instead of fearing change and sharing leadership he embraced this and worked with the president at the time to come to a solution. He even shared the Nobel Peace Award with the president at the time which shows how he truly shared leadership. Once he became president he also empowered others and was a model to the people in his country that anyone could do what they believe in and fight for what they believe in while doing it in a peaceful way while still seeing results.

Nelson Mandela was a great Servant Leader and I feel we could all learn a lot about what he went thought to create a peaceful community for the common good and how he lead the way.

References:

Leadership & Ethics Institute , GWC Leadership & Ethics Institute, 10 Dec. 2013, gwclei.com/nelson-mandela-8-greatest-servant-leadership-quotes-images/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2017.

Penn State, 13 Feb. 2014, https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2014/02/13/nelson-mandela-as-a-leader/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2017.