The passing away of the late Nelson Mandela was an event that brought hundreds of people from all walks of life to South Africa, and for several days put the Country on the spotlight, as millions of people mourned the death of easily the most respected statesman of the modern era. A reporter covering the farewell ceremonies for Mandela noted that Mandela was a great ‘networker’ in death, as he was while alive. And, that was one of the many great features of his life, whether as a public figure or in his private life.
Mandela had the kind of personality that drew people to him, and he was very comfortable with just being with anyone. That was truly remarkable, because he mingled with kings and presidents, just as he did with renowned businesspeople, sportsmen, actors, singers and the common folks in his native South Africa. Even as the President, he would find time to chat with ordinary people and especially little children, who were reputed to be his major ‘weakness’. Mandela just seemed to have the charm, love and large heart to make everyone that he met or interacted with to feel special.
His networking philosophy was simple, yet quite effective in practice, as it was unique in its impact. In his words, he explained it thus: “You sharpen your ideas by reducing yourself to the level of the people you are with, and a sense of humour and a complete relaxation, even when you’re discussing serious things, does help to mobilise friends around you. And I love that.” President Bill Clinton once said that, “Every time Nelson Mandela walks into a room we all feel a little bigger, we all want to stand up, we all want to cheer, because we’d like to be him on our best day.”
A good leader, especially one that wishes to be both a coach and leader to his people must be a networker. He must be prepared, eager and proactive in building diverse sets of interconnected relationships with people both within and outside the immediate circle of influence. It is with, and through such connections that a real leader does a lot of the work that would demand communicating and sharing information, as well as synergistic partnerships and essential collaboration to solve problems and/or provide solutions.
Such a networking platform enables the leader to create useful personal contacts that will facilitate the provision of different kinds of support and feedback, in addition to beneficial information, special insight, and even material resources. Hence, leadership networking is about building relationships and making alliances in service of major constituents, as well as in service of communal work and goals. This is what Nelson Mandela did so well through patience, resilience and determination.
His story is like a fascinating tale. It is the story of a village boy who went to school across the rural plains with bare feet, rose to the highest office in the land and transcended that to become a global champion and symbol of racial equality, democracy and human dignity. Yet, Mandela the networker throughout his lifetime was able to display that he was not self-centred, but drew attention to the fact that he was merely a member of a collective, even if he was fortunate and privileged to be the arrowhead.
Mandela’s gift and ability to network across different platforms reminds us that leadership succeeds best when it is inclusive and designed to wield together the energy and strength of others around your own to create greater impact. His words in this regard are these: “Becoming a great leader involves more than developing skills and achieving positions of influence. At heart it involves a developmental journey, one that takes time and which often involves overcoming considerable adversity. The journey is characterised an expanding sense of identity – from “me”, to “us”, to “all of us”.
One of the lessons to be learnt from the leadership attributes that were so richly displayed by Mandela is the awareness that, as leaders we can very easily become distracted by focusing on things that may not allow us to pursue our core vision or even bring us closer to actualising it. As a leader, Mandela inspired others by thinking big and lofty goals, which may sometimes appear to others as unattainable. He taught people to stretch their thoughts and desires by keeping the big vision in view, while restlessly pursuing excellence in everything worth doing to achieve personal and common goals.
Nelson Mandela had the ability to inspire people to always do better, reach higher and go even farther, not just by words of inspiration but by his own character, lifestyle and example. That is the mark of a coach Leader. His work is never done because there is always something ahead to aspire to. Great leaders know that the road to success is like a field with land mines and thus has its own portion of failures. Nelson Mandela knew a lot about this and once said: “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again”.
It is only a visionary leader that is on a mission to deliver greatness for self and others that can speak such words.
Mandela is gone, but his leadership lessons will for a long time be learnt by people all over the world. He may be dead, but his ideals will never die. “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for eternity.” You can read more about the transformational power of coaching and register for wealth coaching at www.ceedcoaching.com.
By: Emmanuel Imevbore
