Nelson mandela biography leadership article

As South Africa’s first Black President, Nelson Mandela provided his country the profound leadership it needed to unite and move from its unjust apartheid past into a more peaceful future. A brief analysis of his leadership qualities shows him to perfectly embody the five characteristics developed by George (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p.

197) of an authentic leader: he understood his purpose, was a man of incredibly strong values, was able to establish trusting relationships, was self-disciplined, and acted from the heart. We will look at how he displayed each characteristic.

He Understood His Purpose

Mandela seems to have been driven by one purpose: abolishing apartheid and establishing racial equality in his country.

Beginning with his anti-colonial work as a young lawyer in the early 1940s, Mandela began fighting to overthrow the apartheid system put in place in 1948. He was arrested and prosecuted numerous ti Nelson Mandela: Courage and Conviction—The Making of a Leader GAV