My Own Interpretation of Mandela’s 8 Lessons in Leaders

That is why I also wanted to share to you Mandela’s 8 lessons of Leadership: 1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it In tackling life’s challenges, you must face fear head-on and find the guts that you may not falter when life is giving you a hard time. There are people who wanted to see you fall and you must find courage to stand up to them. Having courage does not mean being reckless or stupid but rather it means to hold your head up, look them in the eye. Do the right thing even when you stand alone and it eventually will pay off in the end 2.
Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind Hey, it’s great to be a leader, right? There are privileges like less work for you and more work for your subordinates and get the credit from the efforts of your colleagues-NO, this is a very wrong notion. They will never respect you as a leader if you lead them an iron fist. What’s the point of being a leader if no one will follow you? Move with the principle that others matter as well and do what’s best for your group, not just you. Be honest and fair. Work hard. Play hard. Do your homework. Know what you are talking about and they will follow.
Don’t ever mistake arrogance and intelligence for the same thing for they are quite different. Life will eventually teach you humility if your ego will swell up. 3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front Sometimes, it’s kind of nice to take a few steps back and let others lead as well while you still lead them. Why not? Give others opportunity to prove themselves that they are capable to lead and let them discover their potentials too. Maybe you could even learn a thing or two from them. Not all great ideas come from one brain but rather a group of brains.

When they eventually get off-track, you’re still there to guide them back like a shepherd guiding a lost sheep. 4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport Truth is you cannot please everybody and there are some people would not favor you leading them. That irritates you, doesn’t it? Often, the people who anger us most in life are more like us than we’d like to admit. Don’t ignore them. Get to know them. Find out what makes them tick. Maybe they just want your attention. Maybe they just want a duty. Give them something to do for change. See how they fare.
Now, at some point, you may need to cut your losses and move on down the road. However, you may inadvertently find out your enemy is all of a sudden your good friend. 5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer You’re not alone and there leaders like you as well but with different personalities, capabilities, and leaderships styles. Some of these leaders may agree to you and favor your leadership skills but there are other does not. Still, it is not wrong to have a little healthy competition and learn to appreciate what life gives you because not all life is easy.
Again, you have to be strong and be firm for the people who follow you. When things go out of hand, always use diplomacy. 6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile Love yourself first before others. How can you serve other people when you could not serve yourself right? Appearances really do matter especially if you’re a student nurse rendering service to your patient. If your patient sees that you could not take care of yourself, he/she will have second thoughts or doubts in cooperating with you. Being neat and clean will give you an edge. Remember to smile because this stuff is contagious.
When you clumsily tripped yourself, you should make a fast recovery with grace and smile because they want strong leaders who could recover fast from a tragic fall and continue the service. SMILE! 7. Nothing is black or white Life could be a burden sometimes when you have to make a decision, either it is small or big because not all of your decisions would favor the entire public and there always consequences. When that happens, first of all pray, it helps to meditate and ask for guidance from above and then think for a solution, it always works. Listen to all sides of the story before making rash decisions.
All decisions especially a leader’s decision should be think through. Sleep on it if you must. Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment. This is a very common to student nurses during RLE: when in doubt, don’t or ask your clinical instructor about it, it always works, try it they won’t bite…sometimes. 8. Quitting is leading too I flinched when I heard this one but I tend to like it. It is cliche to say: “do not ever give up, try and try until you succeed, and quitting is for losers” but what if you run out of ideas, too tired to hold on, groping for answers in the dark and hopelessly praying for “give me more TIME”.
Why not tomorrow? Hey, there are always tomorrow right? Don’t tire yourself you’re only human. If you sense that you’re losing a battle, sound a retreat, let your army rest and fight for another day, maybe your enemy needs a rest too you know. Sometimes in life doesn’t work out. Just step back and take a deep breath. Move on and do something else or the alternative. Don’t squander your life in the boulevard of broken dreams, just move on the other side of the road to start anew.
A life of good leaders revolves around success and failure all the time. But just learn to accept what God has given you and learn to appreciate it. Do not dwell on failures but move on. Leaders experience too many sufferings and trials in order to strive for excellent service his/her fellows but it will be compensated with the achievements and recognitions he/she earned. The pieces of paper and awards on the wall are important. But they are not nearly as important as the journey you make and the people you meet along the way. CARPE DIEM!