Mandela's Autobiography

I finished reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography a couple days ago. I thought the book was excellent, that the man is rightly the face of the liberation struggle and that he was the right person for the right time. It’s inspiring to see such a success story through all the struggles he endured.

The only thing I feel it left out were certain aspects of his personal life. The autobiography seemed to be about his political life more than anything else, especially in the later years. Perhaps this reflects how his life was focused and also didn’t feel this venue was an appropriate place to talk about it. I was just surprised that the separation with Winnie only took up two pages when it seems like that would be a pretty important part of his life. The emotional insight into these events usually came through citing the speeches or letters he wrote at the time, which was a good insight into how he felt, though it still seemed there was more in the background. Perhaps the section heading, “The Struggle is my Life” explains this allocation of time.

The other main theme we talked about was the model of leadership Mandela used throughout his life. From his early days as a boy he watched as the head of the town held a meeting in which everyone was given a chance to speak and would be heard without interruption. Mandela carried that mentality through his political career. Despite being very strong willed, he would carry out what the majority voted to do in the ANC executive committee. He recognized that he was there as a representative of all the people in the struggle. This brings on a sense of humility for the man. Granted that could be his writing style, and the book is intended to further an image, but this trait seems to be significant to how he tries to lead. He describes his leadership style as guiding a heard from behind. This styles seems very effective and makes him personable to the people.

We have recently seen a similar leadership style here in the US, from President Obama during the campaign season. Obama would use the word “we” instead of the word “I.” He pressed upon his values being raised with modest means and constantly referred to the desire for change as a societal movement. As a result, people described him as “personable” and “down to earth.” The conciliatory stance he’s taken on tense relationships with the arab world and for a sense of humility on the part of the nation as a whole has increased the popularity of his policies abroad. Many of our speakers on this trip have stated their appreciation that Obama is our President because of his foreign policy rhetoric.

I think that because this leadership style has seen such effectiveness it becomes clear that humility and group mentality are important characteristics for leaders. Mandela took this philosophy to every level as he worked to develop relationships with the warders at Robben Island. These traits make leaders personable and it’s those types of interactions that slowly generate change.