Leadership – It’s All About Respect: Playing the Enemy
After discussing the trip we took to South Africa last summer with a friend, Greg Magennis, he loaned me an amazing book, Playing the Enemy by John Carlin. This book is an incredible study of leadership. At first I was simply impressed by the story of Nelson Mandela and how he lead people from apartheid into his presidency and a more unified nation. The story itself made a big enough impression on me. Yet, I can’t stop thinking about the book. It is the essence of his leadership that keeps playing in my mind.
As I dig deeper into Mandela’s leadership style, and think about how I try to practice leadership, as well as what I admire most in others, I think it boils down to respect. People respected Nelson Mandela, because he treated them with respect. When he had visitors, he introduced his cell guards as his security detail, called them by name, and the visitors shook the guards’ hands. These guards were treated with respect, even as they helped to hold him captive. Mandela knew they were doing a job they were told to do, and he gained their respect, and later their following, by treating them the way he wanted to be treated.
He learned as much as he could about what was important to an individual before he met with them. (This is something that many salesmen do.) Mandela took it further. He then dove into those topics and genuinely learned about them, so that he could have a meaningful conversation about the subjects. Learning what was important, both negative and positive, for individuals was how Mandela showed his respect and gained respect from so many people. It took a lot of people to turn his country around, and they are still working on it.
Nelson Mandela’s leadership, a leadership of earned respect and shared respect, was, in my opinion, how it happened. The book is a great read on many levels. Thank you, Greg, for introducing me to it. I recommend that you put it on your reading list.
Cheers, Lois
Follow Lois on Twitter: http://twitter.com/loismelbourne
Related posts:
