Login Video Help for Logging In   E-mail Password Video Help for finding your Password 
illustrationssermon buildersmediapreaching skills
help & info
 search 



• Browse Illustrations 
• Lectionary 

ILLUSTRATION
Mandela's Eight Lessons of Leadership
Printer view
Topics: Courage; Discernment; Enemies; Fear; Friendship; Influence; Kindness; Leaders; Leadership; Leadership, general; Love; Love for enemies; Power; Responsibility; Wisdom
Filters: Famous People; Free; International; Stories
References: 2 Chronicles 32:7, Psalm 78:72, Matthew 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-36, Luke 10:25-37, John 13:14-15, Romans 12:8, Romans 13:8-10, 1 Corinthians 16:13, Galatians 6:9, Colossians 3:13, 1 Peter 5:1-4
Tone: Commend

In honor of Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, put together Mandela's eight lessons of leadership. Stengel writes: "[The lessons] are cobbled together from…conversations old and new and from observing [Mandela] up close and from afar. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place."

Here are Mandela's eight lessons of leadership:

  1. Courage is not the absence of fear—it's inspiring others to move beyond it.

  2. Lead from the front—but don't leave your base behind.

  3. Lead from the back—and let others believe they are in front.

  4. Know your enemy—and learn about his favorite sport. [In order to work more effectively with Afrikaners, Mandela learned their language and all about their most cherished sport: rugby.

  5. Keep your friends close—and your rivals even closer.

  6. Appearances matter—and remember to smile.

  7. Nothing is black or white.

  8. Quitting is leading too.

 user ratings
Average Rating:  by 3 members. (Members, please login to rate this item.)
 related images
Nelson MandelaPrinter view
A statue of Nelson Mandela. Uploaded by flickr user Kapungo on September 19, 2007.


Sign up for a membership:

Monthly
Yearly



Free Newsletters
Preaching Connection
(weekly)  
Leadership Weekly  
Faith Visuals
(weekly)  

RSS Feeds  
Illustrations
Sermon Builders
Media
Preaching Skills

Hot Topics
Politics & Government
Back to School

August 31, 2008
Proper 17 (22)
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105:1-6
Psalm 105:23-26
Psalm 105:45
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26:1-8
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28


The Practical Journal for Church Leaders

Subscribe to Leadership journal

PT Recommends