Nelson Mandela and Unitive Leadership-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Write a reflective essay on a Person, Historical or Current, that you consider to be a Leader. Answer: Nelson Mandela was a successful leader because of the charismatic traits of leadership such as compassionate, continuous learner, ethical, unifier, and servant and had the characteristics of self-sacrifice. According to me, the aforementioned traits enabled Nelson Mandela to end the Apartheid movement in the Southern Africa. For example, the compassionate trait of Nelson Mandela allowed him to think for the betterment of the county and the people without considering own needs. Nelson Mandela sacrificed 27 years of his life in prison for the independence of his people and country and was proud about his vision. According to me, his characteristics of being a continuous Larner, compassion for his country and the ability of self-sacrifice made him a great leader of all time (Senge, Hamilton, Kania, 2015). This essay introduces about the great leader Nelson Mandela, a world political leader who devoted his life for the betterment of South Africa and spend almost 27 years in jail as the British imprisoned him for his fight against them. Nelson Mandela was born on 18th July 1918 in a village near Transkei who was one of the members of the African National Congress under the leadership of Anton Lembede. In 1960, Nelson Mandela proposed the formation of a military wing within ANC. In 1963, Nelson Mandela was voted the head for overthrowing the government by violence. Nelson Mandelas statement was highly appreciated internationally. However, in 12th June 1964, eight accused along with Nelson Mandela was sentenced imprisonment. It is during his imprisonment; Nelson Mandelas reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as the most significant black leader in Southern Africa. Nelson Mandela became the potent symbol of resistance as the anti-apartheid movement. As a great leader, Nelson Mandela refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom (Carlin, 2012). According to me, Nelson Mandela had the ability of visualise differently for the better future conditions of the people along with deciding the ways of achieving them. This is one of the characteristics of charismatic leadership that allowed him to have a vision for better future. Due to this trait, I think Nelson Mandela was able to be a leader by inspiration. As a result, Nelson Mandela articulated a highly emotional message by using metaphors to the citizens and clarifying the goal to the nation and its people. He also had the ability to lead the nation by inspiring the people through story telling in terms of better future. Nelson Mandela had a charismatic leadership style, as he was the one who created the vision of ending Apartheid movement in the Southern Africa for the entire nation. As a leader, Nelson Mandela was always enthusiastic in the activities and challenges that came across while fulfilling the vision by being optimistic and energetic. According to me, this trait of Nelson Mandela that helped in motivating and inspiring the nation to achieve the independence by overcoming the obstacles (Howell, 2013). According to me, Nelson Mandela also had the characteristics of transformational leadership, as he was the one who rose awareness among the people regrading stopping Apartheid movement for the betterment of the country. The transformational leadership nature of Nelson Mandela allowed him to help the people to look beyond their self-interest but to consider the betterment of the entire nation. Therefore, as the people were able to look beyond their self-interest, I think it helped them in having a better understanding of the need for the change. Nelson Mandela was also able to build trust within the people that if they support him, he will bring the change for the country and its people (Dennerberg, 2014). Nelson Mandela used a democratic leadership style that provided an opportunity for him to facilitate reconciliatory communication between the different social groups of Southern Africa. According to me, this lead to a dramatic improvement in the political situation of the nation. The main feature of democratic leadership style is to encourage participation from all. During Nelson Mandelas imprisonment, the speech given by him highlighted the significance of involving all the South African citizens in the movement towards achieving the change. This is because I believe a change cannot take place above the heads or behind the backs of the people that participate in bringing the change (Allison Goethals, 2014). According to me, the charismatic nature of Nelson Mandela allowed him to visualise and convince others that courage does not signify the absence of fear. This mindset of Nelson Mandela allowed him to pretend and appear fearless. I think the fearless appearance of Nelson Mandela that helped him motivate and inspire others. According to me, a great leader should be proud of the vision and should hold his head high in any circumstances while achieving the vision. Nelson Mandela was a perfect example of this leadership nature as he was proud of his vision. The inmates said they watched Nelson Mandela walk with the head high, upright and proud, as he knew he was a role model for his nation and the rest of the world. This sense of achievement as an individual made it easier for Nelson Mandela to survive in the prison. I think that as a leader it is important to make the people understand that one needs to be proud of his vision. This is the only possible way that a leader can motivate and inspire the surrounding people to work towards the change regardless of anything and achieve it successfully (Joffe, 2013). Another characteristic of Nelson Mandela that makes him one of the greatest leaders is he believes of leading from the front but without leaving his base. I think as a great leader Nelson Mandela had the ability to think ahead time and visualise the outcomes of the change in the coming decades. Nelson Mandela knew that history was on his side and that the results are inevitable. The characteristics of Nelson Mandela to think ahead of time is a sign of great leader (O'fallon, 2012). According to me, the ability to view things in terms of decades is what allows the leaders motivate and convince the population about the change and its impact on future. The immensely strong self-believe and the pride are what made Nelson Mandela one of the greatest charismatic leaders of all time. According to me, this leadership nature of Nelson Mandela allowed him to see the positive impact of the end of Apartheid movement for the people of South Africa without being afraid thereby, bringing the change successfully (Beresford, 2014). Therefore, I can conclude that Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest charismatic leaders of all time who is selfless, fearless and believe on the vision in terms of decades allowed him to bring the change successfully for the South Africa References Allison, Goethals, . (2014). Now He Belongs to the Ages: The Heroic Leadership Dynamic and Deep Narratives of Greatness. Beresford. (2014). Nelson Mandela and the politics of South Africa's unfinished liberation. Review of African Political Economy, 297-305. Carlin. (2012). Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the game that made a nation. Atlantic Books Ltd. Dennerberg. (2014). Nelson Mandela:" no Easy Walk to Freedom. Scholastic Inc. Howell. (2013). Snapshots of great leadership. Routledge. Joffe. (2013). The State Vs. Nelson Mandela: The Trial that Changed South Africa. Oneworld Publications. O'fallon. (2012). Nelson Mandela and unitive leadership. Integral Leadership Review, 1-20. Senge, Hamilton, Kania, . (2015). The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 27-33.