: mandela on leadership = troublemaker : )

... came across this article in Time via Len.

Nelson Madela on eight lessons of leadership. Worth a read. Pragmatic, gutsy, savvy and motivating all at once.

Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday recently, and this article was put together as a sort of retrospective on his life and leadership, which were intimately intertwined. An interesting note ... Rolihlahla, Mandela's real first name, in Xhosa translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but its real meaning is "troublemaker." Here's his last lesson ... No. 8 ... Quitting is leading too

"Knowing how to abandon an idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make. In many ways, Mandela's greatest legacy as President of South Africa is the way he chose to leave it. When he was elected in 1994, Mandela probably could have pressed to be President for life — and there were many who felt that in return for his years in prison, that was the least South Africa could do.

In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage. "His job was to set the course," says Ramaphosa, "not to steer the ship." He knows that leaders lead as much by what they choose not to do as what they do.

Gotta love it. The article wraps up with ... "Ultimately, the key to understanding Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective. I often asked him how the man who emerged from prison differed from the willful young man who had entered it. He hated this question. Finally, in exasperation one day, he said, "I came out mature." There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man".