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Lessons on Leadership: From Mandela to Obama
We long for heroes and have too few. Nelson Mandela, who recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite oppressor and oppressed in a way that had never been done before.
Now Richard Stengel, the editor of Time magazine, has distilled countless hours of intimate conversation with Mandela into fifteen essential life lessons. For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man and became a cherished friend and colleague.
In Mandela’s Way, Stengel recounts the moments in which “the grandfather of South Africa” was tested and shares the wisdom he learned: why courage is more than the absence of fear, why we should keep our rivals close, why the answer is not always either/or but often “both,” how important it is for each of us to find something away from the world that gives us pleasure and satisfaction—our own garden. Woven into these life lessons are remarkable stories—of Mandela’s childhood as the protégé of a tribal king, of his early days as a freedom fighter, of the twenty-seven-year imprisonment that could not break him, and of his new and fulfilling marriage at the age of eighty.
This compact book is profoundly inspiring. It captures the spirit of this extraordinary man—warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader—and spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the legacy we’ll leave behind.
In this nuanced and complex portrait of Barack Obama, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Remnick offers a thorough, intricate, and riveting account of the unique experiences that shaped our nation’s first African American president.
Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, Remnick explores the elite institutions that first exposed Obama to social tensions, and the intellectual currents that contributed to his identity. Using America’s racial history as a backdrop for Obama’s own story, Remnick further reveals how an initially rootless and confused young man built on the experiences of an earlier generation of black leaders to become one of the central figures of our time.
Masterfully written and eminently readable, The Bridge is destined to be a lasting and illuminating work for years to come, by a writer with an unparalleled gift for revealing the historical significance of our present moment.
Frontline: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela PBS
Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.
A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela’s personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the privateworld of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle ofthe early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African prisons during histwenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations;speeches and correspondence written during his presidency—a historic collection of documentsarchived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate journey from Mandela’s first stirrings of political consciousness to hisgalvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the frontlines of the struggle for freedom and justice.
While other books have recounted Mandela’s life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the first time, unhindered insight into the human side of the icon.
The Art of Purposeful Storytelling
Today everyone–whether they know it or not–is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move partners, shareholders, customers, and employees to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it. And this book tells you how to do both.
Historically, stories have always been igniters of action, moving people to do things. But only recently has it become clear that purposeful stories–those created with a specific mission in mind–are absolutely essential in persuading others to support a vision, dream or cause.
Peter Guber, whose executive and entrepreneurial accomplishments have made him a success in multiple industries, has long relied on purposeful story telling to motivate, win over, shape, engage and sell. Indeed, what began as knack for telling stories as an entertainment industry executive has, through years of perspiration and inspiration, evolved into a set of principles that anyone can use to achieve their goals.
In Tell to Win, Guber shows how to move beyond soulless Power Point slides, facts, and figures to create purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Among his techniques:
*Capture your audience’s attention first, fast and foremost
*Motivate your listeners by demonstrating authenticity
*Build your tell around “what’s in it for them”
*Change passive listeners into active participants
*Use “state-of-the-heart” technology online and offline to make sure audience commitment remains strong
To validate the power of telling purposeful stories, Guber includes in this book a remarkably diverse number of “voices”–master tellers with whom he’s shared experiences. They include YouTube founder Chad Hurley, NBA champion Pat Riley, clothing designer Normal Kamali, “Mission to Mars” scientist Gentry Lee, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, former South African president Nelson Mandela, magician David Copperfield, film director Steven Spielberg, novelist Nora Roberts, rock legend Gene Simmons, and physician and author Deepak Chopra.
After listening to this extraordinary mix of voices, you’ll know how to craft, deliver–and own–a story that is truly compelling, one capable of turning others into viral advocates for your goal.
Related articles
- The Power Of Business Storytelling – Firing up the Imagination (billives.typepad.com)
- Handy Tips for Presenting Your Story Anywhere and Everywhere (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
- Story(Us): The Power of Collaborative Storytelling: Jake Barton for the Future of StoryTelling 2012 (zendialogue.wordpress.com)
- The Art of Storytelling (joanneguidoccio.com)
- The Power Of Stoytelling (turndogmillionaire.com)
Mandela’s Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage by Richard Stengel
To learn more about Mandela’s Way, click here.
We long for heroes and have too few. Nelson Mandela, who recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite oppressor and oppressed in a way that had never been done before.
Now Richard Stengel, the editor of Time magazine, has distilled countless hours of intimate conversation with Mandela into fifteen essential life lessons. For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man and became a cherished friend and colleague.
In Mandela’s Way, Stengel recounts the moments in which “the grandfather of South Africa” was tested and shares the wisdom he learned: why courage is more than the absence of fear, why we should keep our rivals close, why the answer is not always either/or but often “both,” how important it is for each of us to find something away from the world that gives us pleasure and satisfaction—our own garden. Woven into these life lessons are remarkable stories—of Mandela’s childhood as the protégé of a tribal king, of his early days as a freedom fighter, of the twenty-seven-year imprisonment that could not break him, and of his new and fulfilling marriage at the age of eighty.
This compact book is profoundly inspiring. It captures the spirit of this extraordinary man—warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader—and spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the legacy we’ll leave behind.
The 5 P’s on the Journey from Success to Significance
I am not a huge fan of shortcuts to explain complicated topics since it often results in individuals or families missing key distinctions, exceptions to the rules, and potential risks. Nevertheless, our brains like to learn by this methodology so as an intro to this topic, I will describe a process that most of us have already used in our lives on this journey. I call this the 5 P’s on the Journey from Success to Significance.
1) Presentiment
Through our thoughts, feelings, surrounding events, our relationships, present circumstances, or inner spirit, we discover an aspiration of something we need or want to do in the future. This usually becomes the motivating force that moves us forward on our journey.
2) Planning
Through strategic and tactical planning, we begin laying out the vision and mission of the journey. Then we begin a more in-depth discovery process of the various options, tools, and resources required for us to complete our journey.
3) Productivity
Every journey begins with a single step forward. Action is required for us to fulfill our journey. By utilizing our unique abilities, our networks, our finances, and leveraging other resources, the time frame of this journey may be shortened or lengthened. Of course, we need to monitor the outcomes being created since our activities or market conditions may be moving us closer or further away from our dreams on a daily basis.
4) Profitability
As we focus our energies on success, we typically measure the results by things such as money, net worth, market share, position, return on investment, or effective use of our time (in regard to time, think of Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi). We all want to achieve some form of success since it enables us to experience our dreams and fulfill our Bucket List.
5) Purpose
At some point on our journey, it is important to realize that we are human beings and not human doings. Also, money, fame, power, and things are short term elixirs on the journey. If life was really about these things, and we work so hard to achieve them, then we should be able to bring them with us after we die. This is an impossible feat. Therefore, a better approach is to be a good steward of the blessing in our lives. By discovering our true purpose in life, we will find fulfillment and leave a sustainable and positive legacy for ourselves and our family.
On this journey from success to significance, George Kinder suggests we ask three important questions:
a) If money and time were no obstacle, what would you want to do, have, and experience in your life? (Create your Bucket List of what you would like to accomplish here on Earth on a holistic basis)
b) If you went to your Doctor and discovered that you had a rare disease which allowed you only three years to live, however the disease would allow you to remain healthy until the very end, what would you do with your time remaining? How would you spend it with your loved ones and friends? What legacy would you want to leave for your family or business?
c) If your Doctor said you only had 48 hours to live, what regrets would you have about your life?
On a daily basis, I recommend that we all reflect on the following:
i) Be consciously aware of yourself and your surroundings;
ii) Remember what you are grateful for;
iii) Review what happened in your day. Did you do the most important things first;
iv) Ask for forgiveness for things that you did wrong. Make a decision to reconcile with someone you have hurt;
v) Prepare yourself for tomorrow by becoming aware of the next day.
I wish for all our members: happiness, success, significance, prosperity, love, joy, many blessings, and great health on your journey in life.
