The Power Of Leadership In Invictus, By Nelson Mandela

#1

In 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected to the highest office of the land. Faced with issues like an economic crisis and racial tensions, Mandela inherited a difficult set of problems. While Mandela’s new position had allocated legitimate power, “influence that is created through a title or status”, due to the severity of the issues, Mandela needed new means of acquiring power, “the ability to influence how others behave,” to garnish unified support throughout the country (P. 329). Mandela understood that to achieve this he would have to adopt various techniques to provide leadership, “a process of influence aimed at directing behavior toward the accomplishment of objectives” (P.326).

Various leadership methods used by Mandela are portrayed throughout the film “Invictus”. Mandela come into office with influence among the black community by acting as a servant leader, “one who focuses on the needs, objectives, and aspirations of [others] to help them achieve…goals,” by fighting for black rights his entire life (P.342). In addition, during a time of delicate political transition, Mandela utilized directive leadership, “the providing of…task focused directions….and assigning [of] goals,” to emphasize

Worse, barriers to communication, “obstacles that interrupt the flow of conveying and receiving messages,” had arisen due to the division between the whites and blacks (P.380). Because of this, the future of South Africa was not only misunderstood by South Africans, but by the international community as well. In order to promote his vision, Mandela understood that he would need to actively communicate, “the…transmitting [of] information, thoughts, and processes through various channels,” to make his intentions known, and to create motivation, “drive to complete a task,” throughout the country (P.