Prominent Leaders - Research Paper Example

All the same we are fortunate enough to have enough positive leadership to reflect upon it helps to overshadow all of those that are not. Nelson Mandela is a fantastic example of what positive leadership should look like, strongly empathetic, goal oriented, and eager to bring about positive and productive change, and bring greater equality to his country, in Mandela’s case, this is South Africa. In order to understand Mandela’s leadership better it is important to review his life and experiences.

Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela in July of 1918 to his mother and father, the latter was a councilman to the current king of the existing Provence. Even as a child it is said that he reveled in stories of brave heroes fighting for what is right and making change. He hoped he might, also, make changes to improve the lives of the peoples in his communities someday. It was not until he entered primary school, the equivalent to elementary school in the United States, that he received a “Christian” name from his teacher, a common tradition at the time, Nelson.

He did well in his educational pursuits and began his goal of gaining his Bachelors degree at the University College at Fort Hare, however he was expelled for his participation in a protest (The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela, 2013). He went back to college on several occasions but never complete his degree. In 1942 he joined the African National Congress and in 1944 when he helped formed the ANC Youth League. Nelson Mandela rose quickly through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work the ANC was adopted in 1949, which was a more radical mass-based policy, a Programme of Action.

In 1952 he was chosen as the National Volunteer in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign, which was a campaign of civil disobedience focused on, decidedly, six unjust laws. This campaign was a joint endeavor between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. Nelson Mandela and neatly 20 others were charged and sentences for their their involvement. It was later that year that Mandela was able to earn a degree that allowed him to practice law, he and colleague, Oliver Tambo, opened South Africa’s first black owned and operated law firm, Mandela and Tambo.

From hear he continued to push forward, always with the goal, of improving the quality and equality of the black South Africans under the minority rule of white South Africans. He was arrested, detained, and served time on multiple occasions through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, for his efforts; at one point or another, he even, at one time, continued his pursuits under a false name so that he might continue to inspire and lead others (The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela, 2013). There are two standard categories that leadership styles are attributed, either transactional or transformational leadership.

The former, transactional leadership focuses on the goals and desires of the leader; all things revolve around that leadership as supervision and group performance. It is less focused on changing the future but on maintaining the “status quo” (Aarons, 2007). Transformational leadership focuses on changing the future, inspiring others to share their goals, and motivating people to take greater ownership in their