Invictus – Exploring the Leadership of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was able to show, through his actions, that leadership is more than just talk.  His presidency was truly a disruption to his country.  He had a decision to make when he took office. He could make sweeping changes and alienate people or do things differently and bring people together. He showed his desire to bring the country together through his daily actions.  He kept as many of the Presidential Office staff that wanted to stay, kept white body guards, and worked tirelessly to support his country.

His move to use rugby, to bring the country together, was very calculated and could have failed. But he was successful and stayed the course even when people doubted his approach.  The country was so divided, there was not a way to use politics or other means to bring people together.

As Stengal points out in his 2008, Time Magazine article, Mandela had studied the Afrikaans and their beloved rugby as far back as the 1960s.  He studied the game, players, and was able to discuss rugby with his prison guards.  He also knew that the blacks and Afrikaners believed them selves to both be Africans.  This was a major factor in rallying the country and bringing them together around the Springboks.

To make things work, he also had to support and encourage a so-so rugby team.  Mandela cultivated a relationship with team captain Francois Pienaar.  This relationship provided encouragement and helped Francois think about things differently.  He then encouraged the team to think about themselves and the country in a new way.  

Invictus, Nelson Mandela's time as president, and his legacy provide a portrait of a truly talented leader that could determine the best approach for whatever problem was set in front of him to find the right solution.

Daniel Pink's Drive

Carrots and Sticks

Working in higher education for over twenty years, I have witnessed the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in action on many occasions.  According to Daniel Pink, Carrots and Sticks: The Seven Deadly Flaws (p. 57) are:

1. They can extinguish intrinsic motivation
2. They can diminish performance
3. They can crush creativity
4. They can crowd out good behavior
5. They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior
6. They can become addictive
7. They can foster short-term thinking

One example that comes to mind relates to IT projects. Working in IT, some times it is necessary to create custom applications for specific department needs.  The carrot is used to entice programmers to work on a new project.  They become very excited about the opportunity.  But the carrot usually always comes with a stick of an incredibly short deadline.  Instead of managing the customer’s expectations and letting them know it will take more time to provide them a quality product the pressure is put on the programmer.  This can crush creativity and fosters short-term thinking.  I don’t believe that I have ever seen carrots and sticks work on a long-term basis.  You could provide someone a raise to do a job and increase his or her performance but it only works on a short-term basis or not at all. 

Autonomy

In my current position I have a great deal of autonomy.  I am able to determine my work time, tasks, and technique.  I am tuned in to the needs of those on campus and the University as a whole. I believe my past performance and work production have provided me the ability to have autonomy in my position. I am able to work on many projects at once and move between them as I see the priorities changing in my organization.  My current autonomy level is well balanced. 

Moving is Not Fun...

Although nothing could be compared to war, it seems moving could be close. No matter how prepared you are nothing ever goes as planned.  My move on October 5th was an exhausting day.  Preparing for the move and the post move-in have not been a picnic either.  It also does not help that my new house is not completely done.  I thought not having flooring in a few places would not be a big deal, wrong.... You never know how much stuff you have until it can't go where it is suppose to.  I hope my flooring does actually come in on October 18th like it is suppose to.  Now if I could only find my shoes and work clothes....

Learning in New Media Environments

The Learning in New Media Environments is a short video by Dr. Michael Wesch. His video and ideas raise a lot of ideas and thoughts.  The ideas that something as simple as a book and maps can change a village in New Guinea so quickly show you the power of media and other forms of knowledge.  When you look at all of the media that we have access to on a daily basis it is no wonder that our world is changing so quickly.  The question is how do you translate that to the classroom and make it more accepted by college faculty, and K-12 teachers.  I have found in my educational journey as a student that not many faculty want to incorporate new ideas into the classroom.  Dr. Wesch gave some great examples of how he engages a large college class by having them all contribute to a wiki and learn about a specific part of the world.  The collaboration and the process of learning the information seems like a valuable exercise that transcends his class and would be applicable to many classes and the real world.  Collaboration and facilitation are where we need to go to in the college classroom.