3 Things Nelson Mandela Can Teach Us About Influence (Part 1)

Then-President Nelson Mandela revisits his South African prison cell on Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, in 1994. (Jurgen Schadeberg / Getty Images)

In preparation for my move to South Africa I’ve been learning about the country by reading about Nelson Mandela. I recently read the book “Playing The Enemy” by John Carlin which was turned into the Hollywood film “Invictus” starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

Once again, the book is 100 times better than the movie.

As I read the book, I picked up on three distinctive and practical things about Mandela’s leadership and especially ability to influence that I wanted to share and remember myself.

I’ll devote one blog post to each of the three traits I found. Why 3 separate posts? Because I have a day job and don’t have time to spend all day writing.

Okay so back to the story…

While serving over 27 years in prison, it was around Mandela’s 11th year of incarceration that he decided to change the methods he was using to pursue the end of apartheid (defined “as a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.”)

Mandela went from a more militant tactic to a softer and collaborative approach.

His goal was the same, but the strategy changed.

To fight against apartheid and all the injustices black South Africans suffered mostly at the hands of the Afrikaners, “South Africa’s dominant white tribe” as Carlin describes them, Mandela started by winning over his prison guards.

He believed that if he could influence his prison guards to work with him, he could persuade the entire white population of South Africa to do the same. After convincing one of his guards to loan him a “hot plate” to heat his food — this was forbidden– Mandela convinced himself his plan was possible.

So how did he influence the guard?

By showing dignity and respect.

Seriously. That was it.

He won over the first guard by giving him the very thing Mandela has being denied him. Respect.

He showed the prison guards so much respect they eventually started treating him differently. But he never accepted any treatment that was deemed to be make him feel inferior.  

Those years in prison gave Mandela time to reflect. Instead of seeing white people as an “enemy” he showed them as much respect as possible by studying their culture, history, and even teaching himself their language.

During this transformative process he came to see Afrikaners not as racist or evil people, but as a group whose views on race at the time were “misguided” and in need of redemption.  

The second thing Mandela did was use emotional intelligence.

Mandela had every right to react to the poor treatment he was receiving from the criminal justice system by fighting back, resisting, or responding with violence. But he didn’t.

In the book “Getting Past No” the author, William Ury writes, 

“Objects react. Minds can choose not to.”

Mandela’s mind chose not to. And instead he did what Ury describes as “Going to the balcony” which is a,

“metaphor for a mental detachment. From the balcony you can calmly evaluate the conflict almost as if you were a third party. You can think constructively for both sides and look for a mutually satisfactory way to resolve the problem.”

So What’s the big idea?

Mandela’s goal wasn’t to beat and then punish Afrikaners, but to include them in the rebuilding of South Africa. He wanted to unify the country.

This reminds me of an African proverb an Ambassador I worked for loved to quote,

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

If we see others simply as enemies or an obstacle to our goals we’re losing out on the potential to have an alley and to collaboratively solve problems.  

Mandela teaches that you can–

Turn Your Enemy Into An Alley

Sometimes the enemy is not who or what we think it is. In this case, the real enemies were:

-Ignorance

– Fear of the unknown

– Hunger for political power

– Indifference to the struggles of others

– Inability for people to question cultural and political norms.

He realized his fight was against ignorance and fear and not against white South Africans. 

So what about you?

Are there any enemies or adversaries you can start to see as allies in order to accomplish a bigger goal?