Attitude and Mandela

Last week, Declan O’Donnell ran a morning meeting where he discussed Nelson Mandela’s 8 Lessons of Leadership. Since it is Black History Month, I thought it was a very fitting subject. When you hear a story of a person numerous times it can lose its luster, until you put everything into perspective again. In our business, the two most important things that will drive an individual to success is their work ethic and their ability to consistently maintain a positive attitude. It’s very humbling, almost embarrassing to see how badly we struggle at times at maintaining our attitudes and persevering through tough times, when you hear stories of great leaders in history such as Nelson Mandela. Here was a man who stood up against apartheid, which legally implemented racial segregation in South Africa. Mandela led a non-violent group that protested the government. He was sentenced to life in prison for treason in 1962. After serving 27 years in prison, Mandela was released in 1990. With every legitimate excuse to be bitter, hostile, or give up on the vision he had three decades earlier, Mandela picked up right where he left off. Apartheid was abolished three years after his release. Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was elected President of South Africa a year later. Now, what were we saying about the bad day we were having at work yesterday? You see where I’m going with this. Hearing about these great leaders in history is always inspiring and can help us put our day to day struggles in perspective. Here is the link to the 8 Lessons of Leadership by Nelson Mandela. Thanks to Declan for running a great meeting last week.