TGIF – Leadership Lessons From Madiba

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”  Nelson Mandela

Humor Break: Nelson Mandela  was not one to allow anyone to be seen as superior or inferior to any other person. But he had a wry sense of humor to keep things in perspective. He was once asked why he insisted on call the Queen of England “Elizabeth”, he demonstrated both his resolve and his humor by replying “Well, she calls me Nelson.”

Stat of the Week: It has been almost a month now since the passing of Nelson Mandela (often called Madiba by those who admired him). The tributes have poured in and all are deserved. Anything I could add would be a pittance. Still since this Blog supports the all-important competency of Leadership, it would be appropriate to remember some of the effective behaviors of one of the all-time great leaders in history. Here are my top 6 leadership traits that we can learn from Madiba:

Strength – the ability to stay the course no matter what the obstacles
Patience – 27 years in prison and still preparing for opportunity.
Compromise – seeking short term win-win positions while still keeping the ultimate goal in sight
Compassion – finding the good in everyone, forgiving those who oppressed him and often turning them to allies
Moral compass – knowing right from wrong and acting accordingly
Sense of self – no self-doubts but no self-congratulations, genuinely humble

Action Tip: Should you so be inspired, please add any other leadership behavior he displayed and you admired in the Comment section below.

Self-Development Corner: Every week for the past 20 months I have recommended courses from Coursera, the free online university created by Stanford professors about two years ago. When I first wrote about them they offered about 35 courses from less than twenty US institutions. I enrolled and participated in 20 courses since that time. I can’t begin to tell you how satisfied I am. I didn’t complete all of the courses. I didn’t take the courses for a certificate. I took them to learn. To learn about all kinds of things. Three or four courses weren’t worth my time. Five or six were world class and equal to or better than any course I ever took in undergraduate or graduate school. Enrollment in any course for the first time is 20 seconds. Additional course enrollments are at a click of a button. Un-enroll at the click of a button. Can’t possibly get any simpler. And no one checks up on you. No roll call! Just you getting back whatever you are putting in (funny how that works).

At the close of 2013 Coursera had grown to 97 universities participating from around the world. Courses are currently offered 12 different languages. More than 550 courses in 19 different categories are currently scheduled for 2014. There are 55 being offered in the first two weeks of January. If you are still in a development stage or learning mode and you have not done so already, you really ought to go at least once to look at the course lists. Click Coursera for the list. Go! Grow!

This is my last post (see below). Before I go I want to make one last plea. Coursera is a great place for learning and it will only get better. It is a fantastic place for professional development. But there are some unique courses that don’t normally appear on a business competency list. Let’s call these unique courses “Human Development” courses. They make us better people. These classes don’t make you richer in the pocket book; but they do make you richer in the soul. It is the first week of the year. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution to be a better person – better spouse, better parent, better friend, better citizen?

I am enrolling in these, my last three recommendations. They all start on January 20, so I will be a very busy person. But I want to make a priority to be a better global citizen. I want to be a better person, starting with looking inside me and then looking outward. Please consider joining with me in one of these three highly recommended Human Development classes:

How to Change the World (Jan 20, 6 weeks, Wesleyan University): “How can we use the things we share in common to address some of the most challenging problems facing the world? This course examines issues concerning poverty, the environment, technology, health care, gender, education and activism to helps us understand better how to initiate positive change.”

Moralities of Everyday Life (Jan 20, 6 weeks, Yale Universities): “How can we explain kindness and cruelty? Where does our sense of right and wrong come from? Why do people so often disagree about moral issues? This course explores the psychological foundations of our moral lives. (Professor Paul Bloom is one of the most respected and popular professors in all of the US and his courses at Yale are so sought after that he has hundreds on the waiting list each semester.” Check out this site for an advanced lecture (free).

Soul Beliefs: Causes and Consequences (Jan 20, 13 weeks, Rutgers): “Exploration of the causes and consequences of various beliefs about the soul. Topics such as the self, mind/body dualism, evolution, culture, death anxiety, afterlife, and religious and political conflict.”

Happy Learning!

Farewell Message: I began doing posts for Envisia Learning almost 5 years ago. Today is my 473rd and final regular post. Envisia Learning wants to put my meager abilities to use in other ways. We have been preaching about how to manage change for years. Now it is our turn. Envisia Learning is expanding into new directions and activities to ensure its business success. We employees need embrace the change and move forward with the organization. I will be doing new things and learning new things (and maybe new words so I don’t use the word “things” so often). And that is a good thing.

I want to thank all of you for coming along for the ride. I particularly want to thank those of you who took the time to comment, especially when you found something useful. And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my most faithful reader and friend Lee Gardenswartz who wrote a supportive comment almost every week – although I will remember her best for her candid comment one week: “Well that was average”.

Goodnight Gracie.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.