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Time’s Richard Stengel wrote a great piece on leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela. It helps that Stengel is Mandela’s biographer because lessons like this are not pulled from a few interviews and a Google search.

I was particularly inspired by Stengel’s eighth lesson: “Quitting is leading too.”

In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage.

I am surrounded by so many gifted elder leaders that must get this lesson of passing the baton. If they don’t, I’m afraid my generation won’t. And we’ll continue to be doomed by this hostage mentality.

The article ends with a suggestion for how best to understand Mandela. “Ultimately, the key to understanding Mandela is those 27 years in prison,” says Stengel. “The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined.”

According to Stengel, Mandela “is not and never has been introspective.” So when Stengel asked Mandela how he was different today than when he entered prison, Mandela responded in exasperation, “I came out mature.”

For what it’s worth, I was selfishly encouraged to learn that Nelson Mandela is not a great public speaker and that people often tuned out what he was saying after the first few minutes. There is hope for me!

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