THE LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS DEMONSTRATED IN THE MOVIE “INVICTUS”
Rasika Nanayakkara
Senior Project Manager | Project Management | Negotiator | Making Things Happen
Invictus (2009) by Clint Eastwood is a biographical sports drama film starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela who is the newly elected President of South Africa with Matt Damon as the Captain of the South African National Rugby Team Springboks. The story is based on the book by John Carlin, “Playing the Enemy”.
As the president, Mandela’s ultimate vision is rebuilding South Africa as a nation. At that time South Africa is socially and economically divided by Apartheid. As a political leader, he understands that sports can be used as a tool to unite the divided. He has seen that there is an opportunity to do, which is the upcoming Rugby World Cup hosted by South Africa. By the time Mandela becomes the president, the South African National Rugby Team, the Springboks, is a mediocre team in the world stage and is led by Francois Pienaar. As a Transformational Leader, Mandela inspired Francois Pienaar to lead Springboks to win the Rugby World Cup which is nearly an impossible task. The victory of the world cup bonds the blacks and the whites. Also, Mandela influenced the people to deny the apartheid, intellectually stimulated his followers to get the best out of them and gave his individual consideration to the people who are working with him.
Transformational Leadership is a process that changes and transforms individuals (Northouse 2001). It is the ability to get people to want to change, improve, and lead. A transformational leader could make the organization more successful by valuing its associates.
There are four key factors in transformational leadership. They are as follows.
Each factor will be discussed in the movie scenes of the Invictus.
Idealized Influence
These describe as leaders who are the role models for their followers. Leaders with idealized influence can be trusted and respected by followers to make the best decisions for society.
Movie Scene (From 00:08:30 to 00:11:40)
After President Mandela took the president's office, on his very first day the office, he noticed that the Afrikaners are leaving because they were the employees of the previous government. Mandela immediately gathers all the employees for a quick meeting and assured them that there is nothing to be feared of. He asked the Afrikaner employees to stay and do a great service to the country.
As the transformational leader, Mandela influences the Afrikaners to stay in the country. He ensures they do their jobs to the best of their abilities, with a good heart and he is doing the same for them. Mandela influenced the employees to make South Africa a shining light in the world. He ensures the trust in the hearts of the Afrikaners. After Mandela’s meeting, the happy and motivated faces of the Afrikaners can be clearly seen and throughout the movie, there can be seen many Afrikaners working in the President's Office.
Intellectual Stimulation
These describe as the leaders who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs of views of a group. The leader with intellectual stimulation is questioning his follower's assumptions, and decisions and leads them to be better people than before.
Movie Scene (From 00:13:24 to 00:14:44)
Nelson Mandela wants to overcome the Apartheid by treating everyone as equals. When there are not enough security personnel recruited to the presidential security, Mandela appoints four Afrikaners who worked for the previous government to his security detail. Mandela’s chief security officer is not happy with that appointments. He openly tells Mandela that the Afrikaners cannot be trusted. however, Mandela has other thoughts. Mandela replies “The Rainbow Nation starts here. Reconciliation Starts here. Forgiveness starts here too. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.” Mandela’s belief in eliminating the differences by working together started from his office. He becomes the change. Despite the thoughts, wills and beliefs of the followers, as a transformational leader, Mandela’s actions take a step closer to racial harmony. And he leads his followers for the better. Throughout the movie, it can be seen that black and white presidential security personnel are working together as a team to achieve the common goal of taking care of the president’s security.
Movie Scene (From 00:28:00 to 00:35:24)
As per the movie, the Springboks are representing the Apartheid in South Africa. The National Sports Council of South Africa needs to eliminate the name, colours and emblem of the “Springboks”. Mandela shows his true leadership qualities in that instance. He knows that the decision of the NSC is wrong and his duty is to show his followers that they are wrong. His advisors strongly advised him to stay away from the NSC’s decision to face an unwanted risk to his political capital, but Mandela as a true leader, strongly disagree with the advisors and states that “The day I’m afraid to do that is the day I’m no longer fit to lead”. This aspect illustrates the element of intellectual stimulation in transformational leadership. Mandela leads his followers beyond self-interest toward the common goal of rebuilding the country. In that case, they need the support of all South Africans and destroying a treasured emotional symbol of Afrikaners, will only lead them to lose Afrikaners. Therefore as a true leader, Mandela chooses the right path and convinced his followers to follow him.
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Inspirational Motivation
This describes the leader who motivates his followers to commit to the vision of the environment such as an organization or a country. Leaders with Inspirational motivation encourage their followers and lift their spirit of them to achieve the common goal and fulfil the mission and vision.
Movie Scene (From 00:45:50 to 00:50:40)
Nelson Mandela is a transformational leader who uses every opportunity to inspire his followers and others to achieve a common goal. As in the movie scene, the Springboks captain and Mandela have a casual chat regarding the philosophy of leadership. During the discussion, Mandela inspired Francois Pienaar to be better than the Springboks actually can do. He inspired Pienaar to win the World Cup for South Africa. As a true leader, Mandela shares the way he gets inspiration when the times he needs it. He shares his experience with Pienaar. That shows the characteristics of the integrity a great leader should have. He simply doesn’t leave Pienaar with the words of wisdom, but he shows how he gets the wisdom.
Movie Scene (From 00:38:00 to 00:38:32)
Throughout the Invictus movie, it demonstrates Nelson Mandela as a workaholic person. Mandela’s workaholic nature inspired his presidential security personnel to do more work. When the Afrikaner security officials complained about the heavy workload, the black security officials always defend Mandela stating that “If Madiba can do it, we can do it”. That is the inspiration the security personnel get from Mandela’s strong work ethic.
That inspiration leads them to be better people and do their job no matter what the circumstances are.
Nelson Mandela as a transformational leader, Inspires his followers with his thoughts and with his actions and motivates them to greatness.
Individual Consideration
These describe as leaders who emotionally appeal to their followers. The leader morally engages with the followers and pays attention to each dividend. Leaders who possess individual consideration encourage followers to reach common goals.
Movie Scene (From 00:44:33 to 00:45.10)
Nelson Mandela as a transformational leader possesses the quality of Individual consideration throughout the movie. Mandela always has concerns about his associates. As in the movie scene, one of the presidential security personnel describes Mandela’s quality of keeping attention to each dividend. Also when Mandela has the chat with Pienaar in the next scene, he starts with Pienaar’s ankle injury.
That shows the leadership quality of emotional appeal which Mandela possesses.
As per the movie “Invictus”, on many occasions, Mandela does care about the good health, family well being and the mental status of his close associates. Those good transformational leadership qualities of Mandela stand out as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen.
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