A Winning Mindset: Lessons from Madiba and the Springboks

A Winning Mindset: Lessons from Madiba and the Springboks 

Mandela International Day was launched in recognition of Nelson Mandela's (Madiba) birthday on July 18, 2009, through the UN General Assembly's unanimous decision. In 2020, the essence of Mandela Day is to: take action, inspire change, and make every day a Mandela Day!

Today, I am inspired by Nelson Mandela's call to the younger generation to take on the burden of leadership and address the world's social injustices. Madiba's message has spoken to me over the years. As Lead Activator, I feel compelled to reflect on leadership by borrowing lessons from Madiba's leadership style mainly because at Activate Women in Leadership Africa (WILA), we have recently been discussing the topic of a winning mindset.

If the reference to Rugby on Mandela Day sounds familiar, maybe it is because of a story now immortalized by Clint Eastwood's 2009 movie, Invictus. The film is based on John Carlin's book, "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation."

When Mandela took office in 1994, he set out to use the Springbok to unite a deeply divided nation and define "a new form of nationhood founded on reconciliation and redemption" as John Baldoni puts it in his column, the Washington Post.

Before 1995 Rugby was a game that was played predominantly by Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch, German, and French Settlers. Mandela recognized that the Springboks were "the rage of white South Africans while black South Africans would cheer for whatever team was playing against the Springboks" notes the Eblin Group. With South Africa scheduled to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Madiba forged a strategic alliance with Francois Pienaar, then Springbok's Team Captain. Together, they created a new vision of a post-apartheid South Africa defined a simple goal for the team to win the World Cup: 

"One Team, One Country".

So, what lessons can we draw from Madiba and the Springboks in a time of seemingly insurmountable challenges?

1) Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) ...still

Yes, you read me, right! Even in tough times, successful leaders and organizations think big, think long-term, and set ambitious goals with a winner's mentality. Amidst adversity, you cannot afford to adopt a casualty mindset because if you do, you will not recognize opportunities when they arise. You have to see yourself on the winning side to have the audacity to take the requisite risks and make the investments necessary to yield results in the future. Felisters Mutugu, Director Sales and Marketing at Farmers Choice reminded us of this in the Gems and Nuggets podcast "Bring Your Own Chair (BYOC)". 

Likewise, Mandela chose to see beyond negative perceptions and took advantage of the Rugby World Cup to advance an ambitious goal of reconciliation. Failure is always a looming possibility, but a winning mindset urges us to push forward despite it. 

2) Realign your Allies 

Mandela quickly realized that he needed an unlikely ally if his vision for a unified South Africa was to become a reality. For those who may not be too familiar with the context at the time, let me break it down. During the apartheid era, all sports were segregated. However, Rugby, whose historical significance in South Africa dates back to the early 1900s, more than any other sport was perceived representative of the white South African identity and way of life, and therefore to the blacks, a painful reminder of oppression. 

With the end of apartheid, President Mandela was under immense pressure to abandon iconic 'bok' emblem for the "protea," South Africa's national flower. This predicament was one of the first in a series of many tough decisions Mandela had to make and one in which he found himself losing support from some of his long-standing allies. "In surveys of white South Africans in the early 1990s, about half stated losing the flag or changing the national anthem was something they could live with, but over 90% stated eliminating the Springbok emblem was unthinkable" John Nauright.

Mandela, having won Fran?ois Pienaar over to share in his vision for a new South Africa, made a widely unpopular move to regroup his allies. Rather than get rid of the Springbok, President Mandela kept the emblem and led the campaign to have black South Africans claiming it as a national symbol. 

As Dr. Catherine Munene, Vodafone's Head of Talent for the AMAP region eloquently puts it:

"When you change your elevation, you must then change the system that feeds you." ~ Dr. Catherine Munene.

 Dr. Munene alludes to an uncomfortable reality, the allies who served you well in the past may not take you to the future. As a leader, you need to get comfortable with this fact. In these trying times, leaders are called upon to be more easily adaptable for their own and their organizations' survival. As you drive change, recognize that some people will take longer to get on board, or may never get on board, so be open to bringing new allies in. 

3) Vision: Leading from the front

On June 23, 2020 I hosted the third webinar: "A Winning Mindset: What Sports can Teach us About Leadership". One of the examples I shared in the forum was drawn from the world of Rugby; specifically, the World Cup 2019 Rugby Champions from South Africa, The Springboks. I referred to the Team's Captain, Siya Kolisi, and Coach Johan 'Rassie' Erasmus, as in the quote below from an interview with ITV. 

"The Springboks are more important than our personal goals. People lost salary to come and see us play. We are not playing for ourselves, we are playing for the people back home"

Siya Kolisi - Springboks Captain, 2019.

Kolisi goes on to explain how Coach Rassie worked to change the team's mindset from a bunch of players who were making more headlines off the pitch than on it to a global inspiration. 

Good leaders cultivate the ability to show their teams where they should go and guide them on the best path to the destination. President Mandela did well to articulate the "One Team, One Country Vision" in 1994, thus making it clear what Pienaar and his team needed to do, win. And in 2019, Coach Rassie does the same by reminding the group what was at stake. By appointing the team's first Black Captain in the wave of unprecedented racial and xenophobic attacks, and then telling them of their privilege, it is difficult to imagine a better way to inspire a team to make history once again, for "One Team, One Country". 

Inspiration fuels the attainment of goals, and indeed, we all can find inspiration when we dream bigger than ourselves and demand nothing short of greatness from ourselves and from those we lead. 

4) Lead by Example

If Madiba taught us anything, we need to build our lives and work around the cause we proclaim on the outside. 

Nelson Mandela: Tell me, Fran?ois, what is your philosophy on leadership? How do you inspire your team to do their best? 

Fran?ois Pienaar: By example. I have always thought to lead by example, Sir. 

In the Invictus movie, Pienaar is portrayed as having little personal authority, seemingly barely surviving a team leadership purge. Inspired by his encounter with Mandela, he is determined to bring change with more conviction and to demonstrate how to break their self-made molds. In a critique of Invictus, the movie, blogger Roy Eyre says, "I'm intrigued by his journey — how a young leader can build a reputation and gain the personal authority needed to influence a nation". He prods and challenges the team, and by sheer determination, he carries his team to victory, and says what does he say about the win?

"We had 43 million people behind us." Fran?ois Pienaar

Imagine if, as the Captain of the team, Kolisi continued to engage his fans on social media bathing in the newly acquired fame as the first black team captain, while also encouraging his teammates to comply with Coach Rassie's new rules. He could always justify that as the leader, some team rules don't apply to him, and he probably would even benefit the team with positive publicity. But how would the inconsistency impact the team? 

"We cut off social media, and we put heart and soul on the field. We came together with one goal - to win! ", says the Springbok's first black Captain, Siya Kolisi, in a media interview following South Africa's third World Cup win on November 02, 2019.

"We cut off social media, and we put heart and soul on the field. We came together with one goal - to win! "

Leading by example has risks, but is undoubtedly the most effective leadership philosophy and is rewarding. In both 1995 and 2019 games, the Springboks needed their leaders to guide the path to unprecedented victory. Luckily for them, they had terrific Captains in Fran?ois Pienaar and Siya Kolisi who exemplified how to get to success! 

In an increasingly digital era, leaders are more than ever being pushed to greater transparency by being held publicly accountable by their online constituents. Their critics are seldom shy to call them out when they fall short of demonstrating the ideals they proclaim openly, and maybe, that is not such a bad thing. 

5) Challenge the status quo

In our latest podcast, Farah Esmail of the Sirdar Group, Corporate Lawyer, Business Consultant, and Body Building Champion reminds us that we have to break stereotypes to free ourselves to live and lead as we please. 

As President, Mandela consistently challenges both the establishment and his fellow black citizens to think differently about issues and policies. For example, the president tasks his head of security to ensure that all his black staff works collaboratively with their more experienced white colleagues. Mandela is also shown quietly memorizing the names of the Springboks players to give each one a personal greeting.

I'm glad that I got to review the movie Invictus to remind myself of how Nelson Mandela worked with the game of Rugby and for its many lessons on leadership, courage, building, and sustaining relationships. Mandela's Invictus story is about a team that comes from behind to win the world championship as it is about encouraging us to have a winning mindset. This type of mindset requires self- belief, to keep striving and resilience.

Madiba would have been proud of the Springboks of 2019 when for the first time, their first black captain, became the first black captain of any country to lift the Web Ellis Cup trophy. I think he would have been even more pleased to see how a white coach, Rassie, championed the vision of a diversified yet unified team that definitively crushed England in the final match 32-12. 

Kolisi, Erasmus, Pienaar, and Madiba all represent a message of hope in a world divided.

"Be bigger than that! We represent an entire country." ~ Coach Johan Rassie Erasmus

MaryAnne Mwaura is the Lead Activator at Activate Women in Leadership Africa (WILA) and an executive coach, speaker, and facilitator inspiring execution worldwide.