What Nelson Mandela said about leadership

Hi All,

As we know the worlds most secular saint, the 94 year old leader, freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela is battling his life, I thought in a prayer to make him get better,  I will put up a few things he said that can matter a lot to us... and its something we can take from his life...

A few things he said in an interview which is not available to everyone but a few are made open in the web. Following are a few which I found can be helpful..

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” (90th birthday celebration of Walter Sisulu, Walter Sisulu Hall, Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, May 18, 2002)

“It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.” (Closing address, 13th International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, July 14, 2000)

But some of the best nuggets of wisdom in the piece are quotes from Mandela buried beneath those more familiar leadership ideas. When Mandela was afraid (whether in prison or later in life on a plane making an emergency landing) he admitted to Stengel leaders shouldn’t let other people know: “You must put up a front.” Mandela learned from the tribal king who raised him as a boy that leaders shouldn’t “enter the debate too early,” Stengel writes that Mandela used to say. “It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.”

Mandela, of course, had many things to say about leadership over the course of his life, though for many years of it, South Africans were banned from quoting him. Here are a few of the best, with credit to “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations”:

“Long speeches, the shaking of fists, the banging of tables and strongly worded resolutions out of touch with the objective conditions do not bring about mass action and can do a great deal of harm to the organisation and the struggle we serve.” (Presidential address to the ANC Transvaal Congress, also known as the “No Easy Walk to Freedom” speech, Transvaal, South Africa, Sept. 21, 1953)

“Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.” (Chief Albert Luthuli Centenary Celebrations, Kwadukuza, Kwazulu-Natal, April 25, 1998, South Africa)

“I had no specific belief except that our cause was just, was very strong and it was winning more and more support.” (Robben Island, Cape Town, South Africa, Feb. 11, 1994)

The day when Human interaction becomes a special luxury

We have all run into that frustrating situation trying to get through the IVR and speak to a live "AGENT" . We have been hung up, misrouted, dropped with a message "you have not entered the right option, thank you for calling xyz" etc., And that lady's voice is sarcastic, she is very happy to drop your call and not let you speak to the Agent. You have to dial all over again!

It gets so fierce on situations like a customer calling a bank to report a stolen card, or when you call to book a refill for your cooking gas, when your car needs to be fixed after an accident and you are asked by an automatic intelligent system to enter your date of birth, pan card number etc., Oh not just these, when you receive a call reminder to pay your credit card bill or your mobile bill, that voice is so ugly, angry and pissing you off type!

There used to be times, when you dial and a real person answered the phone. Automation and Technology has really kicked us down below our levels of dignity and patience as they have unknowingly taken the "Boss" seat on many occasions. To speak to a human person in a real-life scenario has now become a luxury.

How far can all this Automation go? Customer service is alright, billing and banking is okay, but what if Automation is extended to be your personal hair dresser, or a cook who is programmed to make a few dishes? or a doctor, a medic perhaps who can read your pulse, check your eyes, test your blood and diagnose the problem while he instantly prints a prescription, just like an ATM machine? Give this a thought for a minute.

What if a student has a college/school admission and his teacher is an online video, his assignments is an automated web application that assigns, the test is online and studies are on a mobile App? What if the entire education system is fully automated by computers, web apps, mobile apps and machines? its possible right? and it can happen in near future, cant it?
What if one school/college adopts such a system and for half the cost of having a human teacher, if a machine does it for a throwaway produces children who have a 60% IQ level than of those who study under a human teacher, wouldnt all schools run behind having such a system? wouldn't all nations support their cause as every country depends heavily on education system?

Similarly think about the Value proposition that Automation brings to other professions.

In the world of cutting costs, there would not be talented craftsmen, or employees or professionals if Automation is going to extend to replace human efficiency. Its all heading towards a devil's bargain where efficient humans are replaced by Ultra efficient cost effective long lasting machines!

I accept that cost saving is important, technology has to be incorporated, more technology means more benefits and more money etc., I am not debating over this topic at all. What I am trying to point out is an exponential innovation that will come up in days to come that evades any emotional barrier, or a human touch but introduces a program that sticks to a set of rules and dehumanizes the entire process?
For example, you cant request to a machine, you cant let the automated system sympathize you for real for waiting in the queue for long, you cant have a real doctor who actually cares about your health, you are just left stranded in the planet of emotion by a cold machine/program and your only value, your only worth is "how much money  you have" and nothing else!??? We shouldnt let it happen, should we?