Mandela's Leadership Legacy

Emotional and Existential Wisdom
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-04761-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 238 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Mandela’s Leadership Legacy explores Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary ability to lead through moments of existential crisis and uncertainty. Central to his leadership was his attunement to mood—the emotional and existential atmosphere through which people experience disruption. Long overlooked in leadership studies, mood shaped the way Mandela created trust, defused fear, and opened possibilities when conventional strategies failed.

Mandela’s wisdom was forged not only in prison but in the existential challenges he faced upon leaving the familiarity of his ancestral homeland and confronting the disorientation of city life. From this early rupture through to his imprisonment, the collapse of apartheid, and the assassination of Chris Hani, he demonstrated a rare capacity to transform existential threats into opportunities for renewal and unity. This book examines how Mandela combined strategic foresight with therapeutic sensitivity, allowing him to guide individuals and nations through disruption with ethical resolve and visionary clarity. Drawing on frameworks from Heidegger and Ubuntu it highlights Mandela’s "existential practical wisdom"—the ability to embrace uncertainty, work with paradox, and foster collective transformation through attuned presence.

By investigating Mandela’s profound relational sensitivity, including his ability to turn estrangement and enmity into trust and collaboration, the book offers timeless lessons for navigating today’s global crises. It is ideal for professionals seeking inspiration for leading in turbulent times and for students interested in leadership, philosophy, or history.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Professional Practice & Development

Autoren/Hrsg.

Segal, Steven

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Management: Führung & Motivation
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Unternehmensorganisation, Corporate Responsibility Unternehmensethik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Strategisches Management

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: At the Edge of Rationality; PART ONE Prologue: Mandela as "Human, All Too Human"; PART TWO Frameworks for Understanding Existential Threats 1 The Hidden Secret of Mandela’s Leadership: Leading through Moods and Emotions; 2 Conceptual Frameworks of the Book; 3 Apartheid as a Breakdown in Relationality; Reflective Pause for Practitioners; PART THREE From Routine to Rupture, Estrangement to Engagement 4 From Ubuntu to Exile: The Breaking of Relation; 5 Mandela and the Country Boy Within: From Convention to Disruption to Transformation; 6 From Estrangement to Political Engagement; 7 Socrates and Mandela: Courtroom Philosophy as World-Disclosure; Reflective Pause for Readers; PART FOUR The Existential Challenges of Prison 8 Mandela’s Metamorphosis in Prison; 9 Mandela’s Meditative Transformation; 10 Mandela’s Transformational Leadership in Prison: Reframing and Reconfiguring as Forms of Change; 11 Power in Powerlessness: Finding Freedom from Within Constraint; 12 The Power of Presence: Disclosing New Worlds through Leadership; Reflective Pause for Readers; PART FIVE Mandela’s Response to the Existential Threat of a Political Assassination 13 Setting the Context for Mandela’s Response to the Existential Threat Posed by the Assassination of Chris Hani; 14 The Existential Language of Mandela’s Address: Calling a Nation into Being; 15 From Calculative to Reflexive Phenomenological and Meditative Thinking: Mandela’s Address After Hani’s Assassination; Reflective Pause for Practitioners; PART SIX Mandela’s Leadership as a Way of Being-in-the-World 16 Mandela as Existential Therapist: Leaping Ahead in Crisis and Transformation; 17 Mandela’s Strategic Leadership Amid Existential Disruption; 18 Mandela’s Emergent Lived Experience of Ubuntu Philosophy; 19 The Art of Dialogue Across Difference: Mandela’s Ubuntu Existential Process; 20 Mandela’s Practical and Existential Wisdom: An Aristotelian Lens; 21 Beyond The Prince: Mandela’s Ubuntu Transformation of Power; Reflective Pause for Practitioners; PART SEVEN From Philosophical Failure to Therapeutic Leadership 22 Mandela’s Letting-Be and Heidegger’s Assertion: Two Responses to Existential Crisis; 23 Conclusion: Mandela’s Existential Ubuntu Therapeutic Leadership Attunement; Reflective Pause: Dwelling Within Existential Crisis; Appendix One: Mapping the Arc of Existential Disruption and Emergence; Appendix Two: Glossary of Philosophical and Framework Terms

Über Autor(innen)

Steven Segal was an Associate Professor of Management at Macquarie University, Australia, from 1999 to 2021 and is currently in private practice as a psychologist and leadership coach. He also runs professional development workshops for coaches and psychotherapists.