How are you doing today?

The past two weeks have passed quickly. I have been quite busy as usual, but I have found time to read my book of the month. I must say the book, "The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation" by Justice Malala, made for very interesting reading, and as promised, these are my key learnings from the book:

1. In a crisis situation, leaders need to be firm. As a leader, you will get dragged in different directions by people who have various interests. If you are not firm in your convictions, you might lose focus.

2. A tragic situation may lead to a positive outcome. For example, it took the death of Chris Hani for apartheid to be dismantled eventually. We do not, of course, pray for bad things to happen, but when they do, we can use them as a trigger to make things better.

3. You get a positive outcome when you put the interests of the people ahead of personal interests. For example, for their people’s benefit, the African National Congress (ANC) and Frederik de Klerk reached an agreement on a transition to majority rule. And when the ANC obtained the most seats in the new National Assembly, de Klerk joined a government of national unity formed by Nelson Mandela and took the lower position of Second Deputy President in that government.

4. True leaders do not pander to public opinion. Cyril Ramaphosa and other chief negotiators kept meeting privately, even though publicly, it seemed as though talks had broken down. True leaders are not deterred from reaching their goals because of what people who do not know the facts say.

Let me stop with these four lessons. Did you read this book with me? What did you learn? Do reply and share.