Monday, December 9, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Lasting legacy : Nelson Mandela's evolution as a strategic leader
Lasting legacy: Nelson Mandela's evolution as a strategic leader
The life story of Nelson Mandela is well known, and elevated him to the level of such widely recognised heroes as Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. There was indeed much courage, sacrifice, wisdom and nobility in his life -attributes that demand our deep respect and have much to teach us.
What is less well-known is how Mandela evolved into the kind of strategic leader who, from prisons on Robben Island and elsewhere, helped to bring genuine democracy to South Africa. For example, while isolated from his fellow prisoners by force, he steered secret government meetings toward the abolishment of apartheid and free elections. Subsequent to that, he became the country's first democratically elected black president.
Mandela's remarkable story holds valuable lessons for other leaders involved in deep struggles, foremost among which are the importance of holding firm to a morally just vision and the ability to influence a sequence of key strategic decisions over time (decades, in his case) in order to bring about truly remarkable results.
Three decisions especially stand out in Mandela's evolution as a strategic leader. To appreciate these fully, however, we need to understand some of the social and political contexts that shaped his career and values.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Gandhi Journal Article - II
Gandhi's world of
peace
By Balamurali Balaji
Over many centuries, world civilization has witnessed countless instances
of warfare, battles, and conflicts duly capable of employing the power of
transmuting the human kind into forms what the emperors and rulers had never
thought of. There existed peerless and rarest men among the human species who
preached and practiced theories of peace that made the human race to evolve
into a more enlightened genre living of what he is today on this planet.
Mahatma Gandhi is the greatest apostle of peace the world has seen after
Buddha and Christ. His notion of peace is centered on nonviolence,
individualism, soul force and forgiveness. At first glance, global peace
initiatives might be perceived as far-flung methodologies that have wholly
diverged from his ideologies. Many modern researchers and philosophers feel
that today's conflicts are far more complex, so as their solutions. Global
peace, global citizen, neo-modern trends and global issues have placed Gandhi
at the backseat of the global forum.
But, there exists a fundamental correlation of what Gandhi had said and
what the world is doing these days to combat violence and bring peace. This
paper tries to find the relevance of Gandhi's dictum and how his ideologies can
be put in current day’s global peace initiatives. It also traverses through
various dimensions of peace one could think of in upholding global peace at
micro, individualistic levels.
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