{"id":225,"date":"2018-11-02T12:42:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/?p=225"},"modified":"2018-11-02T12:42:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T16:42:16","slug":"invictus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/2018\/11\/02\/invictus\/","title":{"rendered":"Invictus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching Invictus for the first time for this assignment, I\u2019m struck by a story to be so meaningful on multiple layers. First, the South African rugby team and their surprising victory in the 1995 World Cup of Rugby. Second, the beautiful friendship and inspiration shared between Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks. And third, Mandela\u2019s own journey from prisoner to president. <\/span><\/p>\n

The outcome of the central plot of the movie is the World Cup victory of South Africa on their home soil in 1995. The result of Mandela\u2019s transformational leadership and his ability to inspire Pienaar and those around him was this team\u2019s unexpected win. In this story, the tangible result of transformational leadership is this monumental victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though Mandela\u2019s leadership may be as concrete an example of transformational leadership factors (Northouse, 2016, p. 169-171), leadership is often seen as an abstract concept which is hard to define. The Springboks\u2019 World Cup win reminds me that helping others to achieve a common goal should be a clear motivation in my leadership. <\/span><\/p>\n

This goal of a World Cup victory in South Africa was achieved through a team of players who had been inspired to reach new heights by their captain, Francois Pienaar. Mandela plays a significant role in helping Pienaar understand the power of inspiration as a leader for his team.<\/span><\/p>\n

During their first meeting over tea, Mandela\u2019s questions lead to deeper conversation of how to inspire Pienaar\u2019s team to \u201cget them to be better than they think they can be\u201d (Peckham & Eastwood, 2009, 48:00).<\/span><\/p>\n

This scene was a reminder for me of the power of asking good questions, encouraging those I lead to think deeply about the role they play in leading others. Even the setting of the conversation, not among a large group of people but instead two great leaders in a room together, sharing tea, speaks to the significance of this powerful conversation. Pienaar leaves inspired to lead the Springboks to victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mandela\u2019s ability to have these conversations and inspire leaders like Pienaar comes from his own brutally difficult journey. As the movie shows, Mandela\u2019s convictions as president cannot be understood without seeing his suffering as a prisoner on Robben Island. His commitment to seeing transformation happen across South Africa becomes stronger because of the hardships he endured.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although my own suffering and hardships would pale in comparison to Mandela\u2019s, no life is free from pain. As a leader, seeing this journey of Mandela from the pain of prison to the power of the presidency is a reminder that the lessons we learn in difficulty become so significant as we help others become more than they ever thought possible. <\/span>I believe this is shown best by the outcome of the conversation between Mandela and Pienaar over tea, ultimately that the South African rugby team was able to overcome all odds to win the World Cup of Rugby and bring the beginning of hope and healing to their country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reference
\n<\/strong>Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<\/p>\n

Peckham, A. (Producer), & Eastwood, C. (Director). (2009).\u00a0Invictus<\/em>\u00a0[Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Bros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching Invictus for the first time for this assignment, I\u2019m struck by a story to be so meaningful on multiple layers. First, the South African rugby team and their surprising victory in the 1995 World Cup of Rugby. Second, the beautiful friendship and inspiration shared between Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Invictus”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-invictus","category-ldrs500"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/chrisvacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}