When I sat down to watch Invictus last weekend, I expected somewhat of a biography of Nelson Mandela’s vision to reconcile blacks and whites after his election as the first black president of South Africa In 1994. What was totally unexpected was the powerful lesson in the importance of vision, risk taking and passion required in personal leadership.

Vision

Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, knew that he had to find ways to help white Afrikaners and black South Africans, torn apart by years of apartheid, achieve unity and mutual respect. Understanding that rugby was the passion of white South Africa, he helped the country host the Rugby World Cup and turned to making an underachieving and almost all-white rugby team, the Springboks, win the championship.

Risk Taking

Taking up the rugby team was a risky gesture with both the Afrikaners, who hated and feared him, as well as his loyalists, who saw rugby as a symbol of white Afrikan pride.

When Mandela insists the team not be stripped of its name and colors after a humiliating loss, his base thought he was betraying his life cause. Quite a few of these black supporters had looked forward to “payback” time after years of brutality and humiliation under apartheid.

The white family of the young team captain (played by Matt Damon) embodied Mandela’s risk in reaching the whites as well. They repeatedly demonstrate their arrogance and prejudice by totally ignoring their black domestic, who hovers silently and subserviently in the background. 

Passion

Mandela put his money where his mouth was. He went to team practices and learned the names of every player. He wore a Springbok jersey and hat to all the games.

Particularly powerful was his mentoring of the young, white team captain, sharing ways to motivate the team and giving him lessons in leadership. In one gripping moment, he gives the captain the Victorian poem ("Invictus") he kept during his 27 years of captivity on Robben Island that concludes with “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

The closing scenes of Invictus validate Mandela’s success in creating a vision, taking risks and igniting passion. The domestic in the captain’s family is cheering wildly in the stands after the victory - seated alongside the white parents. Black and white people in the stadium and in the streets are hugging each other. But the real tear jerker was the downtrodden young black child who, earlier in the film, was so dejected that he refused the offer of a free rugby shirt. He’s the last one to start celebrating, but then he comes to the realization that it’s “his Africa” and he goes crazy with joy.

You won’t forget this movie for a long time.

About the Author

Sue Atkinson, APR, is founder and Chairman of Atkinson Public Relations.

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