A LEADER : BASED ON TRAIT APPROACH

Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to make

something extraordinary happen. It can be also described as process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Leaders do not command excellence, they build excellence. Excellence is "being all one can be" within the bounds of doing what is right for one's people. Putting all the theories aside, uttering the word LEADER - the first image that appears into the horizon of our mind at once, is of a charismatic, creative, flexible person's embedded with integrity, dependability, knowledge, justice, assertiveness, unselfishness & endurance. Proponents of the trait approach usually list leadership qualities, assuming certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. Trait theory tries to describe the types of behavior and personality tendencies associated with effective leadership. Shelley Kirkpatrick and Edwin A. Locke (1991) exemplify the trait theory - "Key leader traits include: drive (a broad term which includes achievement, motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative), leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to seek power as an end in itself), honesty, integrity, self-confidence (which is associated with emotional stability), cognitive ability, and knowledge of the goal." The "strongest" versions of trait theory see these "leadership characteristics" as innate and accordingly labels some people as "born leaders". Being an effective, liked and respected leader entails a lot of characteristics that aren't always easy to live up to and live with. But they make one successful and people get loyal to him regardless of the circumstances. Combining all these facts together, Nelson Mandela, the undisputed leader of South Africa is undoubtedly the most deserving one to get the honour of "THE LEADER - based on TRAIT APPROACH"..

NELSON MANDELA
THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF SOUTH AFRICA

Activities
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born 18 July 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. He was the first President of South Africa to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, serving in the office from 199499. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe. The South African courts convicted him on charges of sabotage, as well as other crimes committed while he led the movement against apartheid. In accordance with his conviction, Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island.

Intelligent Approaches
Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela has supported reconciliation and negotiation and has helped lead the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end of apartheid, many have frequently praised Mandela, including former opponents.

Dedication
During Mandelas lifetime, he has dedicated himself to the struggle of the African people. He has cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which he hopes to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which he is prepared to die.

Justice & Unselfishness

He has fought against white domination, and also against black domination. Though he is a black and got repressed by the whites, he did not discriminate while ensuring their right. This is an innate virtue that distinguishes an inborn leader from a non-leader.

Endurance
During the whole of the fifties, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned, arrested and imprisoned. For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth Treason Trial, at great cost to his legal practice and his political work. After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the ANC was outlawed, and Mandela, still on trial, was detained. But all these could not depress him and while in jail, his reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa.

Integrity
In February 1985 President P.W. Botha offered Mandela conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle. Coetzee and other ministers had advised Botha against this, saying that Mandela would never commit his organisation to giving up the armed struggle in exchange for personal freedom. Mandela indeed spurned the offer, releasing a statement via his daughter Zindzi saying "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."

Dependability
In this whole struggling period, the entire country relied on him with their last hope.The country-people found him the only person whom they can trust to get back their rights. Mandela did not disappoint them and successfully made their dream true.

Firmness & Inspiration

Nelson Mandela has never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.

Energy Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. Since his retirement, one of Mandela's primary commitments has also been to the fight against AIDS.

Self-confidence In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and remained very confident about his goals. He was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over mans inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to their land.

NELSON MANDELA truly an inborn leader.