Umbuntu, 'We are growing/Growing higher and higher.' Thoughts on leadership as inspired by the life and choices of Nelson Mandela, 'Hear the children, hear thechildren/They are talking to you.'

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

 Author's program note. She was discovered whilst cleaning other people's houses.  Even there she had "it". Her employers were so impressed that they taped her  singing and sent the tape to a recording company. One thing lead to another and  the woman soon to be known as "Lady Africa" was "discovered" by Alan  Paton,  who gave her a part as a chorus singer.That was in1964.

 The poison called Apartheid was in full effect. But Lady Africa had that which  would not be denied. Call it talent, call it fate, call it the right sound, call it destiny,  call it luck. Soon she was singing to South Africa while showing the world that the  spirit of the nation still lived, despite everything that could be done to suppress it.

 Her name was Margaret Singana (1938-2000), and she sang her way into  eternity with a number you need to hear to get full value from this article.  It is "We Are Growing". Despite the fact that she suffered from the consequences  of a 1980 stroke, she soared in this1986 comeback which became the theme  song for the television series "Shaka Zulu". Go hear it now in any search engine.  It is the heartbeat of a great people, a people that Nelson Mandela helped make  greater still. Know them... learn from them... fly with them... "Ayoyo, oh, oyo/  Bayete, Inkosi".

 "Be a man of greatness now... Be a man of wisdom now... Be a man of kindness now/  This is what you are/This is what to be." Let us begin...

 This is an article that will be read by adults... but more importantly that must be read  to children... because they need to know and understand that they are the most important  people in all our lives, and we all have the responsibility to ease their often frustrating  and difficult ways to the farthest extent possible.

 Study leaders. Learn leadership from those who lead. Scrutinize! Understand! Emulate!

 In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) wrote of how he learned the crucial  elements of leadership, large and small, by watching the ruler of the AbaThembu. He  was the greatest figure in young Mandela's life... and thus a person worthy of the study.

 This person of consequence obviously understood the critical importance of instructing  the young. Mandela wrote, "I always remember the regent's axiom. A leader, he said, is  like a shepherd, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon others follow, not  realizing that all along they are being directed from behind."

 Now. Not later.

 When was the last time you took child in hand, be that a gleeful five-year-old or surly,  truculent teen-ager and opened a candid discussion on leadership? In your answer  is how much you want that young person to succeed. My father, for instance, Donald  Marshall Lant, now very near the conclusion of 9 decades, had at his instant disposal  a person whose story he insisted his children know and follow.That person was  General George S. Patton (1885-1945).

 "Find the man in the furthest trench... Find the muddiest soldier there... Find the man  leading from this trench... and you will have found General Patton." We learned he was  a man of decisive action... a man who lead from the front... a man who followed Teddy Roosevelt's famous formula for success, "Do the best you can... with what you've got...  where you are."

 "You wanted to follow such a  man... for he was doing what needed to be done.  Helping such a one is a privilege, no matter how onerous, difficult, or exacting the  task..." As for me, Father, I remember, I  remember. Some  lessons abide,  appreciation for them never ending. This was such a lesson.     Select Your Leader.

 Luckily, Mandela had his leader close at hand, but not all of us are so fortunate to  have an amiable monarch of pedagogical inclinations near. Thus, select a leader to  befriend. Here's how to do it...

 Start by drawing up a list of local leaders, people you know, know of, clergy, educators,  writers, politicians, military officers, civic worthies, union and business leaders. These  people, some of whom may live and work in your neighborhood, are more accessible than  say, Pope Francis, although you should not neglect His Holiness. He clearly has a most  congenial way with young people.

 Write (note I did not say type) a letter that mingles unabashed admiration with a plea for  their understanding and assistance. Such a letter is a minor art form and goes something  like this. (I need hardly say that properly presented, such a missive is irresistible):

 "Honored one, I present myself to you for an honorable purpose... to learn from you  and become in the process a better person. Will you allow me to know and study you?  I am just 15 years old and am at what my parents call an impressionable age. It would be  a matter of the utmost significance if you would allow me to be impressed by you and  so have your important deeds and actions chronicled by me."

 Like I said, properly presented, such a missive is irresistible.

 Include your biographical details. You may use a resume, though this is not an  (immediate) job application. Your most winsome and arresting photo should be  included; (be sure it isn't the classic of you on a white bear skin rug in the altogether.)  That may be misconstrued. Add a recommendation or two from an adult, preferably  a teacher, pastor, or other eminent personage who knows you and realizes that all  future leaders begin here, needing a bit of help to commence their thousand mile  journey.

 Steps to building a leader. Now you are ready to begin.

 1) Deliver your request in person whenever possible. If not send by a carrier that requires  a signature.

 2) Always include your phone number and e-mail address. Include your social network  page.

 3) If you have not received a response within two weeks, send an e-mail or telephone  your designated leader. These folks are busy; help them out by following up.

 4) Be prepared to speak to your chosen leader. Brainstorm what you will say and  WRITE IT DOWN.

 5) Schedule a convenient time to meet with your leader for that all-important first  encounter. Remember, you never get a second chance to make the best first impression.

 6)  Before the meeting get a scrap-book and collect everything you can about this  person. A scrap-book is essential for this project and must be kept up-to-date, especially  for this crucial first time.

 7) Make sure at least one parent or adult accompanies you to this meeting and testifies  to your seriousness of intent and good habits. Be sure to look the part of the young  leader for this and all future meetings. Slovenly look and demeanor are completely  unacceptable. Too, make sure your cell-phone does NOT ring during the meeting; this  is a must.

 "Hear the children, hear the children/ They are talking to you."

 Whether you've ever considered the matter or not, you must know that every child,  of whatever age wants not just to be liked but far more important to be respected and  admired, in the classroom, on the playing field, within any given organization or the  broader community, or even worldwide. Your help is crucial in achieving this critical  role. Are you doing the necessary?

 1) Set the objective, ensuring that each child has a leadership goal.

 2) Help the child, which means assisting and advising, not doing the work needed.  If you do that you've defeated the entire purpose.

 3) Ask for regular reports and follow-up. Do not assume there is progress. Know.

 4) Praise whenever possible, critique softly but always honestly. This is essential.

 5) If the necessary communication between young person and designated leader  breaks down, intervene and with deft handling put the matter back on track.

 Finally, when the project is well advanced, arrange with your leader a meeting to  share the scrapbook with all its valuable insights into the important matter of leadership.  Be sure a photographer is present to record this auspicious moment for an awaiting  posterity. Send it to your local newspaper; post it online in social networks with  appropriate caption.

 If you've followed the steps in this article, you may be sure the leader's incandescent  smile is real, not assumed. Then ask her for a recommendation... for,  remember,  leaders leverage each and every action to achieve still greater renown.

 Then sit-down and congratulate yourself for you have given your child the necessary leg  up. You've done, in short, what good parents do... and you have every reason to feel  pleased with yourself, not least because you exemplify the crucial concept of "umbuntu",  that is "you are open and available to others, affirming of others...  with a proper  self-assurance."

 "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu"... we rise not alone, but through other people." And  this is the most important leadership lesson of all.


About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for  small and-home based businesses. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com

'Now's your inning! Stand the world on its ear! Set it spinning! That'll be just the beginning!' The world's premier success coach tells you how to become obsessed with success... starting right now!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

 Author's program note.  For my entire life, now creeping close to 7 decades,  I have made the study of successful people my metier. I have surrounded myself by  them... scrutinized them (as upclose and personal as possible)... I have dissected,  emulated, researched and dogged their heels the better to understand why some  folks make it, not just having but living their expansive dreams, whilst for others,  the overwhelming majority of others, success is never any closer than a word in  the dictionary, an elusive chimera to be wondered at, never seized or enjoyed.

 Well, the cavalry has just arrived, the heavy guns, the Marines... all wrapped up in  one unstoppable guy with sap to spare; that would be me. You've crossed into  my territory now and here the writ than runs is mine... and its message is clear,  unmistakable, pure, unadulterated: unqualified success is the goal... and your  unqualified attention is absolutely required, every minute you say you want success.  Each word that follows, every sentence will, if followed religiously, advance your  success.

 By the same token, your failure to follow these essential words ensures your success  is diminished, degraded, diluted; not merely lessoned but unachievable.

 Today's music, the sound of success.

 Want to expedite your success? Then use all five senses. See it. Touch it. Taste it.  Smell it... and hear it. For this you need music, bold, audacious, in your face, "lead,  follow, or get out of the way". The music Jule (pronounced Ju-Lee) Styne composed  and for which lyricist extraordinaire Stephen Sondheim worked his magic is what I've  got in mind.

 This song is "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from the 1959 Broadway musical  "Gypsy: A  Musical Fable". This is not merely a song. It is an acute, strident, even  chilling declaration about what success entails, costs, and what you must do  including the obsessive megalomania that is so very much a part of the upward trajectory.

 The song was originally written for Ethel Merman (1908-1984). Both Styne and Songheim,  while recognizing Merman's vocal power and range had doubts about her for this number.  After all, she had risen to stardom via Cole Porter's smooth, glib, witty, sophisticated  genius.

 Porter (1891-1964) was the petted heir to a multi-million dollar fortune from Miles  Laboratories. He never had to work; never wanted for money, for anything. Every time  America belched and took an Alka-Seltzer Porter's net worth increased. Thus Porter's  sophisticated genius, realized by Merman, enlivened the Roaring Twenties parties of  the night  before, whilst the tablets they took the morning after made him richer and  richer still.

 His songs, therefore, were chic,clever, delightful, delicious, delectable, delovely... but  that was not what Styne and Songheim wanted from Merman's rendition of Mama Rose,  and they were afraid she could not rise to the occasion which called for the singer to  deliver the smell of rancid sweat, gnawing hunger, bills not paid, midnight despair, anxieties  galore and profound fears... and from these unlikely, even toxic ingredients produce a  bona fide anthem to soaring, glorious, success and all the sacrificing it took to get it.

 Go now to any search engine and play Merman's triumphant rendition... particularly in  the half dozen lines at the end of this masterpiece; "Everything's coming up roses and  daffodils:..". Play this song when you want the authentic sound of success. You'll hear  just what you must do. Are you ready to get started?

 Mirror, mirror...

 Look at yourself in the looking glass. Put that face you think you know so well under the  most precise and unrelenting of microscopes. Then ask yourself this absolutely  essential question: Do you look like a success?

 Successful people have a look, an aura, that unmistakable je ne sais quoi that so clearly  indicates that they are in possession of a vital insight that you probably don't have -- yet.  This insight is a cocktail of key ingredients, each one necessary, none expendable..   Look in the mirror now to see what you're working with.

 Do you look alive? Do you look confident? Do you look like someone who projects  a "can-do" aura? Or do you look like someone who's let himself go... someone who  would rather be in bed... someone who gave up on life's struggles long ago and is  now hoping for nothing more than to get by in reasonable comfort and privacy before  the Grim Reaper claims your hide?

 Successful people do not merely live life. They are engaged with life, fully aware that  life is a thing of short duration, pitfalls, crises, catastrophes, set backs, obstacles,  misjudgments, miscalculations, and painful errors of every size and variety. Successful  people understand that these things, despite the best and most thorough preparation  will happen. Because they expect them, they are not unhinged by them. Rather they look  at each such event as an inevitability... a problem to be solved... an opportunity to show  what you've learned and apply it promptly to minimize damage and return to the serious  business of success, more experienced, tougher, and street smart than ever. In short,  lemons into the pinkest of lemonades.

 Clothes.

 Unless you intend to be the popinjay on fashion's run-way, a certifiable clothes horse  where every thread is examined, evaluated, critiqued, ridiculed, catty comments twelve  for a penny, clothes must assist in making the necessary statement of who you are  and should never, ever be the statement.  In other words clothes at all times must  be subservient to the overall effect, never the focus. With this in mind, have you checked  your basic wardrobe lately?

 Here's a hint. In one of Agatha Christie's novels, the solution to the crime hinges on  the lady's fashion insight. One suspect dresses to kill, the flashiest of ensembles,  while the second wears clothes a trifle thread-bare and past their prime.The deduction?  Miss Marple could tell from the cut who was the gentleman (and hence less likely to  murder in those distant days), and who wasn't.

 In short it is not the age of the clothes or their pretensions to being a la mode. Rather,  it is the look that is everything... and that look should never scream... but rather project  the aura of quiet confidence and absolute assurance. Does yours?

 The essential people.

 We have now arrived at the most important thing it takes to be successful... and that  is a resolute, honest, hard-working team of people who look out for you, in every and  any way. This will include but not be restricted to health and wellness mavens, keeping  you physically (and mentally) at the peak of perfection; investment counselors; personal  assistants, bookkeepers and accountants, lawyers, the experts who advise on what  pictures you buy and the wizard who has always helped you select just the right  diamonds when, like Holly Golightly, you had only the toy from a box of Cracker  Jack to engrave.

 These are the people, each one both essential to your success and reflecting the  degree to which you have achieved it, who ensure you reach it and ensure you  keep it. How many of these key personnel do you have? The extent to which you  do everything yourself is the discernible measure of how far from success you still  remain.

 99% say NO, and I'm thriiled; a cautionary  tale.

 Years ago, I owned the largest advertising card deck in the world. Each quarterly  edition went to 100,000 people. Of these up to 99% would throw it away upon receipt.  That's right 99%! But the key is not all the people who didn't respond, but the 1% who  did. From those 1000 people every 90 days, I quickly, inevitably became not just a  millionaire, but a multi-millionaire. I called myself the "most rejected man in America."...  and the happiest. Get the point? Each rejection, yes every one, moves you measurably  closer to the next acceptance and the success it has brought closer.

 This, then, is the question: how many times have you been rejected today, yesterday,  the day before that, because if you are not being rejected, you cannot be accepted and  thus your failure is inevitable?

 Thus, when you've finished this article risk rejection, by a business prospect, by a  supplier where you want better terms, by a company you'd like to work for. This can be  daunting, difficult, demanding poise, confidence, and grit.

 It also happens it is the only guaranteed way to succeed. Capisce?

About the Author


Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of over a dozen publications also several ebooks and over one thousand online articles. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.