????然而，在深入挖掘的過程，我們發現曼德拉給予我們的啟示遠不止于此，這一切取決于我們如何定義卓越的領導力。

????有人曾經問曼德拉，他是不是因為教師的種族歧視，才沒有學好法律。“是的，我的老師確實是一個種族主義者，但這并不是我沒有學好法律的原因。”他知道，他必須為自己的表現承擔責任。曼德拉在羅本島服刑期間堅持自學，還組織其他犯人一起學習。即使囚犯們被迫去采石場從事一整天的辛苦勞作時，每個工作隊都被安排了一位向他們傳授歷史、經濟學和政治學等學科的講師。這些囚犯稱其為“羅本島大學”。他后來回憶說：“為了學會如何成為一個好學生，我必須去蹲大牢。”

????曼德拉在獄中專心致志地學習他的壓迫者（即南非白人，又稱布爾人）的語言和歷史，甚至還幫助一些獄警撰寫要求升職的信函。

????被捕入獄前，他曾經在一位朋友的莊園里躲避過一段時間。有一次，他使用一支氣步槍射殺了一只麻雀，非常驕傲地展示了一下他的槍械技能。結果當他轉身向朋友的兒子吹噓時，這位年僅5歲的小男孩淚眼婆娑地對他說：“你為什么要殺死那只鳥啊？它的媽媽會難過的。”曼德拉反省道：“我覺得這個小男孩比我更為人性。對于一支新生游擊隊的領導者來說，這是一種奇怪的感覺。”

????卓越的領導者把人生視作一所學校。他們總是在學習。沒有什么情勢——獄中的一天，一個小孩的斥責——是微不足道，無關緊要的。

????像美國的馬丁?路德?金一樣，曼德拉起初擁抱的是甘地的非暴力理想。他后來忍痛放棄了這個理念，創辦了非洲人國民大會的武裝力量。“甘地仍然致力于非暴力理想；我盡可能長時間地追隨甘地的戰略，但我們的斗爭后來迎來一個節點，壓迫者的野蠻暴行再也無法僅僅通過消極抵抗來還擊。我們選擇采取破壞行動，因為這種策略不會造成生命的損失，它是未來種族關系最大的希望所在。”

????后來，曼德拉承認非國大的行動導致了一些侵犯人權的事件，并對那些不肯承認這一點的黨內人士提出了批評。

????在非國大執行委員會抨擊他要求降低選民年齡至14歲的立場之后，他選擇了退讓，并在日記中寫道，“我做出了一個嚴重的誤判。”

????卡翁達落選后，曼德拉再次來到贊比亞，對公眾說：“我此前選擇支持對象的行為是錯誤的。我知道，贊比亞曾經為南非解放做出過不可估量的犧牲，肯尼思?卡翁達博士當時是國家元首。我此前的姿態看起來似乎是，為我們的斗爭事業提供幫助的僅僅是卡翁達博士一人，而不是全體贊比亞人民。雖然我們或許可以選擇卡翁達博士提供的卓越領導力，但誰應該當選，可不能由我自己來確定。”

????But when we dig deeper, we find there is much more to him, and it all hinges on how we define great leadership.

????Mandela was once asked if he did poorly as a law student because of racism among the faculty "Yes, I did have a racist lecturer, but that is not why I didn't do well." He knew he had to take responsibility for his performance. When he was a prisoner on Robben Island, Mandela organized a process for educating himself and other prisoners. Even as prisoners were forced to go out to the limestone quarry for a day of hard labor, each working team was assigned an instructor who taught them history, economics, politics, and other disciplines. They called it "Island University." He later reflected, "I had to go to prison in order to learn how to be a good student."

????While in prison, Mandela focused on learning the language and history of his oppressors, the Afrikaaners, and then even helped certain prison guards write their letters for promotion.

????Once, when he was in hiding at a friend's estate prior to his arrest and imprisonment, he shot and killed a sparrow with an air rifle in a prideful display of his firearms skills. As he turned to boast , his friend's five-year-old son turned to him with tears in his eyes and said, "Why did you kill that bird? Its mother will be sad." Mandela reflected, "I felt that this small boy had far more humanity than me. It was an odd sensation for a man who was the leader of a nascent guerrilla army."

????Great leaders approach life as a school. They are always learning. No situation -- a day in prison, a scolding from a child -- is too inconsequential.

????Like Martin Luther King in America, Mandela had initially embraced Gandhi's ideals of non-violence. He only reluctantly parted with this philosophy to start the armed wing of the ANC. "Gandhi remained committed to nonviolence; I followed the Gandhian strategy for as long as I could, but then there came a point in our struggle when the brute force of the oppressor could no longer be countered through passive resistance alone. We chose sabotage because it did not involve the loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations."

????Later, Mandela admitted that the ANC's actions led to some human rights abuses, and criticized those that refused to acknowledge it.

????After the executive committee of the ANC attacked his position on lowering the voting age to 14, he backed down, and wrote in his diary, "I have made a grave error of judgment."

????When Kaunda lost the vote in Zambia, Mandela went back to Zambia and said to the public, "I was wrong to have chosen sides ... I know that Dr. Kenneth Kaunda was the head of state when Zambia sacrificed immeasurably for the liberation of my country. I made it appear as though it was only Dr. Kaunda and not the whole country of Zambia that helped in our struggles. While there is room for us to single out the great leadership that Dr. Kaunda offered, it was not for me to determine who was to be elected."