Before practising any trade or a profession, a great deal of study or training is required to perform it right. The case is different for studying leadership. Careful, I am not talking about the irrelevant leadership which is mistakenly taught as a management subject in most business schools. Also, there is a big problem in most organizations worldwide where they conduct management training instead of leadership and expect a huge transformation, yet their efforts to level up is a frustration in disguise. They always confuse it. We cannot blame them much because they are the end product of the industrial- age educational system.

The result is an army of managers at every level and floor of every organization around the world. The result is people who are trained to manage not to lead.

There are great leaders the world to study and learn from. My personal inspiration is Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. I thoroughly studied Mandela’s leadership and learnt that leadership is a huge social responsibility. I learnt that the language of leadership is purpose. Mandela’s purpose was to end apartheid and achieve freedom and equality for all south -Africans. He scarified 27 years in jail to accomplish his purpose.

If want to truly learn the principles of great leadership, Mandela’s, Gandhi, King are your coursework not the bunch of irrelevant MBAs and corporate management training programs.