Former South African President Nelson Mandela smiles during a meeting with a group of American and South African students as part of a series of activities leading to Mandela Day on July 18, 2009. Mandela died in 2013.South Africa’s Nelson Mandela is, in my opinion, the best modern example of a leader who understood the hardest complexities of the transition from opposition to governing. In leading his country away from many years of repressive apartheid rule, one of his first challenges was to equip his new government with the ability to govern effectively, secure early wins and sell to his citizens a vision that helped protect against unanticipated internal and external shocks.
