The Law of Connection

The Law of Connection-1

I saw a movie recently. The movie was released in 2009 but I just saw it for the time this year. The title of the movie is Invictus. The movie is about Nelson Mandela’s handling of post-apartheid South Africa. He is portrayed in the movie as a leader whose major desire for his nation is to see his nation recover from the evil inflicted by apartheid. He preaches and exemplifies the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, and he is keen to keep the nascent nation from being polarised along ethnic/colour lines. The movie is also about the rise of South Africa’s Rugby Team, The Springboks, from obscurity to prominence and this is largely due to the personal efforts of Nelson Mandela. Madiba – as Nelson Mandela is fondly called in South Africa – recently celebrated his 94^th birthday and his influence on sports in his country was again brought to the fore.

What had the most profound effect on me in the movie was Nelson Mandela’s remarkable ability to connect with the people around him. He knows them by their first name – this is one laudable attribute of great leaders. At a point in the film, Morgan Freeman, who acted as Nelson Mandela in the film, is seen asking one of his security agents about the agent’s child who is sick. Mandela is portrayed as a thoughtful and caring leader. He is affected by the condition of those working with him. I do not know how you see this: a country’s president is not only aware that the child of one of his security aides (security aide not personal secretary or cabinet member!) is sick, he even has the presence of mind to inquire about the child’s condition. This for me is an extraordinary act of leadership.

One reason the film struck a chord with me was because shortly before the time I watched the movie, I listened to John Maxwell on the Law of Connection and everything he talked about in the tape was exemplified in the movie by Nelson Mandela. This post is thus an attempt to share the profound lessons I gleaned from John Maxwell’s Law of Connection and the movie, Invictus. I sincerely hope these lessons also resonate with you.