Quora Saturday: Admirable leaders, Nelson Mandela, revolutionary leaders, and lessons learned the hard way
Continuing my Saturday series on posting my answers to questions from Quora, here are my next questions answered:
- Among the leaders of the world, who do you admire the most?
- How do you strive to make every day Mandela Day?
- Who is the most successful revolutionary leader in past 100 years?
- What life lesson did you learn the hard way?
Q: Among the leaders of the world, who do you admire the most?
A: Of leaders alive today, I don’t consider any on par with successful historic leaders of the past like Mandela, King, Lincoln, Washington, and so on.
It’s a major problem that, I believe, shows big cultural problems. I think the most critical problem is in our educational system that promotes following, not leading. At least that’s where I’m acting to help change things.
Q: How do you strive to make every day Mandela Day?
A: I don’t know about making every day Mandela Day, but I’m in the middle of his autobiography and if you haven’t read it, you won’t regret reading what he wrote about his life.
There are also many documentaries on him free online with a quick search. A bunch show up here, for example.
Q: Who is the most successful revolutionary leader in past 100 years?
A: Nelson Mandela, in my opinion.
I don’t know of any leader who achieved all their goals, and he didn’t achieve all of his, nor does everyone agree with him on everything, but he achieved a lot, including a change in power structure, not just the name of who was in power. His influence was global in his lifetime and his legacy continues to grow.
Q: What life lesson did you learn the hard way?
A: All of them.
That is, every life lesson I learned, I learned through experience, never from a book, someone else’s story, or anything passive like that.
What I learned from books and others’ experiences I wouldn’t call life lessons. They’re facts and knowledge.
Read my weekly newsletter
On initiative, leadership, the environment, and burpees