SPOILER ALERT! For those who have not seen the movie…
The story of Nelson Mandela’s presidency is one of the most compelling in modern history. He was an outspoken critic of apartheid in South Africa since the late 1940s, eventually being arrested and imprisoned for 27 years for attempting to overthrow the government. His reputation as a civil rights leader would only grow while in prison. And after being released, he was elected as the first post-apartheid President of South Africa. Yet he inherited a nation bitterly divided along racial lines where the whites remained affluent and powerful and blacks remained poor and marginalized.
It is at this point that the 2009 Clint Eastwood-directed movie Invictus begins. Mandela (Morgan Freedman) was being pushed by his supporters to remove all symbols of white supremacy and power, but Mandela chose a more conciliatory route. South Africa was due to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and Mandela recognized the role that sport could play in unifying the nation. The challenger however was that rugby was a white-dominated sport and the “Springboks,” the national team, symbolized apartheid in the minds of many blacks. As the movie depicts and as happened in real life, Mandela managed to embrace the Springboks by forging a direct relationship with their captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), and lead them on an outreach mission across the country. When South Africa surprised everyone and won the World Cup in a hard-fought final, Mandela famously walked onto the pitch in a Springbok jersey to hand the trophy to Pienaar.
Looking through an organizational lens, this story has many lessons which we explore in our discussion on change and resistance to it, team building, charismatic leadership and routinization of charisma, deinstitutionalization of racism and the practices that enable and inhibit it, and so much more!
Watch with us:
Eastwood, C. (Director). (2009). Invictus [Film]. Spyglass Entertainment.
- Based on: Carlin, J. (2008). Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. Penguin Books.
To Learn More:
Dougherty, D. (2001). Reimagining the differentiation and integration of work for sustained product innovation. Organization science, 12(5), 612-631.
Kerr, S. (1975). On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. Academy of Management journal, 18(4), 769-783.
Mandela, N., & Cartwright, J. (1961). Long walk to freedom. Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind.
Oliver, C. (1992). The antecedents of deinstitutionalization. Organization studies, 13(4), 563-588.
Podolny, J. M. (2011). A conversation with James G. March on learning about leadership. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(3), 502-506.
Other Talking About Organizations Podcast episodes referenced:
Episode 55. Group Dynamics and Foundations of Organizational Change — Kurt Lewin
Episode 57. Reward Systems — Steven Kerr
Episode 98. Managing Innovation — Burns & Stalker (forthcoming February)
