As a leader Mandela believed that you should keep your friends and enemies or rivals close to you (Milan 2006). Mandela invited people he did not trust to dinner, he flattered and consulted with them and even gave them gifts. He called them on their birthdays; he invited them to his cabinet meetings and even sometimes washed their hands during dinner. He believed working or socializing with them was less risky than leaving them on their own. This made him to control them even during negotiations.
Moreover, Mandela knew that he was to be courageous though it does not imply it is the absence of fear. He was to be courageous to inspire his followers to press on regardless of the fight. In 1994 during his presidential campaign he got into a plane to address the Zulu’s but in the process the engine failed but he remained very calm reading his newspaper something that made his fellow passengers to calm down despite the danger at hand. Though he admitted later he very terrified up there when the situation at hand was nicely solved. During his trials he did let people know that he was afraid because he had to inspire them. At the robin islands where he was jailed he pretended to be calm yet he was afraid just to make other prisoners to calm down though there was fear.
To be an effective leader you must lead from the front but you should not leave your base behind. As Mandela understood this when he went for operation for his enlarged prostrate he took that opportunity to begin negotiations with apartheid government. This was the smallest opportunity he had got after 21 years in jail. He explained this to the members of ANC about what he was doing despite fear that he had lost it all. He then let them to move on after understanding his motive. He believed that success was on its way but it was not known when.
Mandela was always smart in appearance despite being a poor law