By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm:
There has been an appropriate swell of attention to the life and words of Nelson Mandela since the world leader’s death last Thursday. Less emphasized in the tributes is the fact of what Nelson Mandela was before he was a protest leader, then prisoner, then president, then father of a new South Africa. Before that, he was a lawyer. In fact, he founded the first black law practice in Johannesburg. That experience came to the fore in his 1964 trial in Pretoria for sabotage. Facing a potential death by hanging, Mandela addressed the court in a “Statement from the Dock.” Often it’s an occasion for an expression of remorse or a plea for leniency. But Mandela, the lawyer, turned it into a detailed factual and historical exposition seeking to make his case much as a closing argument does in U.S. courts.
For more than four hours, Mandela spoke carefully and in detail, not only to his own charges, but also to the larger injustice of South African Apartheid. Addressing the brutal inequalities, as well as the stark history of atrocities like the Sharpville massacre, he was speaking not only to the white judge, but to the world as well. He ended that argument with words the world remembers:
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
The trial ended with a sentence of life, not death, and Mandela spent 27 years in prison on Robben Island before he emerged and changed the world. In this post, I’d like to try to wring one more lesson from this great man’s life by taking a closer look at the speech that ended on that note.
Learning from Mandela
I won’t make former Senator Rick Santorum’s mistake of trivializing Mandela’s challenges by comparing them to much smaller matters. That is, an individual seeking monetary recovery or a company looking to limit its liabilities has nothing in common with Mandela’s historic struggle and triumph. Still, Mandela’s Statement from the Dock (available in full here) can be considered on its own terms and still provides some basic lessons.
One, Take Your Time
The speech clocked in at over four hours. And that length shouldn’t suggest that it was meandering or stream of consciousness. It was logically ordered and tightly structured…but long. There is, of course, a whole religion of “keep it simple,” and “keep it short” when it comes to communication and persuasion. But there are moments, and this was one, where your target audience is not looking for that. In closing argument, for example, lawyers might be tempted to think, “well, they’ve heard it all and now they just want to deliberate.” But, setting aside the generally false notion that jurors have already made up their mind at this point, closing provides a final and irreplaceable opportunity to persuade those who are on the cusp of a decision, and to arm those who are already supporting you, but need details to convince others. Don’t repeat or go off-topic, but take the time to give decision makers what they need when they’re about to decide.
Two, Tell a Story
Rather than just presenting a detailed legal argument in his Statement, Mandela tells a story. Starting with an explanation of his life all the way back to his childhood in South Africa’s Transkei region, he provides the context to help listeners understand why he moved from law to leadership of the African National Congress, why the ANC initially committed itself to nonviolent struggle, and why after 50 years of increasing repression from the Apartheid regime, the ANC turned toward sabotage of roads, power lines, and empty buildings – the crimes Mandala was ultimately tried and sentenced for. Acknowledging that a white judge may have trouble understanding the situation and mindset that would motivate these acts, Mandela uses the story of his life to try to provide that context. Persuaders in all situations should remember that context is often best provided in a story structure.
Three, End Strongly
A powerful ending is essential, and the Statement’s conclusion is the moment that still echoes today. Mandela’s defense attorneys had pleaded with him to delete the line, but instead he delivered while looking the judge directly in the eye: “It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela described the scene in the courtroom while his last words were still ringing. “The silence seemed to stretch for many minutes. But in fact it lasted probably no more than thirty seconds, and then from the gallery I heard what sounded like a great sigh, a deep, collective ‘ummmm,’ followed by the cries of women.”
This approach of taking your time to present solid and detailed information, telling your story, and ending strongly applies not just to Mandela’s Statement at the Dock, but to his life as well. He took a long view throughout his days, enduring a prison sentence that would have led most to feel that their ability to contribute was ended. Instead of choosing despair, he took his time and emerged in a way that changed his country and provided an example to the world. At tomorrow’s memorial, leaders from around the world will remember him as a beloved global statesman.
In 1964, Mandela stood before the bench during a time when the Apartheid regime still felt it could persist by silencing the leaders of the opposition. That approach became even more violent as Mandela waited in prison, reaching a nadir in the 1977 killing of one of Mandela’s successors, Steven Biko, almost irrefutably at the hands of police interrogators. We now know that it didn’t end there. As the musician Peter Gabriel wrote about that killing and the larger historical arc:
You can blow out a candle, but you can’t blow out a fire.
Once the flames begin to catch, the wind will blow them higher.
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Other Lessons from Notable Lives:
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Photo Credit: George Rex, Flickr Creative Commons (Bronze bust of Nelson Mandela by sculptor Ian Walters, Royal Festival Hall, London)