Answer the following questions
1. What is the significance of the couplet, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”? In
particular, what does it say to an aspiring leader?
2. Think about the difference between influence and inspiration. What is it? Why is the difference of any
interest to us? How does a leader wield influence? How does she inspire?
3. As Hendrick, one of the Afrikaner security guards, escorts François Pienaar to President Mandela’s office to
meet with Mandela, there is a revealing dialogue that may have been difficult to understand. I myself went to
the screenplay to understand it. Pienaar asks the guard what Mandela is like. Hendrick replies: “When I worked
for the previous president, it was my job to be invisible. This president, he found out I like English toffee and
brought me some back from his visit to the Queen. To him, nobody is invisible.” What is the significance of this
dialogue? Of visibility?
4. Rewatch the scene in Mandela’s office, when he welcomes Pienaar, beginning at 45:45. Why do you think
Mandela invited Pienaar to tea? How would you have answered Mandela’s twin questions: “Tell me, Francois,
what is your philosophy of leadership?” and “How do you inspire your team to do their best?” After Pienaar
replies that he has always believed it important to lead by example, Mandela pressed on: “But how to get them
to be better than they think they can be? That is very difficult, I find. Inspiration, perhaps. How do we inspire
ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it
is by using the work of others.” What was he implying? How do you think leaders can inspire people to
greatness?
5. In the same scene, Mandela goes on to tell Pienaar about the effect that the poem, Invictus, had for him
when he was imprisoned on Robben Island. “It helped me stand up when all I wanted to do was lie down.”
Pienaar understands intuitively. Mandela shares the anecdote of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, when he
was greeted by the crowd singing the anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. “We need inspiration, François. Because
in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.” What is he doing here? Why?
6. Notice the emphasis Mandela put on expectations. What is the difference between expectations, even for
oneself, and aspirations? How can a leader create expectations that people embrace as new aspirations?
7. Why do you think Mandela wanted the Springboks to conduct coaching clinics in the townships across South
Africa?
8. What was the point of taking the Springboks to Robben Island prior to the tournament? What do you think
happened to the players as they toured the prison? How does this scene tie to the conversation in Mandela’s
office?