By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Image Supplied.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) has announced the launch of a new Netflix Series on effective leadership, ‘Live to Lead’.
The seven-part series, set to be released on 31 December, was created and directed by Geoff Blackwell and produced by Blackwell & Ruth in association with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Archewell, the production banner for Harry and Meghan, who both executive produce.
“This was inspired by Nelson Mandela, who once said, ‘What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived,” Harry says in the teaser, released on Monday.
“It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead,” Meghan adds.
“Extraordinary leaders reflect on their legacies and share messages of courage, compassion, humility, hope and generosity,” reads the synopsis.
“Inspired by the iconic legacy of Nelson Mandela, Live to Lead highlights the fundamental values, daily disciplines and guiding principles that leaders employ to motivate others and create meaningful change.”
The series will feature interviews with leaders and activists, including the late US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; climate change activist Greta Thunberg; social justice attorney and advocate Bryan Stevenson; New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern; and feminist icon and social justice activist Gloria Steinem.
South African voices include SA’s national rugby union team captain and social inequality campaigner Siya Kolisi; and anti-apartheid activist and former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa Albie Sachs.
“With Live to Lead, we want to inspire a new generation of leaders – leaders that earn respect and trust through the practice of their principles and their commitment to creating power for people, not themselves. We share this vision with our partners at Blackwell & Ruth and Archewell Productions, founded by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It is our collective hope that this series will advance the legacy of Nelson Mandela in an innovative way, reaching a truly global audience.” The Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement.
“With the world in the state that it is in, trying to heal from a global pandemic, with the rise of populism and misinformation, the need for effective leadership is critical,” added Sello Hatang, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“Live to Lead was made to contribute towards inspiring better leaders, ones that are committed to ending poverty and inequity and who show the lead in making the just society of Nelson Mandela’s dreams.”
Blackwell shared how the idea of the docuseries was developed: “This series was conceived while Ruth Hobday and I were working on a book about Nelson Mandela and his prison letters back in 2018.”
“As we worked to absorb 27 years of Mandela’s personal correspondence, reflecting on his brave and selfless commitment to the welfare of others, we were simultaneously confronted by a news cycle relentlessly focused on certain international politicians behaving in precisely the opposite way – shamelessly pursuing their own self-interest, using tactics of division and misinformation to serve power and not the people.
“This contrast cemented our resolve to honour Mandela’s values by surfacing the stories of leaders who distinguish themselves through their moral courage, the conviction of their ideals and values, and their prioritisation of others.”
Live to Lead is the second Netflix documentary the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have head, after their bombshell series exposing the way British media and the royal family treated the couple before and after they stepped back as senior members of the family.