Why symbols matter

On Saturday I managed to persuade my wife to spend the evening watching rugby. I know, I'm an old romantic!

But this was no ordinary rugby game. It was about the 1995 rugby world cup played in South Africa and we went to see the exceptional film INVICTUS.

In post-apartheid South Africa, the Springboks symbolised the old racist, apartheid regime. The Boks were beloved in the Afrikaans heartlands and Mandela faced a dilemma - what should he do about the Boks?

Symbols matter. These symbols - the green and gold jersey, the nickname, the springbok embelm on the shirt were powerful. Non-white South Africans supported any team but the Boks because the symbol of the Boks meant for them oppression and injustice. There was a strong lobby to change the symbols - call the team "the Proteus" (after the national flower) and change the team colours. Powerful arguments and ones we hear often in business - to throw out the old and create new symbols.

Nelson Mandela also knew the power of symbols and has taught us a powerful lesson in dealing with dilemmas. As he put it: how to change what the South African rugby team represented, without alienating the powerful constituency of white rugby followers (and especially Afrikaaners)? Changing the team name, colours and emblem would certainly have alienated traditional South African rugby supporters and maybe would have pushed them into active resistance!

His decision (against much opposition amongst his own supporters) was NOT to change the symbols but to focus on changing their meaning. So he kept the team colours, nickname and emblem and instead concentrated on winning over the team's hearts and minds. He led by example and invited the captain for tea, welcoming him and giving him a vision of what the team could become. He then sent the team to work with kids from the townships - so that the team began to understand the situation of the majority, and black South Africans came to love the game of rugby. By the time the world cup arrived, a mediocre South African team had the support of the whole country behind them and in winning the world cup, became a symbol of a new, world-beating South Africa.

Symbols matter. This wonderful telling of how a nation learnt to reconcile is a great reminder that taking away symbols that are precious to some groups can be hugely counter-productive and equally, that changing what symbols mean is possible. A salutory lesson for all of us involved in organisational cultures and business change as well as being a powerful reflection on leadership.

ps - go see the film!!