Steven Segal - Mandela’s Leadership Legacy

Name: Steven Segal - Mandela’s Leadership Legacy
Start: 2026-07-12T14:30:00+10:00
End: 2026-07-12T14:30:00+10:00
Location: Upstairs at Gleebooks

About

2.30pm for 3pm Sunday 12 July

Steven Segal will be joined by Rachelle Arkles and the launch will be hosted by Claire Jankelson

Mandela’s Leadership Legacy: Emotional and Existential Wisdom explores Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary ability to lead through moments of existential crisis and uncertainty. Central to his leadership was his attunement to mood—the emotional and existential atmosphere through which people experience disruption. Long overlooked in leadership studies, mood shaped the way Mandela created trust, defused fear, and opened possibilities when conventional strategies failed.

Mandela’s wisdom was forged not only in prison but in the existential challenges he faced upon leaving the familiarity of his ancestral homeland and confronting the disorientation of city life. From this early rupture through to his imprisonment, the collapse of apartheid, and the assassination of Chris Hani, he demonstrated a rare capacity to transform existential threats into opportunities for renewal and unity. This book examines how Mandela combined strategic foresight with therapeutic sensitivity, allowing him to guide individuals and nations through disruption with ethical resolve and visionary clarity. Drawing on frameworks from Heidegger and Ubuntu it highlights Mandela’s "existential practical wisdom"—the ability to embrace uncertainty, work with paradox, and foster collective transformation through attuned presence.

By investigating Mandela’s profound relational sensitivity, including his ability to turn estrangement and enmity into trust and collaboration, the book offers timeless lessons for navigating today’s global crises. It is ideal for professionals seeking inspiration for leading in turbulent times and for students interested in leadership, philosophy, or history.

Dr Steven Segal is a practising psychologist, leadership scholar, and coach whose work explores the role of moods and emotion in decision making, judgment, uncertainty, risk taking, and leadership. A former Associate Professor at Macquarie Graduate School of Management, he integrates philosophy, psychology, and lived experience to explore how people respond when familiar ways of understanding the world break down. He is the author of two books and editor of two others, and has worked extensively with therapists, leaders, and professionals on emotional wisdom, existential uncertainty, and transformative leadership.

Dr Claire Jankelson has over 25 years of experience teaching research in Management and Psychotherapy, Claire has developed a phenomenological approach that bridges genuine inquiry with aesthetics and rigour. She is currently editing and contributing to a new collection on phenomenological research for therapists.

Dr Rachelle (Shelley) Arkles is an independent scholar with a professional background in health and social research. Further to her career in the university and non-government sectors she works as a crisis support worker with Lifeline. She finds the intersection between universal and intimate domains of life compelling and has a particular interest in existential scholarship, writing and practice.