This paper examines the challenges and rewards of doing autobiographical, biographical, and archival, research on a leader. Using examples from extensive research on Nelson Mandela, it illustrates how historiography and careful comparison and interpretation of texts can alleviate some of these problems and yield new insights into leaders and leadership. It discusses why, when you have a more complex and nuanced picture of a leader like Mandela, he does not fit the mold of an authentic leader. The paper concludes with a hypothesis about why iconic leaders may be a different from other leaders.
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