This will become even more important as the millennial generation emerges into significant influence. Studies have shown that this cohort is optimistic about the future and its place in it, but is somewhat suspicious of 'experts' whose talk is not matched by their walk.

It's a generation that demands that expertise is demonstrated through civic-minded, not self-serving projects. Leaders whose behaviour reveals only narrow-minded self-interest will find it difficult to attract and hold the attention of this powerhouse generation.

Conduct Yourself with Dignity and Nobility Whatever the Circumstances.

Men who were Mandela's co-prisoners on Robben Island have often commented on his ability to inspire them simply by his presence and his demeanour.

Mandela himself wrote about how difficult it was to keep up a publicly positive attitude, when facing enormous turmoil within.

Yet, despite the enormous pressures of loneliness, separation from family and frustration brought on by oppression, he would pull himself up by the bootstraps and quite deliberately walk erect, with head held high.

To others, it looked like the prison camp was for him a mere inconvenience, a bump on the road to eventual success.

Within his tiny cell, he kept up a rigorous daily exercise regime. This helped to keep his mind clear, but it also prevented an outward display of what many of his colleagues were feeling: defeat and desperation. His physical demeanour was always one of nobility - he worked hard to keep it so.

Now that Nelson Mandela has passed, he leaves us with the bar of leadership set high. The question he asks - will we become a great generation? - hangs in the air, demanding that we respond in our time as he has done in his.