Team Building Lessons From A Movie: Invictus

One of the very inspiring movies about building a good team in trying circumstances.

The name of the movie is inspired by a poem written by William Ernest Henley. Nelson Mandela has stated that this was the one poem that inspired him and kept him going through all his years in prison at Robben Island. The poem goes like this:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

Watch the trailer of the movie at this link here:

And yes, just get your team together – watch this movie, and most importantly, do have a small discussion about it with them. Nothing inspires like a true life story like this. Try it !