James A. Joseph

Professor, Duke University

Leadership in the Second Half of Life
28 minutes, 13.2mb, recorded 2008-12-07
James A. Joseph

In an era of what psychologists call "freefloating anxiety," the world needs strong leadership more than ever. That is the assertion of James Joseph, former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, in this audio lecture recorded at the Encore Career Summit sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation.

Describing himself as a "patriot" who has been living and traveling abroad for many years, Joseph challenges the audience to think about service and leadership, particularly among people in the second half of life. Using Nelson Mandela as a prototype, Joseph discusses several kinds of intelligence and social skills that are needed by those over 50 who are in a positon to help the world navigate through its challenges, including qualities such as "soft power" and the ability to foster reconciliation.


James A. Joseph, a former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, holds a joint appointment at Duke University and the University of Cape Town, and is working to help emerging leaders in southern Africa. Joseph served as ambassador to South Africa from January 1996 to November 1999 and was the first and only U.S. ambassador to present his credentials to President Nelson Mandela. In addition to his many other leadership roles, he was the first chairman of the board of directors of President Clinton’s Corporation for National Service, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations, under secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and president of the Cummins Engine Foundation.

This free podcast is from our Stanford Discussions series.

For The Conversations Network:

  • Post-production audio engineer: Mike Seifried
  • Website editor: Marguerite Rigoglioso
  • Series producer: Bernadette Clavier