This Week in Global Leadership: From Scratch
Global Leadership Series, Issue 1 | Issue 2 | Issue 3
Continuation of our series on global leaders who embody
"The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership"
This Week: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
On the first day of 2011, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) ended his second term as president of Brazil with an 80% approval rating. Before being elected in 2002, he ran for president and lost on three separate occasions, but in the last few years, Lula has been recognized as one of the strongest examples of impactful leadership and perseverance.
Born into poverty, Lula dropped out of elementary school to help support his family. He worked on the streets as a shoe shiner and street vendor and in factories. In an accident at work at age 19, he lost the little finger on his left hand and had to run from hospital to hospital before finding one that would treat him. This experience increased his interest in unions and in 1975, he was elected president of the Steel Workers' Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.
The first time Lula ran for president was the first time Brazil held public elections in decades. Despite the global economy floundering, Lula kept Brazil afloat, even helping it become one of the strongest economies in the world, and he poured billions into decreasing poverty. He started a program, “la Bolsa Família, a monthly cash transfer to low income mothers able to prove “that they are sending their children to school and getting their health checked.” (See the detailed and insightful essay by Perry Anderson from London Review of Books, March, 2011). The program has helped to pull millions of families out of extreme poverty and elevate them to Brazil’s middle class.
When he was president, Lula was truly a model of inspiring a shared vision—a vision of equality and strength, a vision of Brazil. Throughout his political career, he fought for democracy and equality, but what is most inspiring about Lula is that he never forgot where he came from. Looking back at his roots, he had a clear vision of Brazil even beyond his own presidency.
The current president of Brazil and the first female president in Brazil’s history, Dilma Rousseff, won in a landslide similar to Lula's when he won his second term. Her campaign emphasised that a vote for Rousseff was a vote for Lula. His vision is his legacy, and it carries on with his successor. Now that’s powerful!
“The Point is simply this: to become a leader you must be able to envision the future. The speed of change doesn’t alter this fundamental truth about leadership. People only want to follow those who can see beyond today’s problems and visualize a brighter tomorrow”
—The Leadership Challenge 4th edition, p. 125, "Envision the Future"
We are compiling inspiring leadership examples that will help make our leadership development training, The Leadership Challenge Workshop, resonate with a global audience. We welcome feedback, insight, and examples from our readers.
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