When one thinks of Brazil, images of Rio’s beaches usually come to mind. Brasília, the country’s capital, rarely finds itself on a visitor’s itinerary. Which is a pity, because the city is a stunning UNESCO World Heritage site.
One of the best gifts in an IMF career is that it takes you to places you may not otherwise visit. Arriving in Brasília in 1999, I was taken by the city’s grandeur. Designed and built shortly after the second world war, Brasília's modernist buildings, and the city’s layout in a jet plane's form, painted a picture of futuristic optimism. The capital's expansive avenues and broad vistas constantly drew my attention to the horizon and the far. The sense of space – within the city and beyond its frontiers – must have encouraged its first inhabitants to dream of what could be.
Aerial view of Brasília
Some of Brasília’s iconic buildings. Clockwise from top left: the National Congress Palace; the Itamaraty Palace (foreign ministry building); the Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília; inside the cathedral.
Buildings and structures often represent dreams and aspirations. It took only five years from 1956 for Brasília to be constructed according to her planners' vision. But monuments and roadways do not by themselves turn dreams into reality. That requires mobilising many more moving parts, including transforming mindsets, culture and habits, no less. With some luck, the parts may fall into place. More often, they do not. Looking around Brasília in 1999, I felt wistful about what could have been.
Plans rarely turn out the way we want them to. I saw this in economic programmes that I worked on and in places that I visited while at the IMF. Large-scale transformations of complex systems take decades. Economic crises can light fiery sparks for change. Harnessing those sparks to build a controlled fire that sustains progress is a different matter.
The same could be said about the making of institutions. I spent 11 years at the IMF, a global body whose professed goals include the altruism of sustainable growth and prosperity for the world's countries. In practice, as an inter-governmental body, the organisation's agenda and operations were never free of big power influence. Immediate priorities that aligned with dominant countries' interests always got attention. Long-term needs which lacked hefty sponsors would receive short shrift. Work toggled between bouts of intense crisis-fighting and lulls of benign quiet.
IMF Legal Department, 2003 (I am in the third row, second from right)
That said, by the standards of large bureaucracies, I thought the IMF was well-run. It had a simple organisation chart, with clear separation of departmental responsibilities. Decisions were made and executed promptly. IMF staff were, on the whole, qualified and serious people. There was a strong culture of consultation and respectful debate, a tendency towards economic orthodoxy notwithstanding. As a fledgling lawyer in the IMF's legal department, it took me a few years to learn the ropes. In addition to its own constitution and by-laws, the IMF also had policies and practices that had been developed over 50+ years. I worked hard to become proficient in these, while also learning some macroeconomic theory to better understand my work.
I had joined the IMF with plans to stay for five years; I ended up remaining for more than twice as long. I felt respected to be part of an important organisation. More significantly, I was rewarded in unexpected ways by the institution's supportive internal mobility policies. These coaxed me to branch out beyond legal work, starting with a transfer to the external relations department as a speechwriter for management. I applied my legal training usefully in that role, much of which involved synthesising complex information into simple speeches for mass media consumption. I found particular delight in being liberated from one of lawyering's biggest constraints on my person: the need to communicate with inflated precision, often through jargon and legalese. As a speechwriter, the thesaurus became my trusted friend in creative freedom, cheering me on as I picked and chose words that best conveyed the mix of nuance and emotion I desired.
In Vienna attending UNCITRAL meetings, December 2002
Speechwriting and communication work allowed me to experience the IMF on a different plane. The demands of the international news cycle imposed a faster pace in the office. Work comprised both the reactive and the proactive. Replies to media stories would usually go out within hours. More strategic communications could be stretched out over weeks, with targeted statements used over time as teasers towards big announcements. Amidst this milieu, I learnt what made a good sound bite and saw the power of simple phrases that could be repeated effortlessly.
The communication role whetted my appetite for more career diversity. I next transferred to the Managing Director's office as a fundraiser for capacity-building projects. With hat in hand, I would visit rich donor governments for money to finance training and related initiatives in developing countries. Funds came mostly from European capitals and Japan. Recipient countries were in Africa and Central America. Donors would educate me about their foreign policy and giving objectives, while target recipients would relay their development needs. As the matchmaker, my role was to broker a union of the two sides' priorities.
As part of an IMF delegation in Phnom Penh, with our Cambodian counterparts, March 2007
My varied assignments at the IMF tested me in different ways. The legal work required patience and precision. Some would even call that work esoteric, given the unique nature of the IMF as, arguably, the world's only universal monetary institution. Communication work pivoted me towards speed and the art of persuading the public. Fundraising drew out the salesman in me; listening to my clients became what mattered the most in this last role.
What my 30s taught me about leadership (part 1 of 2):
Successful transformations of large organisations are exceedingly rare. Consider yourself fortunate if you have experienced one. Effective change management requires an uncommon combination of vision, selflessness, execution excellence and luck.
Take strategic risks for career growth through varied assignments and projects. The best way to do this is through transfers and projects within your current organisation. Seek out these opportunities.
Trying on different roles will give you new skills and a better understanding of your industry. Be open to new experiences while remaining thoughtful about how to impactfully use your strengths in different ways.
What did your 30s teach you about leadership?
The next article in my mid-career retrospective series, covering more experiences from my 30s, will drop on 23 November 2024. Subscribe to my blog to be notified.
(This article is part of a mid-career retrospective series on my professional life. Each article in the series recounts events in one decade of my career. At the end of each piece, I summarise what those events taught me about leadership. All articles in this series are hosted on my blog.)
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As a leadership consultant and coach, I help organisations and individuals use good leadership practices to succeed. Email me to discuss how we can work together.
