News: Conductor

Ben meets with President Silva

Posted: 2010-02-17 10:31:00

President President Anibal Cavaco Silva invited me to visit him in his residential palace during my recent visit to Portugal. He began by saying that he had heard much about leadership abilities and said that he lacked oratorical skills and charisma. I suggested to him that those qualities were not inborn, but came naturally as a result of a deep-rooted passion and an excitement about sharing a vision. I then asked him to tell me a little bit about his life, and he shared a fascinating story of an upbringing in a simple Portuguese village, and a long training as an engineer, and a career as a university teacher, before serving ten years as Prime Minister and subsequently as President.

When I asked him about his life in the classroom, he suddenly became very animated, and revealed his true passion which is teaching. Since I share that passion, we were able to focus on the joys, challenges and rewards of teaching, and as we did so, his eyes began to shine brightly, and his body language became more relaxed and articulate. It was clear that the burdens and responsibilities of the political life were not rewarding in the same way.

A couple of businessmen I had met in the plane on my way to Portugal, had told me that it was extremely important that President Cavaco Silva be successful in his reelection campaign, because his rival for the post was, in their view, "unacceptable". I therefore took the liberty of urging the President to consider Portugal as his class room, and his job to fire the imaginations of the Portuguese people the way he had when he was a teacher in the university. The vision for Portugal could be a highly educated public, where everybody was considered a pupil in a "national academy".

I would never presume to think that this fanciful idea could have had more than a superficial effect on his attitude towards his job, but he promised me he would read The Art of Possibility and ended our interview with protestations of deep gratitude for having helped him see his role in a different light. I was impressed by his grace, formality and charm. I secretly hope that I might have added an iota of fire and passion to his armory. Perhaps the results of the upcoming elections in Portugal will give us some clue.