Each year, dozens of high-level government officials travel 4,500 miles from Brazil to Indiana for specialized leadership training hosted by IU Executive Education and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Lyvan Bispo dos Santos attended the program in 2018. Now, he serves as an attorney for Brazil and is the legal coordinator for the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
“I desired to improve my soft skills in public leadership and consequently boost my career in the federal government,” he says. “The public sector in Brazil is full of challenges and I needed to be ready to lead teams, coordinate projects, and solve huge legal and social problems collectively. When I learned about the opportunity to attend the program, I decided to apply for it. Absolutely, it was an excellent idea.”
Executive Education Director Sara Johnson stresses that modern global leadership plays a critical role in all societies. She says faculty with Executive Education and the O’Neill School can provide a high-level view of what it takes to lead effectively in the internationally connected world of today.
“Leaders in the public sector must have a broad view of their organization, stakeholders, and policy matters, all while serving in the public interest,” she explains. “Our courses help leaders take a step back and learn how to have a big-picture view of their role and impact not only in their organization, but in their communities and the world.”
The leaders spend one week learning about topics ranging from assessing performance measures to conflict resolution, data visualization, communication across generations, managing a diverse workforce, and more. In turn, they return to Brazil with a certificate from Indiana University.
“What they’re learning is very relevant to their roles as leaders,” Johnson says. “We often hear from participants that the knowledge they gained both from the classroom and field experiences has a great impact on them as leaders and is something they can take back and apply when they return to their home country.”
The program was originally designed by O’Neill Professor and Fischer Faculty Fellow Claudia Avellaneda.
“When I came to O’Neill 11 years ago, there were no ties between our school and Latin American countries,” she says.
Avellaneda—who is originally from Colombia—was passionate about changing that. A visiting scholar from Brazil connected her with ENAP, the National School of Public Administration in Brazil. As the relationship developed, so did an agreement. O’Neill would send graduate students to Brazil to intern with the Brazilian government. In exchange, ENAP would send five visiting scholars to IU each year to audit classes for their degrees.
But Avellaneda didn’t stop there. She also worked with ENAP to host federal employees for a week-long Executive Leadership Program based in Bloomington, Indiana, —one that is run through the top-ranked public affairs program in the country.
When I created this program, I thought it would serve bureaucrats from the Latin American region.” she admits. “However, ENAP Brazil also sends top- and middle-level managers as well as cabinet-level officials. It’s been remarkable.”
While it’s a lengthy trip, it’s also a memorable one. Participants spend a day in Indianapolis then get to feel what it’s like to live in a quintessential American college town the rest of the week. Bispo dos Santos says the experience is one that changes participants, both professionally and personally.
“I can remember all moments and experiences even today,” he recalls. “Studying abroad, travelling with colleagues, and living the atmosphere of a top American university was a mind-blowing combination for a young professional like me at that time.”
Curating the experience has taken years of hard work. But Avellaneda stresses that offering this type of training in a new environment helps the lessons sink in even more.
“When people go abroad, they have a completely different perception and bring these ideas about how things work here back to where they are from,” Avellaneda explains. “They appreciate the experience more.”
For the first two years of the program, Avellaneda worked tirelessly with the O’Neill School International Office to create and manage the entire program. She helped with travel and lodging arrangements, secured speakers, and even hosted parties in her own home to build relationships with and among program participants.
“Relationships are very important for Latin Americans,” she stresses. “Participants have told me that when they go back, they now know colleagues in different cabinets, which makes their jobs easier. If they need something in other governmental agencies, they know whom to contact.”
Those relationship-building skills don’t stop once the leaders leave the United States. It’s among the many lessons they carry back with them to Brazil and put into action. For Bispo dos Santos, he says the program changed his personal view about leadership, especially leadership in the public sector.
“Until this program, I thought a leader was someone isolated and the ‘master’ of all actions and people in the workplace—I was completely wrong,” he admits. “Modern leadership is concentrated in being hands-on and empathetic, achieving long-term results, working in a group, and inspiring other professionals.”
After Bispo dos Santo completed the program in 2018, it moved to IU Executive Education to provide additional support for Avellaneda’s ongoing work.
“It has worked quite well because Executive Education already had experience with the programs they teach,” she explains. “They had experience working with government employees—those at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center—and in international markets, like Vietnam.”
For Johnson, it was an important partnership that expanded Executive Education’s global reach in educating the leaders of today and tomorrow.
“Our goal in Executive Education is always to build leadership capacity for public organizations both domestically and throughout the world,” she says. “Our hope is that these leaders return to their home country with new knowledge and strategies to utilize that knowledge for the betterment of their communities and countries in the future.”
Avellaneda is now looking toward the future of the program. She hopes to expand it into more Latin American countries and create a leadership training center at Indiana University in Bloomington—one that will host trainings in Spanish.
“Right now, we require that attendees speak English to join the program,” she says. “That can deprive some people of the opportunity to come here.”
She’s already connecting with former doctoral students who can teach topics included in the leadership programs in Spanish, a move she says will open the Latin American market and expand the program’s impact.
“I would love to invite mayors and governors from other Latin American countries,” she says with a smile. “That would be a blessing, that would be a real contribution for society.”
But as she plans for her next big step, she can’t help but look back at what the program she launched has already accomplished.
“To be honest, creating this program probably has been the most enriching experience for me, especially because I started from zero and now it’s been institutionalized,” Avellaneda says proudly. “It energizes me to see people connected. We all need connections to succeed.”
