Leading Across Borders: Lessons from a Career Spanning Brazil to Poland

Why cross-cultural fluency and local insight matter more than ever in global services

Leading Across Borders: Lessons from a Career Spanning Brazil to Poland

Global Leadership Starts with Local Context:

The journey to professional success often begins with potential, ambition, talent, drive. But while potential can be the starting point, real growth depends on our ability to translate that potential into impact across varied and often unpredictable environments. When I reflect on my own path from a coastal town in Brazil to leadership roles in Poland, it becomes clear that my evolution was never just about professional development. It was a more personal transformation that unfolded across cultures, systems, and expectations.

My story began with intuition and determination. I wanted something more than what my immediate environment could offer. But over time, I realized that ambition alone doesn’t build resilience, and talent doesn’t always travel well without adaptation. To serve organizations globally, I had to develop a new set of capabilities. For example, communication rooted in empathy, decision-making guided by context, and a mindset attuned to complexity and change.

One of the first, and most enduring, lessons I learned in global business was this: leadership doesn’t scale unless it first adapts. Moving from São Paulo to Wrocław wasn’t just a logistical shift, it changed how I understood things. What made absolute sense in a tropical country often landed awkwardly in Europe. Assumptions I held about teamwork, urgency, even how to open a meeting, had to be re-evaluated. To succeed, I had to unlearn just as much as I had to learn. And above all, keep my head down sometimes and embrace humility, the kind that listens before leading, that observes before acting.

Leadership across borders requires more than global vision. It demands local wisdom. You can’t lead effectively without first understanding the unspoken language of the people you’re supposed to collaborate with. You always get the opportunity to immerse yourself in their pace, their history, and their way of working. Global fluency isn’t just about speaking English well, it’s about hearing cultural signals clearly.

Moving across Industries to GBS Realities:

My professional identity with Services was shaped by creativity and communication. I began with a dream, no money, a heavy accent, and little support. That’s when I moved away from a sleepy town by the sea to São Paulo, the sprawling economic heart of Latin America.

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