Raising Your Hand: Lessons from Working with Mayor Carlos Moedas (MBA ‘00)
- João Sátiro Coelho
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 43 minutes ago
How persistence, integrity, and rigor shaped a mentor — and my path to HBS.
I want to tell you Carlos Moedas’ story, the impact he’s had on me, and why he’s a useful lens as we think about life after HBS. He always told me his life didn’t follow a master plan that he drafted while walking around Aldrich. Rather, it was a series of unforeseen moments during which he had the audacity to believe in something and push past doubt — to raise his hand and take a shot.
I Called, He Answered (Eventually)
“Thank you so much for not giving up. Dinner tonight?”
Those were the first words Carlos ever spoke to me. After my initial cold outreach, he asked me to call him so we could talk. And so I did — twice a day, at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. After almost a month, he finally picked up. When we met, the gentlest and kindest of men began by fully apologizing for his absence. For weeks, he had been working around the clock, negotiating Lisbon City Hall’s budget, and the day he answered was the day it finally passed.
We went to dinner that night and talked about everything. At the end, he offered me a job. I didn’t know it then, but my persistence was what convinced him that we were cut from the same cloth.
A Remarkable Arc
For those who don’t know, Mayor Carlos Moedas (MBA ‘00) has a remarkable story. He grew up in a small, poor town in Portugal’s interior. In the late 1980s, he moved to Lisbon to study civil engineering at the country’s top university, then worked in Paris for a major hydraulic company. Eventually, he came to HBS with just enough money for the plane ticket and later joined Goldman Sachs in London.
He became a national figure during the Eurozone financial crisis — one of the most difficult periods in recent Portuguese history. As Secretary of State, he was responsible for monitoring and coordinating the structural reforms agreed upon with the so-called “troika”: the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Because of his impact during such a sensitive period, he became one of the youngest European Commissioners for Research, Science, and Innovation, overseeing what was then the world’s largest science and innovation budget and working alongside figures like Bill Gates.
Years later, in 2021, he left a comfortable role at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to run for Mayor of Lisbon, starting more than 10 points behind in the polls. My dinner with him happened in December 2023, halfway through his first term.
That resumé alone could fill countless Harbus pieces. As mayor, he has approved a record housing budget, launched the city’s largest climate-adaptation and resilience project, and helped Lisbon win the European Innovation Capital award. But I want to offer a more personal take and share what I learned from someone who became more than a boss and mentor, as I am now proud to call him my friend.
1) Persistence: The Compound Interest of Character
I mentioned persistence already, but it runs through his life story. Carlos has this quiet belief that most doors aren’t locked; they’re just heavy. You knock, you push, and you push again — politely, consistently, respectfully — and they move.
His persistence doesn’t come from being reckless; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It comes from a deep sense of commitment and respect.
“I owe it to the ones who believed in me first,” he told me.
He was also the first person to look me straight in the eye and say I could make it to HBS. I wasn’t so sure, but after that conversation, there was no way I wouldn’t try to push that door.
2) Integrity: Lead in a Way That Will Make Your Family Proud
During my first week on the job, I was nervous. I had left a position at McKinsey to take a leap into City Hall based on my trust in a person rather than a plan. That nervousness dissolved during a closed-door discussion about a difficult issue, where we weighed our options and their political consequences.
It was then that Carlos asked me bluntly: “João, in the end, the most important question for me is this: if this comes out on the front page tomorrow, will my wife and kids be proud of me?”
“The answer is obvious: yes,” I said.
“So let’s do it. Take care of it.”
It was clear at that moment that I’d be working for someone who valued long-term impact and moral clarity over immediate optics. That might be why I stayed for nearly two years — right up until I left for HBS — instead of the two or three months I had planned. Integrity wasn’t just a slogan.
3) Rigor: An Obligation to High Standards
Since arriving at HBS, I’ve understood even better the method Carlos installed in his cabinet. It runs on memos: clear, concise, written thinking. He reads them every day, often alone, marking up the margins as if he were in Spangler preparing a case for class the next day.
Before a meeting with Mario Draghi — the former Prime Minister of Italy — he asked me to analyze and write about Draghi’s report on EU competitiveness. I barely slept for three days, distilling arguments and implications. The day after I delivered it, he called me in. The printout sat on his desk, covered in notes. We went straight to the exhibits and second-order effects. At the end, he summarized his position and asked, “does this seem fair to you?”
There was no posturing — just hard work and intellectual honesty. The memo wasn’t a formality; it was the crucible where arguments were tested and decisions were earned. I was his “discussion group” in preparation for the “class.” He treated every intervention as an obligation to contribute something real, not filler.
What This Means During and After Our Time at HBS
I’m sharing these stories because they’ve had an immense impact on me and because they’ve become a useful lens as I navigate my RC year and think about life after HBS. Carlos always told me that his life didn’t unfold according to a grand, meticulously thought-out plan. Instead, it was a chain of moments when he chose belief over hesitation and action over fear.
When I told him I’d been admitted to HBS, he was thrilled and shouted, “you are going to the best place in the world.” I understand that much better now. When he left HBS, he wasn’t focused on where HBS was sending him but on where he would be taking HBS. He wasn’t seeking the “five-star hotel experience”; rather, he was looking for meaning in the things he found priceless: the rigor to read and analyze until your ideas are a real contribution; the integrity to choose what you’d be proud to see on the front page; and the persistence to show up one more time.
“João, don’t be scared to raise your hand,” were his last words when I left his office in August. I didn’t fully understand them then. I’m trying to understand them now.
P.S. If you’d like to hear Carlos’ story from his perspective, I would recommend the C40 Cities 1.5 podcast or the Heart and Hustle of Portugal podcast. If you’d like to hear him talk about his view on policies, I would recommend his interview with Bloomberg or his conversation with Emmanuel Macron at the Lisbon Unicorn Factory. Both are available on YouTube with subtitles.
João Sátiro Coelho (MBA ‘27) is originally from Faro and Lisbon, Portugal. He graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico with a master’s in architecture. Before HBS, João practiced architecture, then worked at McKinsey & Company in Lisbon, served as a direct advisor to the Mayor at Lisbon City Hall, and was a project manager with Bloomberg Associates at Bloomberg Philanthropies.