Leadership

I wanted to share another positive impression that was made upon me during the past 24 hours.  Throughout the entire mine rescue, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera was on site encouraging, smiling, and hugging.  His optimism and hope were tangible.  He was among the first to greet each miner after they ascended from their 70-day prison.  I was so impressed with him and his wife - she was at his side throughout.  After the last miner was safe, President Pinera made a speech.  At the end of his speech, he switched from Spanish to English which, to me, was another sign of his desire for unity as he just brought me right in to share the joy of the moment.  I was so impressed by his words that I've transcribed them here.  If I've messed up the punctuation, please forgive:

Tonight we have experienced a night that we will never forget. Full of emotion. Full of joy. Each time I had the chance to hug the miners, they were so happy because they were experiencing a kind of rebirth. And I think that Chile today is more united and it's stronger than it was before this rescue effort and before the examples that have been given to the whole world by the miners, their families and also our engineers, the people that worked to rescue our miners. And I'm sure that Chile today is more respected. And I'm sure that people have known better about this small country very far away from the rest of the world; by the country that is able to fight against adversity in a united way with strength, with faith, with hope. And I'm very proud, not only of being Chilean, I'm very proud to have the privilege and the responsibility to be the president of Chile in this year that we have had to face so many adversities: The earthquake, which was a huge one, a devastating one. Now this rescue effort which has been an inspiring experience, I'm sure, not only for the Chileans, for the whole world. Thank you very much.

 It's been inspiring for me!