Denis Mizne, CEO of the Lemann Foundation: Developing Brazil’s Next Generation of Changemakers

>>> This episode airs on 11 Aug 2025 <<<

How do you prepare leaders to solve Brazil’s toughest challenges? Denis Mizne, CEO of the Lemann Foundation, shares how they’re eradicating illiteracy, boosting education, and developing changemakers who bridge political divides and drive real impact.

How can a country unlock its full potential by investing in both education and leadership? In this episode, Denis Mizne reveals how one of Brazil’s largest philanthropic organizations is working to eradicate illiteracy, improve middle school outcomes, and prepare future leaders to tackle complex social challenges.

We explore the Lemann Leadership Network—bringing together talented Brazilians from across the political spectrum—and learn how its fellows are making an impact in government, NGOs, academia, and business. Denis shares insights on creating constructive dialogue in polarized times, preventing brain drain, and measuring leadership impact in a meaningful way.

If you’re passionate about leadership development, education reform, social entrepreneurship, or Brazil’s future, this conversation offers actionable lessons and inspiring real-world examples from one of Latin America’s most influential foundations.

In-depth Notes:

In this inspiring conversation, Dennis Mizne, CEO of the Lemann Foundation, joins to share how one of Brazil’s largest philanthropic organizations is transforming the country’s future through bold investments in education reform and leadership development.

The Lemann Foundation’s mission is rooted in a simple but powerful vision: Brazil will only reach its full potential if it can unlock the talents of its people. To achieve this, the foundation works on two interconnected fronts:

1. Improving Public Education – from eradicating illiteracy by ensuring every child can read and write by the end of second grade, to radically improving middle school performance for millions of students.

   
   

2. Cultivating High-Impact Leaders – developing a diverse network of talented Brazilians, across ideologies and sectors, who commit their careers to solving the nation’s toughest social challenges.

   
   

Inside the Lemann Leadership Network

Dennis offers a deep dive into the Lemann Leadership Network, a unique fellowship bringing together leaders from across the political spectrum to exchange ideas, collaborate, and sustain long-term solutions. Fellows include elected officials, NGO leaders, academics, policymakers, and entrepreneurs — all working on issues from climate change and public safety to education and health.

Key elements of the program include:

• Scholarships for Brazilians to study at leading universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Columbia, and MIT.

  
  

• Support for homegrown leadership initiatives like Teach For Brazil and other programs placing emerging leaders in government, schools, and community organizations.

  
  

• Annual gatherings for fellows to reconnect, share strategies, and learn from case studies of transformational policy across Brazil.

Measuring the Impact of Leadership

Leadership is notoriously hard to measure, but the Lemann Foundation uses a practical framework:

• Tracking “positions of impact” (roles with the potential to drive large-scale change).

  
  

• Ensuring participants receive high-quality leadership training.

  
  

• Monitoring the career trajectories of fellows to evaluate the return on investment across different leadership programs.

Bridging Divides in a Polarized World

One of the Foundation’s distinctive strengths is fostering dialogue between leaders with opposing political views. By creating spaces where people can agree to disagree and still collaborate, the network promotes pragmatic, coalition-building leadership — essential for tackling Brazil’s most pressing problems.

Episode Highlights:

• Why solving literacy gaps is a prerequisite for long-term national development.

  
  

• How Brazil’s leadership pipeline is being strengthened to fill key roles in government, NGOs, and academia.

  
  

• The innovative recruitment processes bringing more meritocracy into public service.

  
  

• Strategies to prevent brain drain and encourage top talent to return to Brazil.

  
  

• Lessons from Brazil that can be applied to leadership development globally.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, education policy, political leadership, or emerging economy development.

About Denis Mizne

Denis Mizne is a lawyer who graduated from the University of São Paulo Law School and has been CEO of the Lemann Foundation since 2011, where he leads initiatives to transform public education and strengthen leadership in Brazil.

He is the founder of the Sou da Paz Institute and played a central role in the creation of the Disarmament Statute, becoming a national reference in the reduction of armed violence.

Mizne was a visiting scholar at Columbia University and a Yale World Fellow at Yale University. He was also one of the presidents of the XI de Agosto Academic Center at the University of São Paulo Law School and serves on the boards of organizations such as Instituto Natura, Associação Nova Escola, and the Yale President’s Council on International Activities.