LyrArc Article Gist
One of the leaders who has emerged with solid skills and with patience, firm resolve is Olaf Scolz, former mayor of Hamburg, finance minister and deputy chancellor. He is leader of the SPD and has a shot at chancellor in coming years. His hard work has led to increasing popularity during the pandemic and he is in charge of disbursing the euro recovery funds for recovery of Germany and the rest of Europe. 

Being labor minister under chancellor Schroeder in 2003 did not help as he tried to sell Schroeder's labor reforms with harsh cuts for welfare recipients and he ended up looking like a bureaucrat and someone doing somebody else's work. 

But hard work persistence in doing the work that mattered has helped him regain respect in Germany. Leading the youth wing of the SPD, then in 1998 joining the Bundestag, running a business law practice in Hamburg, on to the mayor's office, now Scolz is a transformed figure as he appears more emotional, more accessible, friendlier.