From selling tea on the streets of India to driving buses in Venezuela, the personal histories of many of today’s and past world leaders shows a totally different journey towards attaining power. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s early life as a tea seller at a railway station has become one of the most widely cited stories in modern Indian politics. In the United Kingdom, former prime minister Boris Johnson began his professional life as a journalist. Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg also worked in journalism before later serving as prime minister and subsequently becoming NATO secretary general. Pope Francis worked as a nightclub bouncer in his youth, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu served as a soldier.

Source: The Guardian January 04, 2026 09:36 UTC