|
Advice delivered at the virtual University of California Global Health Day 2020. Elizabeth Bukusi – Chief Research Officer, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) So much in the world may different from what students experience on a day-to-day basis. We are interdependent. What affects me will eventually affect you. Ramanan Laxminarayan – Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Disease Dynamics, University of Washington Now is the moment to articulate the system we want to see going forward. It is an opportunity to have a vision of the global health system, for recognizing that health should be a central part of human development. That has to be the new paradigm that helps guide our choices in to the future. Andres Lescano, Associate Professor, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia This is the moment for team players. For being humble. Not to shine and be up front in the camera. This is the moment to work together and build a system. It does not matter how many letters you have after your name. What matters is how you lead. Your name does not have to be remembered. That is not the issue at the moment. Why it matters: this pandemic is not nearing the end. It may not be near the end of the beginning. What each of us does matters. If ever there was a time for honesty, humility, compassion and commitment, it is now.
0 Comments
There is no aspect of life untouched by this global pandemic, whether health, environment, inequity, corporate responsibility, urban planning, food security—and much more. As we and our organizations each search for the most effective ways to respond, op-eds offer a crucial venue for raising new perspectives, shaping public conversations and illuminating the way forward. And new perspectives are vitally needed.
The Aspen New Voices Fellows are a group of exceptional thinkers and leaders who spend a year teamed up with mentors to to use opinion pieces, public speaking, social media and storytelling to help shape national and global debates on crucial issues. Throughout this health crisis, they continue to write with clarity of purpose in the midst of pandemonium. Criminalizing contagion One op-ed by lawyer Safura Karim calls attention to the dangers of criminalizing the spread of disease. In South Africa charges of attempted murder, in the United States charges of terrorism have been raised for intentional contagion. Karim draws on the history of dealing with HIV/AIDS to explain the pitfalls of such an approach, despite its potential appeal. From costly indulgence to essential policy Aspen New Voices Alum Maxwell Gomera grew up in a village in Zimbabwe observing local wildlife and is now Director of the Biodiversity and Land Branch at UN Environment. He argues that “to prevent future pandemics, we need to stop two far more pervasive human practices: the relentless destruction and conversion of wildlife habitats to croplands and the uncontrolled harvesting of wild species.” Rather than seeing investments in nature as “costly indulgences,” we should understand them as a critical first step to protecting human health. Surving Ebola to fight Covid-19 Adaora Okoli, a medical doctor who survived infection with the Ebola virus in Liberia, writes about how the Ebola outbreak of 2014-16 underscored two truths of global crisis response: fundraising during emergencies seldom works, and the UN's general emergency-response fund is inadequate to pick up the slack. She calls for the creation of a separate global fund, focused on disease outbreaks, to prepare for the next pandemic. I have been honored to work with New Voices Fellows as a mentor and coach since the class of 2015. I am continuously inspired by their courage and determination. It is time to take a breath and realize that however vulnerable we may sometimes feel, we are not powerless. Like the Aspen New Voices Fellows, we can use our voices to influence both the course of this pandemic and the future of our communities, our countries and the world. In a world where too many political leaders are arrogant, corrupt and self-serving, where do we find genuine leadership and what qualities define it? The 24 fellows with the new 2020 cohort of the Aspen New Voices Fellowship shared their views at the start of a week-long workshop on advocacy, op-ed writing and media training. As a communications mentor for the Fellows, I will be helping to guide them through the year—and I also learn from them constantly. Here’s what I heard about leadership. One Fellow described a true leader in his life: the Principal of the College of Medicine who offered his students a ride to visit a fellow student recently discharged from a mental health hospital. The Principal's moral humility and deep caring for his students were the hallmarks of his leadership. The Fellows described a good leader as someone who:
Good leaders are all around us: in our workplaces, our families, our organizations, our communities, our governments--and in the New Voices Fellowship. Good leaders are in our lives. We can learn from them, even as we advocate for change, and aspire to be our own best selves. What other qualities do you think define authentic leadership, and who have been great leaders in your life? |
AuthorBee Wuethrich is the founder of Bee-Advocacy. She is a communications strategist, writer, editor and advocate.
Categories |
RSS Feed
[email protected] |
5007 Erskine Way SW |
Seattle, WA, USA 98136 |