My Experience at the Global Leadership Forum

As a Fulbright Scholar from Haiti pursuing a Master in Public Health Leadership at the University of North Carolina-Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, I was fortunate to have my proposal accepted for an Ignite Talk on “Insights into Effective Leadership” and received full sponsorship from the U.S. Department of State through IIE Fulbright. My definition of leadership is the art of inspiring others to follow your vision without using authority or manipulation. Therefore, my top two leadership values are Compassion and Integrity. My philosophy is: Know to Better Serve Others in Need!

My Ignite talk was drawn from my professional experience and training where I identified for women, youth and minority groups the top three global challenges that they may confront by 2025 if as leaders we do not take actions now! The barriers included access to: Education, Healthy food and Healthcare. I was thrilled to share the stage with these brilliant leaders (from left to right): Yee Ling Chua, Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, Han Win Htat and our moderator Gregory Fairchild, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Academic Director, Institute for Business in Society, Darden School of Business, The University of Virginia. I concluded with this message: Leaders are not required to change the world overnight but are expected to launch and implement interventions that aim to address health disparities everywhere for healthier lives by 2025. So, let us merge our expertise and means to shift health systems into people-centered care worldwide, so that future generations may thank us for at least trying!

From left to right: Marie Lina Excellent, Foreign Fulbright, University of North Carolina; Han Win Htat, Foreign Fulbright, Johns Hopkins University and Kate Balcerzak, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

From left to right: Nancy Hopkins, Presidential Precinct Director of Programs; Marie Lina Excellent, Foreign Fulbright, University of North Carolina; Diana Potjomkina, Foreign Fulbright, George Mason University; Fadia Hayee, Foreign Fulbright, Georgetown University and Han Win Htat, Foreign Fulbright, Johns Hopkins University.

The last session of this Forum was on “Design Thinking Lab” which can also be called “stakeholders engagement, aimed to provided us with tools and tactics on how to design solutions that are users friendly. The circle included: “Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test”. To achieve that, as leaders we need to keep asking ourselves questions and listen to others’ stories and experiences to develop a deep empathy. In design thinking, keep in mind that there is place for divergence {people who come up with a lot of ideas} and convergence {people who seek to find patterns among the ideas}.

Besides my visit of the nice campus of the University of Virginia, I managed to attend three of the workshops in this Forum addressing: “Governance, Rule of Law and Stability. Economic Growth and Entrepreneurship. Inclusion of Women, Youth and Minority Groups”. One of the message was that because the globalization connects us more than we were in the past, we hope that it will also help us reduce unhealthy competitiveness and maintain stability across nations.

The photo on the left was with the recipient of the Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Prize for Global Leadership, Dr. Madeleine K. Albright who was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States and contributed substantially to international peace and democracy. The photo in the middle was with the recipient of the 2016 Presidential Precinct Young Leader Award Ms. Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, from Nigeria, Editor, Sunday Punch Newspaper, Presidential Precinct 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow. The photo of the right was with one of the prestigious former Senator of the State of Virginia.

I believe that effective leaders, besides their passion, possess qualities and skills that included: Clear vision, Commitment as change agents, Cultural humility, Ability to develop and sustain strong partnerships through dialogue, Political Savviness, Integrity and Compassion.

Knowledge is Power, which drives the Future, therefore as knowledgeable leaders we need
to collaborate with communities’ key stakeholders to identify communities’ priorities and develop interventions aiming to improve societies globally by 2025.

This photo displays a mixed of experts like Dr. Steve Hanson on the right end who serves as Vice Provost for International Affairs, Director of the Reves Center for International Studies, The College of William and Mary and emerging leaders who happened to be two Fulbright Scholars {Han with the gray suit and Marie Lina on the left end.

My understanding is that great leaders tend to start off as great followers, therefore we not just Marie Lina, and I mean we (knowledgeable leaders) are accountable for the future of the world!

My take aways from this Summit are as follows:
– The Honorable Evan Ryan, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs left us with this inspirational message: “Like Thomas Jefferson, we must solve problems, not resign ourselves to them”.
-This Forum represents a great opportunity to launch lasting ties among well-seasoned and emerging leaders like me.
– “The legacy of leadership is: From Promise to Progress” {Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. former Secretary of State of the United States}
-As leaders we should connect with the global community then share our expertise, initiatives and challenges and make the learning of new skills a priority to be up-to-date on the latest research in our respective field in order to effectively contribute to the solutions of the most pressing local and global challenges of our time.
-If we look deep inside ourselves, we may be surprised to discover our hidden leadership potential, so let’s let it shine!