JULIANA BIONDO

Despite missing out on acquiring a special media pass, I certainly did not miss out on learning from Tony Blair and Ernesto Zedillo.  Former leaders came to Yale University for an informal conversation with President Levin discussing the phenomenon of globalization.  From religion to economics, this topic of bringing people together was broached from a variety of angles.  However, one specific angle was particularly striking, and that was the perspective of leadership.  Not just the usual, such as what makes a good leader, and how to succeed, but rather how one embodies leadership.  Well into the conversation, questions arose about the roles of academic institutions in an internationalizing world.  Zedillo (a former Yalie) mentioned his perceptions about the Yale experience.   He said that he never had someone tell him, ‘I am training you to be a leader.’  Instead, he mentioned that he simply learned to learn; he acquired critical thinking skills, and came to honor his internal desire to serve through a humble spirit.  He stated that leadership is truly a way of being, not a position that one aims for.  As scary as this may seem, true leadership is accidental, being born only from an inner desire to serve.  I came to understand that leadership is the natural outgrowth of a personal drive for positive change.

Blair responded speaking about the definition of “academic thought”.  He described the best kind of thinking as being that which leads to action.  He sees universities as a springboard for solving today’s issues, not a vacuum in which one learns about history.  I was struck by this comment.  While I always knew college was a stepping-stone, not an ending point, I had never heard it said just as Blair did. In one, short comment, he gave every student the power, to literally change the world.  I felt as though I was being handed a very large, but exciting task.  Blair also commented about the timeline of his career.   He spoke about the different mindsets one adopts while being in and out of office, but always having a career dealing with international affairs.  Now out of office, he mentioned that he has had the time to meditate on issues he had found the most drastic while in office.  He is now taking all of his practical experience, merging it with his knowledge of politics and creating new theories about world change.  He is now exploring this new combination of information through the use of education and research in universities.  We students are the chosen messengers in his endeavor to prepare the world for globalization.

Now, I have to admit that whenever I listen to politicians speak; I am always searching for comments to grasp onto and say, “this is the answer, we have got it!” But, I am never satisfied.  I leave wondering what the speakers exactly meant when they said “we will confront this issue” or we will “develop a plan of action.”  But how will you confront the issue and what will the plan of action be?  However, for this event I was pleasantly surprised.  Both Blair and Zedillo were animated and direct in their responses.  They had clear sincerity in their opinions.  What was most refreshing was the honesty of Zedillo’s response to the question about what to expect for Copenhagen.  He said that we should not expect definite solutions and set plans.  And, as Blair pointed out, technology and information will be so different in the next few years, and we will have new resources to weigh into our decisions.  So, what we can expect is a team of leaders recognizing a problem and setting the wheels in strong and directional motion to begin the process of dealing with climate change.

While some may say this is simply another typically political and ambiguous response, I found its openness to be just what today’s world needs.  Here were two massively competent and influential leaders telling us that they do not have the answers, and that all that they know, is what they explore.  Instead of reacting with worry, I felt empowered.  As a student, I feel my explorations in people and policies were an integral part of the larger political world.  I feel like I was already a part of a larger goal, serving, as Zedillo says, with a humble spirit.