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The Art of Leadership in the United Nations: Framing What's Blue

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The Art of Leadership in the United Nations: Framing What's Blue The Art of Leadership in the United Nations Framing What's Blue Publication Reference Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, The Art of Leadership in the United Nations: Framing What’s Blue, (Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, 2020) Contributors Fathiaa Abdalla, Maya Ameratunga, Richard Bailey, Ruth Blackshaw, Savvy Brar, Karen Daduryan, Raja Karthikeya Gundu, Ahmed Abdillahi Hashi, Marc Jacquand, Larry D. Johnson, Bela Kapur, Stephanie Koury, Ulf T. Kristoffersson, Karin Landgren, Ben Majekodunmi, Alexandre Marc, Craig Mokhiber, Klas Moldéus, Charles Petrie, Vendela Romedahl Stjernkvist, Andrew Russell, Rima Salah, Alain Sibenaler, Veronika Tywuschik-Sohlström, Irem Tumer and Kanni Wignaraja. The views and opinions expressed in these contributions are the author’s personal reflections and do not necessarily represent the United Nations nor the Foundation’s view. Furthermore, several authors chose to name specific individuals to exemplify certain leadership traits they exhibited. Others chose to use initials only or to refer only to an individual function. Any reference to specific individuals represents only the author’s perspective on the subject matter. Production Lead Veronika Tywuschik-Sohlström Editors Marc Jacquand Veronika Tywuschik-Sohlström Per Nordlund Henrik Hammargren Sigrid Gruener Text Editor Annika Östman Copy Editors Emma Naismith Johanna Mårtendal Graphic Designer Kristin Blom Photos Cover Photo: UN Photo. All other photos of art are from Dag Hammarskjöld's private collection, courtesy of Stiftelsen Dag Hammarskjölds Backåkra. Printer X-O Graf Tryckeri AB Uppsala, Sweden February 2020 ISBN 978-91-985372-3-9 The Art of Leadership in the United Nations Framing What's Blue Acknowledgements Acknowledgements This publication by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation on leadership in the United Nations is a result of discussions with former and present UN staff members over a number of years. We are immensely grateful to the reflection group created specifically for the report, which provided collective and individual inputs and guided our conceptualisation and framing. Specifically: Richard Bailey, Michele Griffin, John Hendra, Bruce Jenks, Karin Landgren, Ben Majekodunmi, Craig Mokhiber, Andrew Russell, Kanni Wignaraja and Nahla Valji. A special thanks goes to our guest authors who entrusted us with their personal and thematic pieces on leadership. They truly reflect the diversity of UN leadership: from national to international staff, across the UN system, various duty stations and positions. A sincere thanks to: Fathiaa Abdalla, Maya Ameratunga, Ruth Blackshaw, Savvy Brar, Karen Daduryan, Raja Karthikeya Gundu, Ahmed Abdillahi Hashi, Marc Jacquand, Larry D. Johnson, Bela Kapur, Stephanie Koury, Ulf T. Kristoffersson, Alexandre Marc, Klas Moldéus, Charles Petrie, Vendela Romedahl Stjernkvist, Rima Salah, Alain Sibenaler, Veronika Tywuschik-Sohlström and Irem Tumer. The stocktaking section would have not been possible without the valuable support of the UN system leadership development and human resources branches. Special thanks to: Sajid Ali, Dominique Gagnon, Mariam Kakkar, Claire Messina, Joel Nielsen, Christine Nylander, John Pegg and Markus Volker. 44 ‘Everything will be all right – you know when? When people, just people, stop thinking of the United Nations as a weird Picasso abstraction and see it as a drawing they made themselves.’ Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, photographed in his outer office, on the 38th floor of the Secretariat building, standing in front of ‘Rational Look’, a geometrical abstract painting by Fritz Glarner, lent to the United Nations by New York's Museum of Modern Art. The quote above is from an interview with Hammarskjöld published by Time magazine, 27 June 1955. Table of Contents Table of Contents of Table Foreword ............................................................................................ 8 Introduction ........................................................................................11 Chapter One The landscape: Painting the big picture .............................................14 The price of compromise: Principled leadership at the United Nations ................ 16 By Craig Mokhiber Leadership not by title ......................................................................................... 21 Interview with Kanni Wignaraja The burning priority for UN leadership? ............................................................. 23 By Ben Majekodunmi Authentic and relatable UN leadership .................................................................. 27 Interview with Fathiaa Abdalla Compassionate leadership .................................................................................... 30 By Rima Salah Leadership and identity ........................................................................................ 32 By Marc Jacquand The role of lawyers: Leadership for a UN civil servant .......................................... 35 By Larry D. Johnson A UN culture of integrity .................................................................................... 38 Interview with Karin Landgren Chapter Two The portrait: Rendering the individual ............................................. 40 A transformational leader .................................................................................... 42 By Andrew Russell In praise of ‘influencing’ from offstage ................................................................. 45 By Richard Bailey Power, leadership and responsibility for the Other ................................................ 47 By Marc Jacquand The heart of a leader: Lessons from a mother hen .................................................. 50 By Ahmed Abdillahi Hashi 66 Table of Contents of Table Demonstrating UN leadership: Positioning the UN in the midst of a revolt .......... 52 By Charles Petrie Leadership with empathy ...................................................................................... 54 By Raja Karthikeya Gundu A story of inspirational UN leadership .................................................................. 56 By Karen Daduryan ‘Blue Grit’: Determination, courage and principled behaviour in the UN .............. 58 By Ulf T. Kristoffersson Who would you want to work for? ..................................................................... 61 By Stephanie Koury Chapter Three The abstract: Innovating and breaking the mould ........................... 64 The United Nations – A unique ecosystem for leadership and innovation ............. 66 By Alain Sibenaler Building coalitions for change: UN leadership on the ground ............................... 70 By Alexandre Marc Feminist leadership – An inspiration for all ........................................................... 73 Interview with Bela Kapur Leadership on the frontlines of conflict: The UNHCR team approach in Afghanistan ........................................................ 76 By Maya Ameratunga Democratising innovation and leadership at the UN ............................................ 80 By Ruth Blackshaw and Klas Moldéus The need for a fundamental shift in who we see as leaders ................................... 86 By Irem Tumer Testing limits, pushing boundaries and giving space to young people – Interview with Catherine Sozi .......................................................................... 88 By Vendela Romedahl Stjernkvist and Savvy Brar Chapter Four The still life: Depicting current arrangements ................................ 90 The United Nations System Leadership Framework – Where are we now? ..............92 By the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Who leads the UN? What UN demographics can reveal about leadership ............. 100 By Veronika Tywuschik-Sohlström Conclusion ....................................................................................... 112 Acronyms and Abbreviations .......................................................... 116 77 Foreword Foreword There is something indefinable in true leadership, and regulations and reflects needs driven by context, something in its essence that cannot be fully captured, obligations and respect for values and norms. Thirdly, measured or easily explained. The same can be said leadership is often confused with or reduced to manage- about art: This elusive ‘something’ defines its core quality. ment. Management is crucial for successful operations, Yet, neither leadership nor art should be mystified but it is not synonymous with leadership. Leadership and - they depend on a complex mix of skills, knowledge management are mutually enforcing but one can never and experience, but also require creativity, courage and replace the other. compassion. Despite their elusive qualities, art and leadership are products of hard, principled work. Finally, the public discourse on leadership often focuses narrowly on the individual, ignoring that leaders never There is a broad array of academic research and expert act independently of the environment in which they opinions on leadership. While we recognise the wealth exist. Leadership is also expressed through collective of evidence these constitute, this publication does not responsibility and actions. Leadership is therefore not claim to advance any specific theory or model. With strictly individual as it is participative and performed this publication, the Foundation takes the view that in a group for a collective purpose. It is not simply leadership is an art and that, in the United
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