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Leadership, Service, and Network An Interview with Maurice R. Greenberg, Starr Companies, and Emma Sky, Director, Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program EDITORS’ NOTE Maurice energy, environmental, cri- Sky: We get thousands of applicants apply- Greenberg is the found- sis management, excess ing to be World Fellows, so it’s very competitive. ing Chief Executive Officer casualty, accident and Initially, it’s easy to see that many of them are not of American International health, and political risk. up to the right level. However, there are always 100 Group, Inc. (AIG). Under Starr Companies also pro- or so who are really top quality, and that is when his leadership, AIG became vides a broad spectrum of the challenge comes in. the largest insurance com- insurance-related services, We look to have geographical representation pany in the world and including claims handling of people from all different regions of the world; generated unprecedented and settlement, reinsurance, we look for rising stars from different disciplines. value for AIG shareholders. risk assessment, loss control, It is challenging to find those people who During the nearly 40 years and worldwide travel assis- have never had an opportunity in the U.S. before. of his leadership, AIG’s mar- tance service. That is where we go that extra mile to identify ket value grew from $300 Maurice R. Greenberg Emma Sky Yale’s Maurice R. people for whom this experience will be life million to $180 billion. Greenberg World Fellows changing. Greenberg is Honorary Vice Chairman and Director Program (worldfellows.yale.edu) is Yale’s premier You touch on leadership, service, and of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the leadership program – a place to experiment. They network. Are those three areas the core of the board of numerous other organizations. He received bring innovative, multidisciplinary thinkers and program? his pre-law certificate from the University of Miami as doers from around the world to Yale for four months Sky: Every week, there are seminars that the well as a law degree from New York Law School. and give them the space and time to step back from cohorts take together, and these seminars address Greenberg has been admitted to practice law in the the intensity of their work to reflect, learn, and issues benefiting the good of society. courts of the State of New York and has been granted be challenged both academically and personally. Monday evening, we hold a dinner where we honorary degrees from a number of institutions, Fellows also contribute greatly to Yale through teach- invite key Yale faculty to talk about what they’re including New York Law School, Brown University, ing, collaboration, research, and more. After their working on. Wednesday mornings, the fellows and Middlebury College, and The Rockefeller University. time at Yale, they join a growing network of 291 staff lead seminars discussing what they do that Emma Sky is a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s World Fellows working across the world. They stay contributes to the good of society. Jackson Institute, where she teaches Middle East poli- connected to the university and to each other. They work closely with the students mentor- tics. She is the author ofThe Unraveling: High Hopes ing them and conducting roundtables. Mentoring is and Missed Opportunities in Iraq. Sky served as advi- What makes the Greenberg Fellows program key, because good leaders need to mentor others. sor to the Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq; at Yale so important? Many Yale students say the most inspiring advisor to the Commander of NATO’s International Greenberg: At Starr companies, we do busi- thing they ever did at Yale was be a liaison to a Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; advisor ness in many countries around the world – with World Fellow. They describe how it gave them a to the U.S. Security Coordinator for the Middle East AIG, we were in 137 countries. We are a bit shy whole new outlook on life and exposure to issues Peace Process; and Governorate Coordinator of of that with Starr right now, but we’re catching up. they had never thought about before. Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Prior In many countries, there is a need for a leader- While they’re here, we also encourage them to that, she worked in the Palestinian territories for ship group to emerge, and it is happening in many to do public service, whether it’s speaking at pub- a decade, managing projects to develop Palestinian parts of the world. It’s good to get potential leaders lic schools, working in soup kitchens for homeless institutions and to promote co-existence between from the United States and other countries to Yale people, or helping with refugees. Israelis and Palestinians. In addition, she has pro- where they can mingle with each other and with Everybody who comes through this program vided technical assistance on poverty elimination, professors. is a friend of the U.S. and an advocate around the human rights, justice, and public administration reform, They go back home much richer because world. They join a network of World Fellows and security sector reform, and conflict resolution in the of that experience, and in many cases, these are are welcomed by each other wherever they are. Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Sky was edu- mid-level individuals, some who are going to rise How important is it to select a diverse cated at Oxford (U.K.), Alexandria (Egypt), Hebrew within the political systems in their countries and group to participate? University of Jerusalem (Israel), and Liverpool (U.K.) some who might even end up leading their coun- Sky: These fellows know nothing about one and is an Officer of the British Empire. tries. They will have a different view of the U.S. as another other than nationality at the beginning, so a result of their experiences here; others will be in they’re only aware of what is different about each COMPANY BRIEF Starr Companies (starrcompanies. business and will feel good about the U.S. other. Because they have to work and live together, com) is a global, privately held insurance and They will come back together periodically bonds build, so by the end of the semester, the dif- investments organization. Through its operating to renew their relationships both at Yale and with ferences they perceive are tiny. They realize that by insurance companies, Starr Companies provides com- each other, so it’s a great way of achieving what we being open and engaged, they can build a sense of mercial property, casualty, and accident and health like to do politically and economically. family among any group. insurance products worldwide. Starr Companies Emma, what do you look for in potential This program shows that what we have underwrites a wide variety of specialty and interna- candidates, and how hard is it when there are in common is so much greater than what divides tional lines of insurance including aviation, marine, so many qualified applicants? us.• 24 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2017 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 40, NUMBER 2.