Faces of Leadership

"Throughout my career, I have been inspired most by my late parents Harriette and Willie Nettles. It was their sustained effort, encouragement, and support for everything that I attempted including in education, from the earliest memories of my childhood through the end of their lives, that gave me energy and interest in succeeding. Their lessons of learning, thinking critically, empathy, compassion, seeking justice, and being progressive have guided me throughout my career. I seek to expand opportunity for all people to thrive and prosper socially, academically, and vocationally, regardless of how they began life."

"For mission-driven leaders, when you are keen to shape a better world, you do so from within your organization: you walk the talk. It starts with the vision, mission, and values, and especially how you exemplify those through your own leadership. I believe the best leaders are always learning - from peers and from the most junior staff. Inclusive ideation yields the best results and ensures all staff feel they are integral team members. It also means the DEI is not simply a function of organizational rhetoric; its importance has to be fully embraced by the management team with demonstrable action to address systemic bias, injustice, and inequity from within - and with partners, donors, and beneficiaries."

"The human mind and heart are my main sources of inspiration. As a child, I was constantly amazed by my own thoughts and challenged by my emotions. Where do they come from? Why do they color my perception? Throughout my life, it became clear to me that the more I understood my inner world, the more confidence, freedom, joy, and love I could feel, even in the middle of complex situations. Today, one of the more fulfilling aspects of my life is sharing with teachers and children social and emotional learning tools that unlock the potentials of their own minds and hearts. I'm convinced that a society of individuals with greater awareness and mastery of their inner worlds will be a wiser and more compassionate society. My aim is understanding more about the nature of consciousness and love, sharing those insights and using them for the greater good."

“What inspires me in my work is my community. I really like to see young people advocating for what they believe in. Embracing and believing that they can make a difference helps me understand that I also can make a difference. I think that that community and that sense of trust within certain communities is pretty inspiring for me.”

“I [was] brought up in an underserved neighborhood in Bangalore, India. [I] started Dream a Dream, a non-profit to support young people from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and learn to thrive in a fast-changing world through a creative life skills approach. Over 21 years, young people have been my inspiration through their sharp, searching questions and their ability to own their stories and identities. My biggest challenge has been to continue to show up every day for young people, even in the midst of experiencing severe depression. As an upper-caste, upper-class, cisgender, heterosexual, Hindu man, being a leader for me means holding back, stepping away, and investing in my own loss of privilege. It means exploring my own patriarchy and the privileges it has accorded me while silencing other voices. The power my privilege has given me to shape certain narratives while making other narratives invisible.”

"I fervently believe that every child, no matter their circumstances, has the fundamental right to an education and to experience the joy of playing as a child! Yet, so many migrant and displaced children have been robbed of that opportunity and live in a constant state of toxic stress. Unaddressed trauma would simply perpetuate the cycle of violence and poverty, and I knew sustainable development would only be achieved through peacebuilding efforts. This passion led me to form the Amal Alliance and provide displaced and disenfranchised children with the fundamental tools they need to heal, manage their emotions, express themselves, learn, and in turn grow to reach their full potential. The resilience our children demonstrate each day continues to amaze and inspire me to lead by example and do more!"

“[Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s] mission comes from what our founder wanted us to do.  He wanted to create a foundation for all humanity dedicated to arts, science, education and philanthropy, aimed especially at disadvantaged people and the challenges of the society… We work in a place where we have the tools to make the difference, so why shouldn’t we do it? For me that’s a very big motivation to work with. To work with people, to change people for the better and with that to make a difference in society, in all sectors that our foundation is dedicated to.”

“The most important part for me is that education be for everyone. I’m really convinced that everybody deserves this chance, and everybody should have equal access to education. I come from Germany and access to education is quite easy, but what’s not taken into consideration is that people come from completely different backgrounds.

"It doesn’t automatically mean that everyone can use that education in the same way. So my personal goal is that everyone is able to use education for themselves, that education is accessible for everyone, and that they understand how to use it and what to make of it.”

“What I believe the most is that we have to give room for dialogue. So often at the HundrED we are working with different education systems around the world. There are many similarities, there are far more similarities than there are differences.

"They often don’t recognize that others are working with the same issues and there would be so much they could be learning from other policymakers and other systems when they have more time and space for dialogue.

"We want to protect our education system from quick, ad hoc changes that are coming through the politicians and political parties. We should be seeing the bigger picture of what the purpose of education is. That should be the starting point for creating policies to take them away from the political space.”

“To me, to be a future leader means to have an empathetic perspective and skills to understand what your team members are struggling [with] and help them to achieve the goal and unleash their potentials while not talking from a top-down perspective, but rather work with them and work for your people.”