by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – When Jerry & I visited Madiba at his Soweto home soon after his release from prison. We were privileged to work with Oliver & Adelaide Tambo, Albertina Sisulu, Albie Sachs and other leaders of ANC Executive Committee while Mandela was in prison. Please write tributes to Mandela in comments below!

by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – I am thrilled to live at a time of such rapid and profound changes.  It’s like tectonic plates are shifting and we can scarcely envision how this metamorphosis will unfold even while we try to shape it for positive outcomes.  I tingled listening to Richard Seymour who designs for the future and Anton Musgrave who guides people to prepare for it. And yet, plus ça change: Jennifer Sertl, thought leader on corporate consciousness and author of Strategy, Leadership and the Soul, reminded me the more things change the more they remain the same. After I extolled her impressive work, she said I “stand on your shoulders.”  I told her that we were part of... more

On June 24 I gave the closing remarks at the UN Global Learning Managers Forum (LMF) in Turin, Italy on the social responsibility of learning, training and staff development in global organizations.  It was an absolutely stellar learning platform: the calibre of content and structure was at the very highest standards to allow for a truly great knowledge exchange among 39 Learning Managers from 35 UN Agencies globally. Before I facilitated a discussion on how they each might best engage their respective internal and external stakeholders, I observed as they shared with each other in various modules on a broad spectrum of important topics.  They are at the cutting edge of utilizing new technologies to reach staff throughout the  world. While the politics... more

As I am about to move to another continent, I’ve found two sets of activities in America profoundly disturbing.   First, the condemnation of a proposed Muslim multi-cultural center several blocks away from Ground Zero ; second, advocates for repealing the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution enacted in 1878 to grant citizenship to Africans who had been brought to America as slaves.   I personally know and deeply admire the couple who have been planning the center for close to a decade: Daisy Khan  and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who are and have been for decades totally devoted to sharing a progressive interpretation of Islam – promoting women’s rights, condemning violence and advocating tolerance – within the Muslim community globally and building bridges with people... more

As a board member of the World Policy Institute I heard my SheSource colleague Patricia DeGennaro, an expert on National Security issues, describe recent efforts to improve civilian-military cooperation in Afghanistan.  She outlined a comprehensive update of the “whole of governance” philosophy and practice that integrates defense, diplomacy and development as integral, inter-related components to achieving effective foreign policy objectives.  Her analysis of the impact this has on foreign policy was striking and it reinforced my experience-based perspective on all for- and not-for-profit capacity-building efforts local, national, regional or global.  I have been a staunch advocate of cross-sector collaboration for decades, yet I still was jolted by DeGenarro’s stark statistics.  Multiple indicators show positive progress in those areas with provincial... more

I am keeping in mind exhortations for peace, especially Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s words, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” As we commemorate the 37th anniversary of Salt II, Iran plans to build ten new uranium enrichment plants.   Many Americans have just celebrated Thanksgiving and Muslims from around the world have just made their Hajj to Mecca for Eid al-Adha.  So, this news has particular dissonance during the season of hope we’re entering that culminates with different faith-based traditions celebrating in their own way light at the darkest time of the year.  With other nations also pursuing similar ambitions, we are moving away from nuclear disarmament. ... more

At 4:58am Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent me an email about President Barack Obama being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.   Tutu used the affectionate terms by which I call him and his wife Leah and the one we use for fellow Nobel Peace Laureate President Nelson Mandela in writing, “Leah was crying with joy and disbelief as we watched an epoch-making event unfolding before our eyes.  What a fantastic result, what a fantastic human being, what fantastic people, what a fantastic country.  What hope you all have aroused in the rest of the world.  Thank you God, thank you friends, thank you for filling us all with hope that change is possible.  Yippee…it is so like when Madiba became... more

I’d worked with diplomats and women’s rights activists from several nations to promote the passage in 2000 of 1325, a UN Security Council Resolution that mandates the protection, participation and promotion of women and their involvement in all aspects of peace processes.  Last week, during the opening of 64th UN General Assembly, I attended “Peace and Security through Women’s Leadership: Acting on 1325 and Climate Change” chaired by Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Tarja Halonen of Finland.  They once again declared a call to action for implementation of 1325 before its 10th anniversary next year.  They also focused on the incorporation of a gender perspective to be included in the negotiations for a new agreement on climate change.  This meeting was a follow up... more

Today my husband Jerry Dunfey and I visited Arlington Cemetary to pay our respects at the graveside of Senator Edward M “Ted” Kennedy and his brothers US President John F. Kennedy and US Senator Robert F Kennedy.  Having been at Ted’s funeral Aug 29, we wanted to say good sailing to our friend.  I was struck  when we went to Walter Cronkite’s memorial this Wednesday how at the respective services Teddy and Walter’s love of sailing was a metaphor for what they each had done with their remarkable lives.  As many spoke about leadership, I thought about how the sea – particularly when it gets rough – can either knock you around or you can navigate it with skill and patience and respect.