Looking to the Future

On April 27, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Mrs. Natalia Brzezinski, Special Adviser for Innovation Alec Ross and Sweden's Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt

Recently, I’ve participated in two distinct forums with a recurring theme: focusing on innovative solutions to the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Nothing epitomizes these challenges and opportunities like the Internet. Whether the Internet will be a force for positive change and progress or for repression and tyranny is the worrisome question facing governments, policymakers, businesses and the citizens around the world that it has finally given a voice and outlet to.

This is a pivotal issue and we were so pleased to host our friend Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton’s senior advisor for innovation, last week to shine some light on it. Alec came to attend Stockholm’s Internet conference on Internet Freedom spearheaded by Foreign Minister Bildt, an early and enthusiastic pioneer on this issue. Both Ross and Bildt gave prescient and insightful speeches and sat on a panel together addressing questions on how to positively harness the Internet for international development, freedom from political repression and economic progress.

The theme of the day really struck a chord with me as I truly believe the language of individuality, openness and expression espoused by social media and the identity of the Internet writ large is universal and increasingly becoming more integral to self-identity for the young generation than the language of their homeland. The Arab Spring brought this to the forefront, and even today we see young Egyptians from across the political and religious spectrum fighting for common values of transparency, anti-corruption and opportunity for all.

Ensuring the future for the young generation by harnessing our common values was a key theme at another event I attended yesterday.  Save the Children in collaboration with Unicef organized an inspiring seminar on children’s rights and business principles. I attended at the invitation of Ambassador Lisa Svensson, Sweden’s dynamic Ambassador for Corporate Responsibility and the youngest Ambassador in the Foreign Ministry.

Protecting and supporting children around the world is a passion of Queen Silvia’s, and Her Majesty gave a strong set of opening remarks calling on businesses to take greater responsibility for the lives of children and safeguard their rights through the ten principles developed by the United Nations “Global Compact” on corporate responsibility.

Sweden has a cultural legacy of helping those in need, and it’s no surprise that its companies are consistently ranked as having the highest levels of corporate responsibility through carefully developed and targeted programs. Many of the corporations here have been able to strike a healthy balance between making money while doing something good for society.

Children’s rights are directly tied to levels of female empowerment since women are predominantly responsible for the livelihood of young children in the developing world. If women are able to make their own money, it’s been proven that they will use that money to educate their children. For this reason, I believe promoting women’s entrepreneurship is critical to the plight of children.

It was incredibly heartening to learn about the large-scale initiatives many Swedish companies are enacting to help women start their own businesses, secure loans and get their goods to the marketplace.

In places like Bangladesh, H & M is educating women on their rights such as simply asking for maternity leave and safe places to breastfeed. While touring Ericsson’s headquarters last week at the invitation of two of its top female Vice Presidents, I learned of the many ways Ericsson is empowering women in Africa, for example, through the “Connect to Learn” initiative that brings women and children quick access to broadband. In partnership with the UN Development Program, IKEA is sponsoring the education and empowerment of women in over 500 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India to learn how to start their own businesses. These are just a few examples I have heard about recently of the many, many Swedish companies that are taking the lead on this issue. It is a rich area where both Swedish and American companies can share best practices and collaborate.

Values-based leadership with a strong foundation in social innovation will be the dominant business model of the future, in my opinion. Today, the young generation entering the workforce is demanding that their companies care about something beyond just the bottom line. Business schools are slowly moving away from a financial, investment-based “Wall Street” focus to one rooted in imagination, innovation and corporate responsibility. I have deep faith that in the next 10-20 years we will have furthered the progress of women and children around the world through innovative public-private partnerships and the dedication of both sectors to empowering women and girls.

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U.S. Green Cities Delegation Confirms “All Politics is Local”

On April 20, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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In the late 1970s/early 1980s, then-U.S. Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, coined the now-famous saying “all politics is local”. This holds particularly true in the United States where the federal system reserves to states and cities most authorities and decision-making powers, making America a “ground-up” society were local action and grass-roots enthusiasm leads the way.

Earlier this week Natalia and I hosted a breakfast for a group of mayors and city representatives from the U.S. National League of Cities to get a flavor of how they are developing and implementing environmentally sustainable solutions. The delegation – representing Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Dubuque, Iowa; and St Paul, Minnesota – also met with Swedish counterparts under the auspices of the Swedish American Green Alliance (SAGA) to exchange best practices on urban sustainability to make sure that local politics does not stay local, but that these great solutions spread internationally.

Each of these elected officials displayed an impressive breadth of knowledge and determination to implement effective sustainability programs in their respective cities, each with very distinct and individual challenges and opportunities. Natalia and I were so inspired by the level of commitment and imagination in the room.  Whether it was tackling issues of transportation in Baltimore, spreading knowledge through early education on sustainability in Cleveland, or high-speed rail and an emphasis on public-private partnerships in St. Paul,  each of these city representatives were finding creative solutions to make improve the quality of life for their citizens. By utilizing his years of experience at John Deere Co.  and a dedication to improving the lives of his nine grandchildren, Mayor Boul of Dubuque, Iowa has helped make Dubuque one of the best small cities to raise a family, according to Forbes.

The delegation visited Hammarby Sjöstad together with Natalia. Hammarby has gone from being a former industrial site in the late 1980s to a sustainable neighborhood with cutting-edge holistic solutions that help its nearly 26,000 residents make significant energy savings while also saving money. The goal of the “Hammarby Model” is to integrate energy, water and waste to make the most efficient system possible.  What was once a polluted area populated by squatters, has now become a coveted residential areas for young families and professionals due to its vast and family-friendly “green areas”, efficient garbage sorting system, district heating and goal of making it the first completely electric car area by 2020. Hammarby Sjostad has become a global example of sustainability, and has over 13,000 visitors per year. Our city representatives, along with Natalia, were able to place a peg on a map of the world for all visitors. The map depicted visitors from Canada to China, Norway to Saudi Arabia.

In a similar fashion, the U.S. cities we met have adopted a number of sustainable initiatives. Council member Kraft of Baltimore told us that a 2.25% tax increase on downtown parking has allowed the city to offer free public transport in the city center which has encouraged residents to leave their cars at home.  Mayor Coleman of St Paul informed us about his city’s district heating grid which is run on biomass. Considering St Paul was one of the main destinations for Swedish emigrants in the late 19th century, it is not too surprising that it was two Swedes who constructed the city’s district heating system a couple of decades back

Both Natalia and I were pleased to see how Swedish and U.S. cities are uniting to take the lead in urban sustainability. This goes for both large and small cities. Dubuque, a town of 60 000, and its mayor, Roy Buol, has shown how a small city can serve as a small scale test pilot for bigger cities. As an example, Dubuque recently teamed up with IBM to launch a brand new smart metering system that will allow the town’s residents to keep a close eye on their energy and water consumption as part of Dubuque being IBM’s test bed for its “Smarter Cities” initiative. The overall goal is for this system to be spread around the United States and around the world.

All politics truly is local – sustainability is no exception.

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US Olympic Gold medalist & US Sports Envoy Visits Sweden

On April 12, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Natalia Brzezinski and Evan Lysacek

Moments of solitude in a cold, harshly lit rink, pushing your body and mind to the breaking every hour of every day— this is how newly named U.S. Department of State Sports Envoy, 2010 Olympic Gold medalist and my long-time friend Evan Lysacek described his true Olympic moment in men’s figure skating.

 
Evan began his inaugural journey as an official Sports Envoy by performing pro bono with Stockholm Ice over Easter weekend. The show held at the state-of-the-art Globe Arena was a dynamic display of international champions that left one breathless. Evan’s performance to the tango from Moulin Rouge electrified the crowd, but it was his humble and fun demeanor as he signed scores of autographs and related with children that stole the evening.

 
The following day we packed into a car headed for Södertälje—a city outside of Stockholm known for its richly diverse immigrant population from countries such as Syria, Turkey and Iraq. Here, the Embassy teamed up with Admir Lukacevic—a young, fiercely dedicated youth organizer who was born in Bosnia— and the organization he founded, “Sports Without Borders”. As a young, immigrant boy growing up in southern Sweden, Admir had two choices: become a pizza delivery boy or a thief. He chose a third option, and worked tirelessly to educate himself and start a program for more than 4,000 youth that uses sports as a vehicle to build confidence and community, and to inspire dreams.

Standing at center ice with his gleaming black skates on, Evan delivered an inspiring speech emphasizing his many setbacks and the fact that he was never the most naturally talented athlete, but always the one who worked the hardest. Admittedly, I had tears in my eyes remembering all the 4 am wake-up calls I endured as a young skater and watching the beauty of the graceful movements by Evan and the tiny skaters.
With that, we all hit the ice and spent almost an hour skating, laughing and connecting with each other. Nothing was more liberating and fun than skating hand-in-hand with my husband around the rink and realizing that I still had it in me to do a few single jumps and spins!

After a fascinating tour of the city hall and lunch with the Mayor of Södertälje, the day was capped off by a visit to the Embassy where Evan was able to tell his Olympic story and connect with the dedicated staff on national pride and serving one’s country.

For Evan, it was not about the glory of standing on the podium with a shining gold medal around his neck and hearing the crowds shout “U-S-A”, but about the years of early mornings and late nights, the missed birthdays and Christmases with family, the stress fractures and the broken, bloody toes that he envisions when he thinks of winning the gold medal.

 
In this way, we are all defined by the sacrifices we make for our dreams and our families each day. Whether we are athletes, single mothers, Foreign Service Officers or young Marines it is the tough obstacles and the fight in us to never give up in life that defines greatness.

It took me many years to overcome a biting sadness and sense of failure at not being able to fulfill my Olympic dreams of ice skating and essentially sacrificing my childhood to a goal I never reached. But being able to bring Evan here and have him inspire so many people brought me full circle and showed me that we all make our personal contribution to the world every day by the sacrifices we make for others. For me, it has always been the failures and the hard falls that shaped me most of all.

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Boldly Going Where This Man Has Not Been Before

On April 3, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Last week, I had the honor of leading a group of Swedish and Finnish defense officials on a visit aboard USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) as part of the ship’s last deployment.  I am attaching a picture of us about to embark on that memorable day.

At the invitation of the U.S. Naval Sixth Fleet, guests from Swedish and Finnish Ministry of Defense, Parliament and Armed Forces were invited for the day long visit.  Our group was flown out to the carrier and experienced an “arrested” landing, as well as a “catapult” launch.  Well, actually two landings as we had a rare occurrence of a “hook skip” where the tail hook of our aircraft actually jumped over the wires that were waiting to bring us to an abrupt stop.  Thankfully, aircraft carrier pilots are prepared for such an event and we landed successfully on the second attempt!

Between those memorable events, the Swedish and Finnish guests learned about interoperability between Navies and the carrier’s ability to support the full spectrum of foreign policy from humanitarian assistance through power projection.   This theme was consistent throughout the visit as many times aircraft carriers are only thought of in the sense of attacking targets.  However, during its last deployment in 2011, USS ENTERPRISE participated in the anti-piracy mission off the coast of Africa, much as the Swedish Navy did in 2010.

Another key observation for the guests was the absolute professionalism displayed by the crew of the carrier and the pilots of its air wing.  On its 4.5 acre (18,000 square meters) flight deck–the largest in the world, with winds gusting over 30 knots, jet engines literally over the heads of the personnel working while aircraft were taking off and landing just 20 meters away, there was a ballet-level of precision.  We were told the average age of those personnel was a mere 19 years old and yet every one of them knew the overall mission of the carrier, their position in contributing to that mission and the required teamwork to accomplish the mission.  The ship and air wing leaders provided the training, direction and resources and then let the team complete the mission.

Our Swedish and Finnish guests left the carrier knowing a bit more about the ability of our military forces, as well as our willingness and desire to work with other nations.  I think they also left with a bit of admiration for the fine men and women of our country.  It was truly a day I will always remember.

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