NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY IN WASHINGTON, DC.

The Advanced Meta-Leadership Symposium marked the 20th anniversary of NPLI and convened alumni from its crisis leadership programs.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, UNITED STATES, November 28, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Leaders need to keep some reserve in their batteries if they are to be ready for the unexpected. It’s part of their duty. That was the message United States Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan delivered to more than 50 senior leaders gathered in Washington, DC on October 11 and 12 for the Advanced Meta-Leadership Symposium conducted by the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University.

Fagan, an alumna of the NPLI residential executive education program, delivered the opening keynote at the symposium. Also on the insight-rich program were NPLI program faculty member, Dr. Dana Born of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Dr. Born echoed Fagan’s message of the importance of self-care for leaders, sharing research showing that wellness is linked to performance. In the closing keynote, Criswell brought the concept full circle by sharing that she prioritizes exercise and finding time to unplug, even if briefly, from the constant demands of disaster response.

The Advanced Meta-Leadership Symposium marked the 20th anniversary of NPLI and convened alumni from its programs. Participants represented a range of organizations across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. NPLI programs intentionally recruit from a diverse mix of organizations active in disaster preparedness and response, believing that leaders should train as they will deploy in a complex incident.

NPLI founding co-director and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health lecturer, Dr. Leonard Marcus said, "In the wake of 9/11, Harvard University established the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at the request of the federal government. Twenty years later, there is rarely a major event in the United States that is not touched by the work of this remarkable, multi-disciplinary network of crisis leadership professionals. It was an honor to gather faculty, alumni, and distinguished speakers gathered to celebrate the achievements and contributions of their two decades of practice, research, teaching, and contribution.”

In addition to the plenary keynotes, the program included panel discussions on the migrant situation and the impact of climate change on the disaster field. Another session focused on the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the thinking and practice of crisis leadership. Breakout sessions were held on establishing and maintaining trust, the challenges of polycrises, and building the next generation workforce.

NPLI thanks Indelible Solutions, an emergency management consultancy; AC Disaster Consulting, an emergency management consultancy; JetBlue; and the Washington D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management for their support of this event.

Eric J McNulty
National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard
+1 617-371-7254
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