Thank you for your service Ma’am
Edition 71
In Memoriam
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
“It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the harsh progress of mankind.” - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas broadcast, 1966.
70 years is a long time to lead! I cannot think of another who could elicit such grief from her people, after such a long rule.
The news of the Queen’s death broke as my flight from Zurich was landing at London’s Heathrow airport. A few rows behind me, someone burst into tears, and there was audible sniffling through the plane. I’ve never experienced such a somber deplaning. It felt like each one of us had received news of a death in the family. Through the airport and the ride home I felt the palpable sadness in people from all walks of life.
The next day everyone including I, stopped in our tracks, watching in respectful silence as the 96 gun salutes in Hyde Park marked her life and death. It was a powerful reminder of how long she had unwaveringly served her people, swearing in her 15th Prime Minister just 48 hours earlier. Lillibet lived the promise she made at her coronation, till her very last breath:
“I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life, and with all my heart, I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.” - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Speech on her Coronation Day, June 2, 1953.
I am no royalist, or republican. I never personally met her. I am from a people subjugated, enslaved, discriminated and colonised by her predecessors.
But all my life, SHE (not the monarchy, not the empire, not her crown) was a constant in every part of the Commonwealth I’ve lived. For every celebration, every tragedy, every moment people have needed inspiration, a soothing word, or simply to know someone somewhere was looking out for them – She was there.
The Queen was an icon for girls in the Commonwealth and the U.K. Seeing her made them believe as women they could dream of being anything too! She held the record for being the Head of State of 15 countries simultaneously, the Guinness World Record for Most Currencies Featuring the Same Individual and was owner of the world’s largest art collection — She even managed to out-career the most savvy television presenters in the world by claiming the title of the ‘world’s longest serving broadcaster’.
The outpouring of grief you are witnessing on your television screens is a testament to a woman who broke barriers in a man’s world and was often ahead of her times. But she was human and made mistakes. But what I and many others admired, was her ability to accept her errors, make it right, and do her best to move with the times. That indeed is a sign of a true leader.
“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.” - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas broadcast, 2008.
Leading in moments of crisis
Next week we’ll pick up where this week’s Chief Brief was originally supposed to focus. In the midst of an energy crisis, how trailblazing women I met and learned from in Zurich, are leading the efforts to make one of the hardest to abate sectors – Plastics and Chemicals match their climate goal of net zero.
It’s not easy. One of the ladies who leads a critical function in the organisation summed up how many see the industry – ‘My niece thinks I am literally the anti-Christ, or at least that I work for him. But we can’t just say stop using chemicals. We still don’t have viable alternatives for the multitude of things we use it for. What we urgently need is to innovate so the product we need, isn’t the product that kills the planet.’
But I am going to save that story of innovation, passion for the climate and the struggles to make a net zero vision, reality in a beheamoth of an organisation for next week.
That’s also when I want to tell you more about the wonderful Champions and Fellows at Journey. I’m currently en route to meet them in Washinton D.C. We’ll be sharing experiences and strategies of making tough decisions in confidential sessions at the Vital Voices headquarters, and even get perspectives from the highest levels in a closed door session at the White House.
I can’t wait to share the some of the inspiration, even if I can’t write to you with specifics. That would totally defeat the purpose of our off-the-record sessions, wouldn’t it?
But I’ll leave you with the core of what drives the Journey of this community — in the words of a very wise leader who will be sorely missed in the turbulent times we live in:
"Over the years, I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal, and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm, and their inspiration, to work together." - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, UN Speech, 2010.