Solving Problems/ Improving Leadership

The Wilson Center is divided into various research departments divided by region. For instance, while I work as an intern in the Asia department, others work in the Middle East program or the Mexico institute. While regional categorization goes a long way in organizing research and sharpening the much-needed region-based expertise among its staff, it also forms unmarked borders around the people and research conducted in various departments. To be fair, Wilson makes available all its resources to its staff and interns across departments. That said, and perhaps amplified by COVID-19, inter-departmental collaboration has been minimal among interns. Although I have attended events covering foreign policy issues worldwide, my assigned work has primarily centered around South Asia. While that is undoubtedly a part of the job description (i.e., centering research around the South Asian region), I often feel that my contextual understanding of foreign policy is one-sided. A one-sided foreign policy worldview can fuel implicit biases and create inaccurate and partisan research with real consequences on people worldwide if its suggestions turn to policy. This leaves little margin for error for governments to produce ineffective international policies. Therefore, if the Center hopes to create the next global leaders of tomorrow and prevent groupthink, it should create more inter-departmental opportunities for interns and staff from different regional departments to work on projects together. This will foster a more transnational (and hopefully, empathetic) understanding of foreign policy that can begin to mitigate the effects of the prominent understanding and practice of foreign policy as a mere tool to promote national interests (as opposed to transnational interests).

Similarly, COVID-19’s induced requirement of remote work has severely limited opportunities for team members to get to know each other and enable an environment whereby relationship-building activities promote team members’ ability to look at leadership as a process that extends beyond personal interests to promote the team’s interests. Even though I have not personally experienced or felt this as a member of my team (owing to my incredible colleagues and Mr. Kugelman’s leadership), the risk of team isolation and a task-oriented form of leadership without a relationship-oriented balance may stunt assignment efficiency and transparency in communication across departments. For that reason, as long as COVID-19 persists, remote or socially distant events that are not related to work but instead focus on community-building activities may unite Wilson team members towards causes that extend themselves. This, in turn, may bring Wilson closer to its mission to “unite the world of ideas to the world of policy.”