Envisioning the Future in New Ways in Wales
As the United States and a number of other countries hold closely watched elections this year, the decision voters are facing is ultimately a question about the future. What vision of the future do people want to embrace?
The provocative documentary series “A Brief History of the Future” explores potential futures shaped by current innovations, trends, and challenges, and each episode delves into various aspects of society, technology, and the environment – presenting speculative scenarios and expert insights on how these elements might evolve. The series aims to inspire viewers to think critically about the long-term implications of today’s decisions and innovations, and introduces viewers to thought leaders, futurists, and innovators who are already doing this work. Many of the stories in this series showcase symphonic strategies for working with others towards a positive collective vision.
One of the leaders interviewed in the series was Sophie Howe, who from 2016-2023 held a unique role in the Welsh government as the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner. This position championed a revolutionary approach to governance, and was guided by Wales’s 2015 Well-being of Future Generations Act, which has set a global example for integrating long-term thinking into public policy. The Well-being of Future Generations Act is designed to improve the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of Wales by mandating public bodies to think about the long-term consequences of their actions. Its goals are meant to provide a holistic framework for sustainable development by ensuring that current policies do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Requiring public bodies in Wales to consider the long-term impact of their decisions has led to more strategic, sustainable, and collaborative planning across a number of sectors, including health, education, and infrastructure. It’s enhanced environmental sustainability and strengthened Wales’ commitment to addressing climate change, with increased efforts in reducing carbon emissions, promoting renewable energy, and enhancing energy efficiency. Biodiversity and natural resource management have received greater attention, ensuring future generations can enjoy a healthy and thriving environment. Social and economic well-being have improved too, with initiatives focused on creating resilient and cohesive communities, reducing poverty, and supporting sustainable economic growth. And cultural preservation has been prioritized, promoting the Welsh language and heritage and fostering a sense of identity and community to ensure future generations can continue to enjoy and celebrate their unique cultural legacy.
For her part, Sophie Howe was a pivotal figure in beginning to translate the Act’s visionary goals into actionable policies by advising and supporting public bodies, conducting research, and engaging with communities to understand their needs and aspirations, and she continues working to share this model of sustainable thinking globally. Of course, the work continues, but by embedding long-term thinking and sustainability into the fabric of public policy Wales is modeling a conscious attempt to establish a legacy of well-being and equity for future generations. It’s an affirmative of the collective responsibility to think beyond the immediate and to prioritize the needs of those who will inherit the world we shape today – and a symphonic approach to getting there that other countries and communities can follow.
Post by: Symphonic Strategies
Not everyone knows Dr. June Jackson Christmas’s name, but fellow leaders in her field are fully aware of how her contributions made other peoples’ lives better. Dr. Christmas, who passed away on New Year’s Eve at age 99, was a pioneering Black woman psychiatrist and one of the first scholars and practitioners to address the impact of social and economic factors on mental health
She made history early in life as one of the first three students who identified as Black to graduate from Vassar College, where she was in the class of 1945-4. (The few Black students who attended Vassar years earlier had kept their racial identities hidden and “passed” as white while on campus.) After college, like her fellow trailblazing Black classmate Beatrix McCleary Hamburg, Dr. Christmas chose to go to medical school to study psychiatry. Dr. Hamburg became the first Black woman graduate of the Yale School of Medicine and an expert in child psychiatry. Dr. Christmas, who was one of just seven women in her class at Boston University’s School of Medicine, said she originally hoped studying psychiatry might help her teach people not to be racist. It did help her address race and class as she fought to make sure vulnerable populations had better access to care.
Dr. Christmas was a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, a professor of behavioral science at the City University of New York School of Medicine, a resident professor of mental health policy at the Heller Graduate School of Social Welfare of Brandeis University, the first Black woman president of the American Public Health Association, and an appointed leader who shaped New York City’s mental health care policy. As the New York Times said, Dr. Christmas “broke barriers as a Black woman by heading New York City’s Department of Mental Health and Retardation Services under three mayors . . . As a city commissioner, as chief of rehabilitation services at Harlem Hospital Center, and in her role overseeing the transition of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare to a Democratic administration for President-elect Jimmy Carter, Dr. Christmas ardently advanced her professional agenda.”
The Times continued: “Her priorities included improving mental health services for older people, helping people cope with alcoholism, and assisting children ensnared in the bureaucracies of foster care and the legal system. She also sought to ease the transition of patients from being warehoused in state mental hospitals to living independently . . . In 1964 she founded Harlem Rehabilitation Center, a Harlem Hospital program, which gained a national reputation for providing vocational training and psychiatric help to psychiatric hospital patients who had returned to their communities after being discharged.” This became a model for patient care.
All of this gives a sense of not just what made Dr. Christmas a trailblazing leader, but how she displayed the characteristics of a symphonic leader. Throughout her life she was used to seeing the impossible: possessing a mindset that is free from the constraints imposed by the current reality, even a 13-year-old growing up in Boston who organized a spontaneous sit-in to try to integrate a roller-skating rink in neighboring Cambridge. She brought that mindset to each new role where she seized the opportunity to make advances in patient care. When asked in an interview how she motivated people, Dr. Christmas answered: “Let people know that you are on their side. That you are behind them and you are supportive. I do care that a patient or staff person is able to stand up for himself or herself. When we motivate others we just don’t look at a person. We look at a person and at their environment.” This perspective shows several of the principles of symphonic leadership, and is an example of playing from the soul: the ability to shape situations in ways that align collective action with the protection and advancement of self-interest.
Eric Wilson, the co-chair of Vassar’s African American Alumnae/i organization, gave one more clue about Dr. Christmas’s leadership style with this description: “Dr. Christmas was as regular as they came. Humble, personable, so totally lacking in pretension as to be considered old-school cool, and beyond brilliant.” This hints at a third characteristic of symphonic leaders, moving the crowd: a depth of social grace where social interactions leave people wanting more.
At Symphonic Strategies, we’re always on the lookout for new examples of symphonic leaders to study and share with others. Women’s History Month is a wonderful opportunity to highlight and celebrate great women leaders, but be sure you’re aware of the great leaders around you every day.
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