View from the Pier

Kathy Bushkin Calvin, 60, is the Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation. The UN Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. Among the UN Foundation’s priorities are decreasing child mortality, empowering women and girls, and protecting diverse cultures and environments.

Prior to joining the UN Foundation, Kathy served as President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation. She joined America Online in 1997 as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer.

I worked for Kathy during part of her 12-year tenure as the Director of Editorial Administration for U.S. News & World Report. She had joined the magazine’s staff after serving as Senator Gary Hart’s press secretary in his Senate office from 1976 through his 1984 Presidential campaign. I was only a couple of years out of college at the time, and Kathy wasn’t a whole lot older than me. Her energy, enthusiasm, sense of humor, and can-do attitude made a great impression on me.

It was a treat to re-connect with Kathy and I think you’ll enjoy her views on the power of collaboration, the desire to make a difference, the gifts of curiosity and timing, and the importance of listening.

Meg: The U N Foundation is described as a platform for connecting people, ideas and resources to help the United Nations solve global problems. Can you give me a couple of concrete examples of how such connections successfully solved specific problems, on both an organizational and individual level?

Kathy: A favorite example is from our “Nothing but Nets” campaign to help end malaria. It started with the power of one person, a Sports Illustrated columnist, who saw a documentary about how malaria kills 300,000 children a year—yet it has been eradicated in the U.S. He challenged his readers to join him in helping end malaria by sending $10 to send a net and save a life. He turned to us because we had a successful program of delivering bed nets along with measles vaccinations. When he raised $75,000 overnight, we knew there had to be lots of people waiting to be given a chance to help, so we created the campaign, using the name of his column. It has since raised more than $30 million from over 120,000 people—mostly in small donations and many from young people. Our star performer is an eight-year-old girl from Pennsylvania who has raised more than $100,000 at her school and church, but the campaign also connects Lutherans and Methodists, fans of the National Basketball Assn. and Major League Soccer, the Boy Scouts and others.

Another example is going to be our campaign to connect “tween” girls in this country with their counterparts around the world. Called “Girl Up: Uniting Girls to Change the World,” it will give them the chance to learn, get involved and give, and funds will support UN programs for adolescent girls in four countries to start with and eventually more.

Meg: The U N Foundation identifies its primary goals as advocacy, partnerships, constituency building and fund-raising. These are forms of “connecting.” How do you personally define the term “connecting”?

Kathy: I really believe in the power of collaboration: two heads are better than one, we can all do more than any of us can, etc. Almost every organization I am part of works because of collaboration. I will only take a board chair if it shared with someone else as co-chair. I believe in sharing and giving away credit, and I always say yes when someone asks for help. It all comes back in multiples. And all the partnerships the UN Foundation does are based on collaboration—sharing what each party has to offer to add up to a greater whole.

Meg: You have spent more than a decade working in philanthropy. Some people struggle with the concept of doing well by doing good, or the notion of “sacred livelihood.” Your thoughts?

Kathy: I have never been a fan of the term “doing well by doing good” although it is a proven truism and reflects the Rotary motto that “he who serves best, profits most.” What I don’t like about it is that it misses the point that doing good has other benefits and values besides helping you do well—it helps others, our planet, our own growth as individuals. But it does work to convince some people that doing good doesn’t pose a choice against doing well—you will likely benefit because in fact it will get to the core of what you do. I think the future will not have such fine lines between philanthropy and business or doing well and doing good. More companies will incorporate into their core business connection to their communities and world; more philanthropies will take on a bottom line approach to their work. We’ll live in a hybrid world instead of either/or.

Meg: You must travel extensively in your work for the U N Foundation —could you describe two or three trips that were particularly eye-opening, and share what the “lesson” was, either about others, or yourself?

Kathy: I am fortunate that I have been able to see the UN’s work on the ground. I was in Haiti in mid-February, just a month after the massive earthquake leveled most of Port au Prince. It was heartbreaking to see the devastation, the loss of life, the living conditions, and the desperation. But there was hope among the heartbreak. The Haitians have a remarkable resilience. The market was already up and running, shoes were being shined, and food was being sold. The UN people were remarkable as well: their building was demolished and more than 100 of their colleagues and families died, but they were working around the clock, sleeping between the fax machine and the computer, helping deliver food, tents, latrines, and peace.

Three years ago, at the beginning of our malaria work, I visited Senegal, a country where the death toll has been quite high. But the Senegalese were taking charge of educating themselves about how malaria is spread, demanding bed nets and teaching others how to use them. We visited several villages where there was no school or health facility, but the nets were getting delivered and used.

I learned that poor people are by and large smarter than most of us. They have to be resourceful, persistent and collaborative to survive. I found that I was not sure I could do half as well.

Meg: I find that expectations —of myself or others —can sometimes create misunderstandings. One of the reasons I love to travel is that it causes me to challenge my expectations. You must find yourself in all kinds of different situations. Can you speak to your experience with “expectations?”

Kathy: I found my recent trip to China challenged just about everything I thought I knew. We took the UN Foundation Board there in the fall of 2009, and I took some private vacation time as well. I was amazed how China is both the past and the future simultaneously and that it is absolutely charting a course ahead without regard to the US as a major super power. The people were friendly, ambitious, complex and numerous! I thought this was going to be my one and only trip to China in my lifetime, but after two weeks, I was convinced I’d need to return many times to understand it and our own future.

I was intrigued how the Cultural Revolution thirty years ago is shaping the next generation of Chinese leadership. Although Mao is still revered in ways that surprise us in the West —even though most of his views have been rejected —the experience left people in their 40′s to 60′s with experiences not unlike the effect of the Great Depression in this country. We also learned the next generation of leaders will be lawyers and the like —not technocrats and engineers. Their modernism and ability to see the future —and their role in it —was astonishing. America needs to pay attention.

Meg: I know you attended the Davos conference earlier this year—can you describe that annual event?

Kathy: Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum is held each January, is a playground for policy and political junkies. For the last 30 years, the world’s economic, business, political and recently nonprofit leaders have come together in a small ski town to explore better ways to achieve economic prosperity and justice. The sessions one can attend are interesting, but the real benefit is the networking that takes place day and night. You can meet all the people you’ve read about or see them walking down the street. In recent years, some of us have also tried to increase the number of women participants and the number of issues pertaining to women and girls on the agenda. We’ve had some good success…more to come.

Meg: I understand that at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative, H.E. Khalid Abdalrazaq Al-Nafisee made a $30 million commitment from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to polio eradication. This contribution will go towards vaccinations, education and awareness for eliminating polio worldwide. In addition to the important financial commitment, Saudi Arabia, the Keeper of the Two Holy Mosques, is also requiring every pilgrim entering the Kingdom for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, to receive a polio vaccination.  Have you traveled at all to the Middle East and, if so, could you describe an experience that best illustrates what you learned there?

Kathy: The Kingdom’s decision on the Haj was made several years ago before their recent gift to combat polio in the four Muslim-prevalent polio-endemic countries. It was a major breakthrough to prevent the spread of polio from the pilgrims to each other. I have been in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, where we took the UN Foundation Board in 2007. The notion that three religions are fighting over a fairly barren piece of land seems amazing. The cultural richness of that region is stunning. From Petra in Jordan to the biblical and political trail throughout the whole region, you can’t get enough in a week. It’s definitely on my “return” list.

Meg: I know that sustainable development is a priority for the U N Foundation, focusing on promoting sustainable tourism, community-based enterprises, and promoting market access. Can you describe a trip you took in relation to this priority, where you saw one of these three “legs” making a meaningful difference in someone’s life, or in the life of a community?

Kathy: Petra, the ancient ruins in Jordan, is a great example of what can happen with an effort to practice sustainable tourism. We signed an agreement on behalf of the World Heritage Alliance while we were there to help protect this “wonder of the world” from being loved to death. The primary challenge is finding sustainable living and livelihood opportunities for the Bedouins who have lived in the Petra caves for centuries and love their way of life. But they are selling it off by pieces and threatening both the area’s future and their own. The King and Queen of Jordan —she is on our Board —are very committed to this kind of new partnership.

Meg: My mother defines humility as “remaining teachable.” One of the traits that you seem to epitomize is a genuine curiosity about people and issues. Could you describe a particular encounter or interaction you’ve had while traveling, where someone really transmitted a powerful lesson, one that you were grateful to be open to?

Kathy: I was privileged to meet Nelson Mandela in 2008, and I will never forget the experience. Almost 90 and frail, he exudes a saintly calm and inner peace that is totally overwhelming and contagious. We were in Ulusaba, a game reserve owned by Richard Branson which he was opening to the Elders, which was founded by Madiba (Ed: an honorary title conferred on Mandela by elders of his clan) and his wife Graca Machel. The African staff were singing and chanting and we were all transported to a higher vision I will never forget.

Meg: You travel in exciting circles. How do you keep your feet on the ground?

Kathy: I am actually pretty grounded. I have met an amazing number of fabulous people, and I feel very lucky. I am very aware that I have those opportunities not because of who I am but what I do, so I keep myself in perspective. But I make it a point to meet people wherever I go and have a very wide network now from years in journalism, philanthropy, business and politics. And I still have old friends too. What I don’t have are many really close girlfriends—like a lot of working women, I don’t have time to nurture them.

Meg: When was the first time you traveled alone and was there a moment that defined that experience for you?

Kathy: I traveled to Europe alone between my junior and senior year of college—and it was the first time I’d really been lonely. I hitchhiked alone for almost a month, and I learned that travel is often more about the trip than the destination. That’s still true today: my husband and I love to ride his BMW motorcycle on long trips that take us through small towns, down “blue highways” and back roads, and to places we’ve never been. We are never disappointed by what we discover.

Meg: As a high school student in rural Virginia, I had a burning desire to escape the small town I was in, and see the world. I think I’ve come to see this as part ambition and part curiosity. I’ve heard you say that growing up in the mid-West, you couldn’t wait to “spread your wings,” shall we say. Can you tell me what you think fueled that desire—and is it still there?

Kathy: My mother was a frustrated actress—a career she gave up for parenting. I had a burning desire not to miss anything in my life. So I wanted to see and do everything. I couldn’t wait to live somewhere new. I went to Europe to study for a summer during high school and knew I’d always want to be a global citizen. Today I’m glad to be rooted as well as winged.

Meg: You are in a role where you are likely constantly meeting new people—what is that like?

Kathy: I find I like almost everyone the first time I meet them. There is something that attracts me—their appearance, their humor, their story. I find it easy to talk to strangers as I am a natural journalist—I ask lots of questions and find there is little you can’t ask people about. I always want to find one factoid that’s interesting—something about their mother, whether they have a tattoo, etc.

Meg: How important has timing been in your life, and can you share a couple of instances where it has proven pivotal?

Kathy: Timing is everything, as they say. I think you have to take opportunities as they come at you—you can’t plan opportunities, so you have to be flexible enough to know the timing is now. And George Bush I was right when he said 90% of success in life is just showing up. But obviously you have to gamble on timing too: knowing when to launch a product, speak out on a subject. My timing was absolutely best when I joined AOL. The Internet had not quite moved from being a boy’s toy to a girl’s tool, but it did almost as soon as I got there. And the stock exploded in price as the number of members went through the roof. I took a chance on an industry my dad didn’t even know existed at the right time.

Meg: One of the assignments you gave me was managing the press conference held at Dulles International Airport when U S News correspondent Nick Daniloff returned home after having been imprisoned by the KGB during the Cold War era. I was scared to death and certain I was going to make a huge gaffe. Lo and behold, I actually did make a few mistakes —but the show went on and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career and a real growth spurt for me. Have you had such experiences?

Kathy: I think you have to know that you are always under-qualified for a job until it’s time to stop doing it. So we’re always doing things we’re not quite prepared for. I was the first female press secretary for a presidential campaign—and in over my head. I made plenty of mistakes, but I also found a way to do the job my way that combined humor, care and attention to everyone’s needs, and total mastery of the subject matter.

I also love giving speeches, but I find that every time is as scary as the first. But that also gets me going to try something new each time and do better.

Meg: When I was a young woman working for you, you once told me that I reminded you of yourself at that age. That made me feel like there were exciting possibilities for me. Do you have memories of similar interactions of your own that inspired you early in your career?

Kathy: I worked with an “older” woman when I was press secretary for Senator Gary Hart. Although I wasn’t like her at all, I was impressed by her sense of style, her sureness about herself, and her authority. She encouraged me and was tough with me. I needed both.

Meg: I believe you have a degree in speech therapy and began your career as a paralegal. What are three main factors that you credit with leading you where you are today?

Kathy: Yes that’s right. I think the three things that have driven my career are a desire to make a difference, a desire to work with smarter people than I am who I can learn from, and a willingness to take risks.

Meg: How do you define “mentor”?

Kathy: I think mentor and role model are often used interchangeably. I’ve never had a formal mentor but plenty of role models. I have been a formal mentor a number of times, but I also work really hard on being a role model. And I think successful mentoring relationships go both ways. Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of GE, always picked a smart young person to mentor him to stay current on new ideas and technology.

Meg: I would imagine having a job description that involves solving global problems could be a bit overwhelming at times. Do you feel overwhelmed or frustrated at times, and, if so, how do you deal with it?

Kathy: I feel overwhelmed a lot and often unequipped. The problems the Foundation deals with are massive, so we try to figure out what the gaps are or the barriers that we can focus on closing or breaking down. I don’t have an academic background in global development, but bring a sense of communications, politics and coalition-building to the table. So again, it’s all about approaching these massive problems right where we started—with collaboration. I read a lot but I find its best not to try to become an expert – there are plenty of them available to us. My job works best when I am able to help leverage the work of others.

Meg: If you had to single out one attribute that you consider the most essential to connecting with other people, what is it?

Kathy: Listening.

For more information on the  UN Foundation go to http://www.unfoundation.org

Images courtesy of United Nations Foundation