I had the privilege of attending a gathering of former and current women leaders from around the world—from Michelle Bachelet to Helen Clark, Navi Pillay to Hillary Clinton. Beyond the substantive richness of the space, it provided a glimpse into what a different type of leadership could look like. It brought to mind this deceptively humorous but incisive quote from Abdu’l-Baha: “We know the effects of war are bad. So let us try, as an experiment, peace, and if the results of peace are bad, then we can choose if it would be better to go back to the old state of war! Let us in any case make the experiment.” Similarly, we know the effects of aggression, competition, and self-interest in leadership are problematic. Might the qualities and approaches that women often bring to the task of leadership—compassion, concern for future generations, collaboration—be similarly worthy to test and examine?

In the gathering I attended, the human element of challenges was raised with more frequency than what I typically see in male-dominated spaces, reminding participants of the people we are working for. Disagreement in perspective was treated more like different angles of a shared problem, rather than matters of ‘rightness’ and ‘wrongness’. Participants were given ample opportunity to speak their minds, even through tears. As one participant, contributing in Spanish, became particularly emotional, Susana Malcorra, one of the lead organizers of the gathering and former chief of staff to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, stepped in to interpret. A leader of such stature translating for an indigenous farmer was powerful and demonstrative.

To be clear, the qualities on display—generosity, compassion, service—are not restricted solely to women. Everyone has the capacity—and responsibility—to demonstrate different types of leadership. The idea of a shift in the definition of leadership is something my office at the Baha’i International Community has offered before. Moreover, freeing ourselves from old patterns is a process that requires iteration and exploration. This gathering was another step along that path.

Part of the process of encouraging new patterns of leadership will be for men to gain new experiences and be confronted with new types of questions. There were a number of men (including me) who had the opportunity to share some thoughts. And the experience of being in the minority, of being the exception rather than the rule, can be instructive. At no point were the subtle jokes of “token man” made—this space was beyond that, for which I am grateful. But watching the other men, I was particularly sensitive to how they conducted themselves. Were we representing ourselves well? Would the shortcomings of one mean that there would be bias against me in my remarks? Would we be invited back? Are we speaking ‘on behalf of’ all men? Did we need to apologize for the shortcomings of masculine leadership on display around the world? 

These questions are of the same type that women have had to ask themselves for generations. How edifying, then, to have the script flipped.

There was a strong sentiment that, as the title of the gathering stated, it is “Women’s Turn to Reshape the Future”. This made me wonder: what is it men’s turn to do? At the micro level, maybe we should yield time on panels so that women (and youth, and indigenous voices, etc.) can have greater voice and be genuinely heard. At the macro level, finding creative ways to ensure gender equality in political representation, such as the “gender alternation” proposal being advanced by GWL, would be commendable. Of course, in all of this, men should be individually and collectively questioning the socialized habits that often obscure qualities which would be better suited to leadership today. 

The qualities we have for too long admired in leadership have not produced the world we would like to see. Let us try, as an experiment, a new set of qualities, such as empathy, curiosity, consultation, and see where those get us. The gathering demonstrated, at least for me, that it is an experiment worth pursuing.

Daniel Perell is a Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations