“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I want to help make the term "foreign policy" obsolete.
Political and business leaders talk a great deal about globalization but too often fall back on old dichotomies—picturing a world divided between domestic and foreign policy, between rich and poor countries, and between "us" and "them". I believe this world view will be increasingly unhelpful and even dangerous in coming years.
Here's the heart of it: we now live in a world without walls. Traditionally "domestic" issues—our national economy, the safety of our local communities—are inextricably linked with global forces. When emerging markets half way around the world present attractive business prospects, or when hatred festering in far away places spawns terrorism close to home—foreign policy is domestic policy. Miss this point, and you'll at once overlook terrific opportunities and serious dangers.
The world needs leaders that understand this new imperative, and I hope to play a part. Three years at Harvard—completing a joint degree at HBS and the Kennedy School — have convinced me that we must forge a new kind of "global consciousness". We must recognize that our fates are increasingly intertwined with the fates of people we may never meet. We cohabit one world. If we embrace this new mindset, all of us can truly rise to the potential of our bright new century.
— John Kelleher