New Narratives of Leadership: Solutions from the Frontlines
At a recent dialogue hosted by the McNulty Foundation, the 2024 McNulty Prize winners explored how bold leadership can reshape systems and elevate communities.
Moderated by acclaimed actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, the trailblazing leaders—Saket Soni of Resilience Force, Gloria Walton of The Solutions Project, and Jean-Claude Brizard and Nedgine Paul Deroly of Anseye Pou Ayiti—reflected on the power of rethinking traditional approaches to leadership and investing deeply in those closest to the issues.
What can meaningfully building power in communities look like?
Gloria Walton, CEO of The Solutions Project, shared how she is guided by radical trust in her community and a continuous strategic effort to shift power back to the community. She underscored the transformative potential of empowering grassroots leaders with real decision-making power, “As an organizer, you know that it’s not just about your organization but about how you are helping the movement. Moving money to other organizations that were like us, who were helping frontline communities innovating climate solutions…that’s the conviction that drives us.” Knowing that those closest to problems hold the most powerful solutions, The Solutions Project is disrupting traditional philanthropic models, building a national movement for climate justice and unlocking the potential of communities to lead transformational change.
Nedgine and Jean-Claude shared how Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA) was founded on the idea of listening as leadership, especially focusing on overlooked voices like parents and grandparents. This trust in the wisdom of the community is now reshaping education in Haiti and charting a path toward an equitable future for Haiti’s children.
We decided not just listen to people with mics in their hand. We said, “where are the grandparents? Where are the community elders? Where are the retired teachers? Where are the parents who have been struggling every single day.
How do you build new narratives that are rooted in positive imaginative capacity?
In describing his journey as an immigrant and labor organizer who transformed his outrage at injustice into action by founding Resilience Force, Saket shared the ripple effects of driving new narratives. Resilience Force, an organization that recognizes and supports disaster recovery workers, reframes the perception of migrant workers from "unskilled" to skilled professionals essential to disaster recovery. By amplifying their contributions, the organization not only rebuilds communities but also bridges gaps in a polarized society through shared purpose. He emphasized, “Places of pain, like disaster zones, are not where hope dies, but where it is born.”
Migrant workers were arriving into towns in red states, and rebuilding the homes of people who, right before disaster, thought of them as the enemy. And we turned spontaneous moments of connection into deep and lasting bonds.
Grounded in a commitment to spotlight the communities’ intrinsic strengths, Nedgine and Jean-Claude shared how they began their journey with APA with a listening tour, asking Haitian communities, “When are you at your best?” rather than focusing on challenges. By moving away from deficit-focused narratives, they strive to reject deeply entrenched colonial narratives and instead reaffirm a narrative rooted in the power of Haiti as the world’s first successive slave revolt to build a democracy. Nedgine emphasized how her “conviction to trust my instincts is grounded in the belief that the truth exists about my Haiti”.
Gloria explained how The Solutions Project is not only disrupting traditional philanthropic models but by trusting grassroots organizations and those closest to the problems, they’re reshaping the narrative of who drives solutions, at the local and national levels.
What does it mean to put courage in action as a leader?
The winners issued a resonant call to action: challenge entrenched assumptions, lead with audacity, and continuously center a vision of human dignity and shared purpose. They all emphasized the need to embrace unconventional wisdom and trust the people closest to the issues.
Their stories reaffirm the McNulty Foundation’s mission to catalyze courageous leadership and reimagine what’s possible in a world that urgently needs it.