Small Island Leadership

buenos aires

here at the university of guam we’ve

been thinking about the idea of island

wisdom

as a component of our strategic planning

a component of island wisdom is the idea

of island leadership

and so island wisdom and its component

leadership are related to

the cultures that we have developed in

these islands

over thousands of years and island

leadership

is something that’s unique to small

island communities the world over

i first got interested in the idea of

island leadership

growing up in the virgin islands and

then also my academic study ever since

has been

these relatively small island

communities of the caribbean sea

since being in guam for now almost three

years

i’ve been appreciating the comparison of

the pacific islands

with the my experience in the caribbean

islands and noticing some parallels

along the way the big difference here in

the pacific of course

is that our island communities have

indigenous cultures that

are thousands of years old and so that’s

a difference for the

from the caribbean situation but a lot

of other things are quite similar so

what is island leadership so island

leadership refers to the unique

demands placed on particularly the

well-educated and professional classes

in relatively small island communities

to take up leadership

roles so take for example guan an uh

a population of 165 000 people this

relatively small cities worth of

population

is doing things that larger states and

larger

even independent countries are having to

do in terms of

managing an entire government a governor

a legislature

courts local and appellate courts local

and federal ports

we have our own power grid we have our

own

sewer system our own water system we

have our own customs and immigration

and managing our borders we have

fisheries we have exclusive economic

zone

we have seven consoles of independent

countries accredited

to the governor of guam so this in some

ways a mayor of a small city of 165 000

people

has seven diplomats equivalents of

ambassadors

accredited to her to to deal with these

international issues

so that’s an example of the kinds of

things that you’re expected to do in

this relatively small

environment another example would be

moving on to to

the the kind of people so all of these

different roles inside the

society of guam have to be filled by the

people that we have and so what’s very

common for

particularly for college-educated

professional people in guam

and these other islands is that they’re

expected

to assume leadership roles in ways that

people living in smaller communities or

other communities

around the country in the world are not

expected to so

it’s typical that you would be expected

to serve on boards on advisory boards or

governing boards

that you would perhaps run for office

that you’d accept an appointed position

to office

uh that you’ll be expected to take up

a business to be an entrepreneur in a

business for something that’s needed in

the society

and all these things are available to

somebody who lives in a town of 165

000 people in oregon or virginia or some

other place

but in in guam and our other small

islands

there is this heightened expectation for

leadership

in this environment uh and

other our local neighbors

also have everything that i’ve just

mentioned for guam and then

also that they’re independent nations so

the republic of palau the federated

states of micronesia

the republic of the marshall islands

have all of those expectations that

people in guam

have as well as an ambassador

in washington an ambassador in tokyo an

ambassador to the united nations

plus all that you associate with that

kind of responsibility a vote there in

the united nations

dealing with foreign powers often being

squeezed between powers it’s a it’s a

very

it’s a lot to put on a relatively small

population

a further thing that all of these small

islands have to maintain is their own

health care systems which in the

pandemic we’ve been experiencing

the stresses on those and so so i think

it’s important to

think about the kinds of people who

assume these roles so let me just give

you a few examples

of some people from our region and the

kinds of things that they have done

in their lives that indicate the need

for this kind of island leadership

so first i’d like to point out

antoinette sanford tony sandberg

she was chair of the board of regents of

the university of guam

but she’s also been chair of the guam

chamber of commerce

she’s been a senator in the guam

legislature and she’s been a business

person of the year and multiply multiple

organizations

she started her own tech firm and has

been very successful at that

she’s a mentor to many particularly

women leaders but also to many others as

well

including me another example would be

our governor lou leon guerrero

of course a registered nurse that’s

fairly unusual for a governor to have

been a nurse and so that’s been

remarkably helpful during our pandemic

to have someone with a healthcare

background

leading us through it she’s also been a

banker and she’s been a chief executive

officer for the bank of guam

and of course she’s been a legislator

and now governor

so another example of a wide variety of

interests an unusual

mixture of activities next up is my

predecessor robert underwood

who was course president of the

university of guam before that a

teacher and a professor administrator in

the university

he’s also been an activist for

indigenous rights and for indigenous

culture and indigenous language

he’s also been a board and council

member in an array of organizations

including even up to now

he’s been also a politician and a

congressman a member of congress

for uh 10 years another example is hilda

heine the former president of the

republic

of the marshall islands she is a poet

and an

author so a poet and a president isn’t a

very common combination but she’s

extraordinary

that way she’s a teacher she’s one of

the first marshalese women to earn a

doctorate

and she’s been an administrator in

various government roles and also a

representative

as really in a diplomatic role to

international organizations

so again an unusual combination

expectations for leadership

in a wide variety of areas and lastly my

final example is larry rigatol who is

currently a

adjunct professor and master navigator

teaching

students at the university of guam to

build traditional proas and to navigate

and sail them

so he’s originally from yap and he’s

also the holder

of degrees from the university of san

francisco as well as oxford university

and he’s also been an advocate for

indigenous cultures and life ways in a

number of different

situations he’s been the chair of the

banking board in the federated states of

micronesia

and also the head of multiple government

organizations and heads

executive head of government divisions

and he’s been a diplomat

and a senior representative in his

country’s foreign service

so that mixture is also highly unusual a

combination

of traditional and uh sort of more

uh international level kinds of

leadership that you wouldn’t expect

from people living in other other

relatively similar size populations but

in other

places in the world and that breadth and

depth of leadership gives

an added level to the island wisdom that

we have in this region

and in small island communities world

over so island leadership is a component

of island wisdom

and something that we in this area this

region of the world can bring to the

world

to help us solve our problems and as we

all

are emerging from the pandemic and

dealing with the fallout from a number

of different challenges of recent years

we know the world needs help and we in

micronesia can provide

we in small island communities can

provide elements of leadership and

wisdom

to the world ctus