Statement on the Ukraine Russia War

Photo from a protest Cyn Cherrey, ILA President and CEO, attended in London, UK on March 3
Statement from ILA President and CEO Cynthia Cherrey on the military invasion into Ukraine. As a curator and creator of trusted resources, ILA is sharing responses from our members looking at the invasion through the lens of global leadership.

by Dr. Cynthia Cherrey

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The tragic military invasion into Ukraine, a sovereign state, is one of those historic events that won’t merely affect the world, it will change it. The invasion has already shattered the security architecture that has prevailed in Europe since the end of the Cold War. It has created a refugee crisis and laid bare Russia’s ongoing, viral, misinformation campaigns — campaigns which, by many accounts, have been accelerating over the past ten years. Russia is moving forward with Putin’s long promised threat to reclaim territory encompassed under the former Soviet Union.

This global crisis is evoking a global response. Leaders in the public and private sectors around the world are finding ways to stand with Ukraine. They demand, from all of us, that we find our own ways to help and have an impact.

ILA is a global organization, and we have members in the region in Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, and in Russia. If you reside in the region and are able and willing, we want to hear from you — to amplify your voice throughout our global network.

We also want to share perspectives from all regions of the world. If you have written about or given an interview on the invasion, please email a link to ILA’s communications director at dderuyver@ila-net.org.

Here are five responses from ILA members that are worthy of your time:

  1. Read a speech that peace expert and ILA Distinguished Leadership Award recipient John, Lord Alderdice gave to the House of Lords.
  2. Read the statement from ILA Board Chair Mike Hardy, Founder of the University of Coventry Centre for Peace and Conflict.
  3. Listen to an interview from World Radio Switzerland with Ambassador Thomas Greminger, the co-chair of ILA’s 2021 global conference in Geneva and Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).
  4. Read a blog from Matt Qvortrup, a plenary speaker at our 2020 global conference and an expert on comparative democracy, on “Putinology.”
  5. Read Keith Grint’s blog, “Ukrainian Resistance: The End of History or Its Regurgitation?” Grint is an ILA Lifetime Achievement Award winner, an ILA Fellow, and a global expert on leadership. 

Forthcoming, we will share a series of short interviews with ILA global thought leaders looking at the invasion through the lens of global leadership. The series will be hosted and produced in partnership with ILA by ILA Fellow and Innovating Leadership podcaster Maureen Metcalf.    

The impact is felt most significantly by families especially children.  In addition to sharing global perspectives, personal stories of impact, and insights on leadership, we want to ensure that we are asking the right leadership questions and sharing evidence-based research relevant to the scale of this disruption to people’s lives, communities, nation states, and the world order itself.  

 As we face these violent and uncertain times ahead, may each of us find our way to leverage our leadership individually and collectively for a better world for all of humanity. 

Photo from a protest Cyn Cherrey, ILA President and CEO, attended in London, UK on March 3

Caption for this photo and the one above:  On 3 March, while I was in London meeting with ILA’s board chair and partners, I attended a protest march in support of Ukraine.

Cynthia Cherrey is President and CEO of the International Leadership Association (ILA), a global community committed to increasing quality research, teaching, and practices of leadership contributing to the common good around the world. As president of a multi-sector and global professional association, she promotes rigor and relevance of leadership at the intersection of theory and practice. Previously, Cynthia served as Lecturer in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Vice President for Campus Life at Princeton University.

Dr. Cherrey speaks to non-profit and for-profit organizations around the world and writes in the areas of leadership, organizational development, and higher education. Cynthia’s interests and research explore new ways to live, work, and lead in a knowledge-driven, interdependent, global culture. A sought-after advisor, Cynthia serves on the editorial board of Asian Women and the President’s Advisory Group at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a Fellow at the World Business Academy, a Royal Society of the Arts Fellow, and a recipient of a J.W. Fulbright Scholarship.

Cynthia Cherrey