Improving leadership and governance | Link to recording of Zoom conversation & detailed event notes enclosed

Dr. Yvette Efevbera and I recently held an open-invite zoom event to discuss how organizations as well as individuals can improve leadership and governance by creating space for underrepresented voices to participate in decision-making. Among the topics covered were amplifying another person's voice, investing in coaching and mentorship, and measuring progress.

For those who wanted to attend, but were unable to tune in live, here is a link to the conversation recording.  For convenience, below is a written recap of the topics covered.

As a reminder for Harvard alums, the deadline to vote for our Board of Overseers is Tuesday, May 18th at 5:00pm. There are many exceptional candidates running this year and a healthy amount of underrepresented voices on the ballot e.g. 8 of the 11 candidates are women. All alumni can vote for up to 5 candidates. If you didn't receive your electronic ballot, email harvard@electionservicescorp.com and details will be sent to you.

I am grateful for Yvette’s willingness to serve our Harvard community.  Her desire to make the world a better, more equitable place for the next generation is inspiring.  My hope is to shine a light on this exceptional candidate by passing along the recording of our conversation as well as detailed notes from our conversation.

Yvette’s background 

• She grew up in a small town in Michigan
• She is the proud daughter of Nigerian immigrants
• She is alumnus of the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and served in multiple capacities through over a decade of engagement with the Harvard, which is one of her communities

Her personal mission

• Create a world where women & young people can be healthy, happy and unapologetically who they are
• As a mission driven person, keeping this mission top of mind motivates her on a daily basis

Reaching this mission

• At an individual level, Yvette wants to help others see that they are capable of accomplishing what they set their mind to. The environment people grow up in influences whether a person dreams big or small. She wants to help people feel confident in their ability to dream big and have an impact
• At a system level, she looks out for how the environment may be creating obstacles for people who think differently than those who are a part of the majority group

Measuring progress

• Progress is important but the work never ends in her mind until every person who wants to do something feels empowered to do so and has the ability to be able to accomplish what they set their mind to 
• In order to measure progress she (1) sets goals (2) asks people for feedback (3) listens and observes
• She begins by thinking about what is the impact she wants to see. Then she can work backwards from there to think about what are the shorter-term outcomes and types of activities that need to be done to accomplish that
• This approach also enables her to consider the resources which are required to further the activities and illuminates potential metrics/indicators that can be observed to follow whether impact is being made

Driving change through collaboration

• Bringing together different organizations that have not worked together to think about how to advance issues
• Understanding that she does not have all the answers, she gets perspectives from others that are trying to have a similar impact or who are a part of the community that she is seeking to impact 

Amplifying another person’s voice 

• She encourages people to use their voice even in moments where it may feel difficult to do so e.g. if you are sharing a perspective that will be unpopular
• Through coaching and mentoring others, she strives to give others the confidence to speak up, enabling their voice to be heard
• This encouragement is particularly important to provide underrepresented minorities

Supporting others through mentorship and coaching 

• Yvette is appreciative of all that mentors have done in life
• Her mentors enabled her to have a deeper appreciation of what she could do
• She now seeks to empower others through mentorship -- she wants them to see the ways in which they are able to make an impact 

Leading with authenticity 

• One can’t lead if they have not done self-reflection 
• She has spent a lot of time thinking about what her values are
• Her leadership style is inclusive by nature 
• Doing the self-reflection and watching what works and allows her to bring groups together

Leading diverse groups 

• She is a certified DEI consultant -- this is embedded into everything that she does 
• She is on the lookout for common threads that unite people who operate and/or grow up in different backgrounds 

Questions that we can all ask ourselves to improve leadership and governance

• Who am I? Embrace your experience and background. Have confidence in your voice
• What do I stand for? Be aware of the values that you care about. Recognize that your values may differ from those around you
• What are the spaces that you want to shape and change? Where do you feel called or drawn to make the difference?
• For Yvette, asking this question encouraged her to raise her hand as a recent alum to again serve the Harvard community. She is proud to be running to serve on the Board of Overseers endorsed by the Harvard Forward platform and Coalition for a Diverse Harvard slate 

Yvette’s desire to serve Harvard via our Board of Overseers 

• She brings a deep connection from nearly a decade living, working, and leading on Harvard’s campus
• She understands that decisions made by Harvard's Board of Overseers has an impact on current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and educational fields at large; that opportunities exist to support inside and outside of the classroom experience at a formative time in life; and that its mission calls for embracing the transformative power of educating citizen and citizen-leaders
• With a $42 billion dollar endowment, Harvard has a unique ability to fund the impactful work it leads and must manage its resources responsibly
• She is a deep believer of higher education in general, and Harvard is uniquely positioned to harness the power of higher education to positively impact the world 
• Academic institutions play such a key role in creating communities and leaders
• When asked of serving, she shared: “What an awesome responsibility and privilege to be able to serve, to be able to bring voices of alumni, of students, of staff, of faculty, and to be able to influence the direction an institution that we know is already changing the world - and will continue to do that - can make.” 

Dr. Yvette Efevbera’s Biography

Dr. Yvette Efevbera is a global health and equity expert and a Harvard Forward candidate. She works to create a world where young people and women are healthy, happy, unafraid, and unapologetic. 

“As a global health specialist, I’ve seen the consequences of inequity and advocated for organizations to bring community voices to the table. Racial injustice, gender inequality, and climate inaction impact Harvard students’ success. We have the opportunity and responsibility to boldly lead here.” 

Efevbera develops strategies and investments addressing barriers girls and women face in her role as Advisor, Gender-Based Violence and Child Marriage, Gender Equality at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has worked for a decade across academic, non-profit, and philanthropic spaces at the intersection of research, policy, and advocacy, bringing culturally intentional lenses to health and development in U.S. and African contexts. In 2017, the NIH awarded Efevbera the Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research. 

Throughout her career, Efevbera’s passion has been creating spaces for underrepresented voices to participate in decision-making. As a master’s and doctoral student at the Chan School of Public Health, she spent seven years advancing racial justice and was a teaching fellow at Harvard College, HSPH, HKS, and HGSE. Efevbera served as Senior Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Fellow at HSPH, leading the design of the University’s first anonymous bias-related incident reporting system, enabling 4,000 students, faculty, and staff to report discrimination. She is proud to have served as a Cabot House resident tutor.