On 30 January 2025, I had the opportunity to deliver the keynote opening address for the at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, under the theme, ¡°Celebrating Voices¡±. Drawing on a career of over three and a half decades in the United Nations, I shared my perspective on how the Organization harnesses the power of voice to guide its efforts, communicate about the impact of its work on people¡¯s lives and inspire more people to support its mission. What follows is an adapted version of my remarks.
Yuval Noah Harari, in his bestselling book, , argues that the main reason that humans, Homo sapiens, have been the most successful species in the world is their ability to cooperate in large numbers, which is only possible due to our unique capacity to believe in things that exist in our imagination or, in other words, to compose stories and narratives. Some research has indicated that a significant part of all human communication is based on storytelling, which is how we use our unique voice to convey information and, along with that, our hope to change minds and behaviours.
Businesses, brands, social movements, religions, political parties and politicians achieve success by creating a narrative that enables them to stand out compared to others at a given time.
This article was originally published on the UN Chronicles.
