Robert Farthing, RIESTER’s Brand Activist for the Thunderbird School of Global Management, reports from Geneva.
The Palace of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
There have been many moments throughout my career in production when I have found myself standing on location in an unusual place. I would look around and appreciate all the elements that came together that brought me to that moment in time when something remarkable was happening. Tonight I am reflecting on a day filled with remarkable moments.
I have the humble pleasure of being on assignment in Geneva, Switzerland this week. I am following 40 Executive MBA students from Thunderbird School of Global Management. My job is to track these students through the experiences of their day as they meet with influential diplomats, economists and esteemed professors. These are men and women who meet every other week on the Thunderbird campus in Glendale, Arizona over 18 months and this is their first trip abroad for an immersion experience in international business. The group is a microcosm of the globe with students from places like Pakistan, Brazil, Mongolia, South Africa, the United States and many other countries.
My task initially has been to be invisible and to capture in still photos, pure moments of their experience here, whether it be engaged in a thought provoking debate with a cohort on child labor issues, or gazing out picturesque windows of the conference room deep in thought, pondering what it means to be a global citizen today.
Today we went to the U.N. and toured the great chambers, where issues of the world have been debated for decades. I could not help but feel the power of the historic and relevant decisions that have been made here as we moved through hallways of marble in this storied building that was originally built for the League of Nations.
To be on the floor of the U.N. under the great golden symbol of peace and unity and standing with these students from all over the world was an intense experience. I am captivated by the students as people and to be able to watch them through a long zoom lens as they debate with passion and compassion on important global matters is an honor. It’s exciting to witness the spark of enthusiasm through their eyes as they experience a personal epiphany. Here we were where leadership characteristics like this matter. It is the human quality of compassion, care and concern blending with practical knowledge and the desire to drive the world to a better place. These are the qualities of leadership that I see being transferred to the men and women in this class from Thunderbird and it was humbling and remarkable to be there.
Although there were many remarkable moments today it seems fitting to end my first entry for this travel blog with this one particular moment. Today I was a RIESTERite standing in the halls of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. I felt humbled to be here on many levels and in a fleeting moment I felt the honor of what we get to do at the agency sometimes, and that is, to play a small role for a client which in turn empowers them to play a small role in the lives of people who may very well go on to change the world in a remarkable way.
Robert Farthing
Geneva, Switzerland
Tags: Arizona, Brazil, EMBA, Geneva, Glendale, MBA, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palace of Nations, producer, RIESTER, Robert Farthing, South Africa, Switzerland, Thunderbird, Thunderbird School of Global Management, U.N., UN, United Nations
