Linda Mills: In the Face of Danger, Act

Last week we published our Leadership Lab conversation with Linda G. Mills, 17th President of New York University, scholar of social work, public policy and law, and the first woman and first Jewish person to lead the university in its history. Asked where her leadership journey began, she went back to her grandfather, who survived Kristallnacht in Vienna and escaped from the train he had been seized onto. He began telling her the story when she was five, too young to understand the history, old enough to feel that she was being handed something to keep. What she took from it has stayed with her ever since:

Linda Mills: "In the face of danger, act."

A Lesson Carried From Childhood

Mills has spent a career in the study of violence, recovery and trauma, founding NYU's Center on Violence and Recovery and working across law, social work and documentary film. Much of that has circled back to her grandfather's story, including a film she made to uncover the parts of it he never told her. The lesson itself has proved just as durable. She describes it as foundational to who she is and to how she leads, and it has shown up most clearly when the stakes have been highest, in the years she ran NYU's global operations and had to move people out of harm's way. And again more recently, when safety at NYU Abu Dhabi came under threat and she wrote to Fabio Piano, the campus's vice chancellor, telling him she trusted him to do what was right for his people, and that the resources he needed were on their way.

Acting When It Counts

Hesitation can look a great deal like prudence. When something matters and the path ahead is unclear, waiting for more information feels like the responsible choice, and sometimes it is, though often it is the fear of being wrong wearing the clothes of care. Mills makes the case for the other instinct. When she talks about the Laidlaw value of being Fast, she describes it as the ability to act, and the confidence that comes from having acted well before. Each decision that makes a difference gives you more confidence in the next. For scholars beginning research projects and leadership placements, this is worth remembering when a moment asks for a response rather than more deliberation.

Values in Focus

Mills's message speaks to the Laidlaw value of being #Fast and the Oxford Character Project virtue of #Courage. Being fast means recognising the moments that call for action rather than further consideration, and trusting yourself to meet them. Courage is what makes that possible when the situation carries real weight, the willingness to act on what you believe is right while the outcome is still uncertain.

A Call to Reflect

As you consider Linda Mills's words, we invite you to reflect and share in the comments: when has acting quickly, rather than waiting for more certainty, made the difference in something that mattered to you?

🎙️The Other Side of That Email

Fabio Piano, the Vice-Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi who received Mills's message, joined Susanna Kempe for his own Leadership Lab conversation, on leading across continents, drawing out the best in people, and building a truly global community.