In this episode of the Leadership Lab series, Susanna Kempe, CEO of the Laidlaw Foundation, speaks with Fabio Piano, Vice-Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi, to explore his leadership journey across continents, the importance of facilitating others' reaching their full potential, and the insights drawn from a lack of scientific voices in government.
Fabio Piano became the Vice-Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi in 2020. He has an impressive academic background, including a PhD, MPhil, Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts from New York University. In 2007, he became the Founder and Director of the Centre for Genomics and Systems Biology at NYU. As Provost during the COVID-19 pandemic, Piano and NYUAD researchers worked closely with Abu Dhabi government officials to build a robust testing system, enabling NYUAD to remain in operation, an achievement few universities worldwide could replicate.
Reflecting on his time living in Singapore, the United States and London, Piano highlighted the value of internationalism in shaping his leadership philosophy. “I’ve always loved learning from people who come from different places. I especially loved breaking barriers where you think you know the answer and you’re surprised that in fact, it’s not what you think.” For Piano, leadership is rooted in a commitment to broadening perspectives.
This conversation with Fabio Piano offers valuable insights into the importance of opening the mind to different cultures and perspectives, nurturing truly diverse communities and leading with the desire to break barriers. A perfect listen on the way to a lecture – tune in now to rethink what it means to lead in a global world!
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00:21 - We talk a lot with our scholars about leadership being a journey, not a destination. Where did it all begin for you?
05:04 - And you continued to move to new places - New York, and you had a long time at NYU there, before coming here to Abu Dhabi and being married to a Scot so you have a lot of internationalism in your experience. How has that really influenced what you think about internationalism, cosmopolitanism and diversity? How has that influenced your thinking?
07:05 - What were some of the biggest differences [between different countries] that surprised you, that you weren't expecting well?
10:04 - You talk a lot about the endless opportunities and possibilities that come from cosmopolitanism, is that what you mean by that?
13:00 - There are people who are way more comfortable with homogeneity. How do you unlock that curiosity and make sure that people are comfortable with difference?
14:37 - You were Provost here for over a decade, having just become Vice Chancellor. But when you first came here, you were doing two jobs. You were still the head of the center that you founded at NYU. How did you manage to do two things at once? And what were some of the impacts of doing two things at once?
19:02 - How did you find that shift from the academia leadership to more of a management role? This was a big thing to launch this university.
22:46 - One of the things that I'm always struck by is that scientists do have that curiosity, and a desire to uncover truths and follow those paths wherever that may lead them, and yet we see so few scientists in government. There are exceptions, like Angela Merkel, but if you look at the makeup of the US, Senate or Congress, the percentage of scientists is tiny. Why do you think that is?
27:36 - You've mentioned curiosity quite a lot, as well as collaboration. And you had a wonderful phrase when we were talking earlier about being able to inspire imagination, which seems to fit with what you were talking about there around urgency of solutions as well. So, if curiosity, collaboration and inspiring imagination are all leadership traits that you would advocate, are there any others that we're missing that are really critical to being a good leader?
32:55 – There are complex and hard decisions that you must need to make constantly as Vice-Chancellor here and sometimes that’s the biggest learning for a leader: that there are no good answers, just less bad ones. We’ve seen it with presidents of universities across the US that it’s been so hard to make decisions that keep anyone happy. Can you talk about a complex problem that you’ve had to deal with and how you went about that?
37:37 – You produce more Rhodes scholars per capita than any other institution which is a phenomenal achievement in this very short time-frame. And we’re obviously talking because you’re going to be recruiting Laidlaw Scholars. Why are scholarships so important and particularly international scholarships – what do they bring to a university?
42:07 – My last interview was with Dr Michael Spence, who as you know is President and Provost of UCL. His question for you is: what gives you joy in your role as VC?
43:44 – What would you like to ask my next guest?