For the latest episode of his podcast Transportation Matters Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum virtually met Madame Secretary Madeline K. Albright, who was the first female United States Secretary of State during the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001. During their conversation the two business and political leaders discuss the challenges of global collaboration in times of a crisis like the current COVID-19 pandemic and what is essential to overcome the obstacles. In their discourse both Albright and Daum reflect on what the pandemic teaches us how to tackle other global tasks.
“Corona is one of the biggest challenges that we have ever seen – because it happened quickly and nobody was prepared. It’s a wakeup call to work together,” Madeleine Albright says and compares the pandemic to historic threats like nuclear proliferation in the 90s or the climate change as global task for human mankind. “The message we have to learn from this crisis is that what unites us as humans – love, fear and the ability to solve - is much more powerful than what separates us, like nationalities, gender or race,” expresses Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck AG and member of the board of management Daimler AG.
From Albrights’ perspective the current pandemic situation is a litmus test for institutionalized systems of international collaboration when it comes to solving other challenges like the climate change. The international system of working together has “some flaws and needs refurbishing,” the former US Secretary of State analyzes and adds: “The UN needs some fixing, regional organizations need some fixing and there is no way that this works without collaboration and cooperation. No country can deal with this alone.”
How to learn from the pandemic crisis
Reflecting on what to learn from the corona crisis for other global challenges Albright refers to the collaboration of the public and the private sector: “The private sector should be at the table much earlier, before important decisions are made. When we talk about the rules by which the world operates at any given time, the private sector has to be part of the rulemaking.”
Martin Daum adds his experiences about the learning process of the public private partnership in collaborating on climate change: “The point when we – the Transport Industry – advanced most in cooperating with policy makers was when we stopped just whining and defending the status quo, and when the politics side started understanding the difficulties that we have, and our customers have with this transformation.”
Madeleine K. Albright - worried optimist, problem solver, grateful American
Madeleine K. Albright describes herself as a worried optimist, problem solver and grateful American. Being an American, Albright says from her perspective, is to be a partner, not a dominant force that does not listen to others. Madeleine Albright was born in Prag, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to the US with her family at the age of 11. In 1997, Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Before she was appointed as Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton she was a teacher at Georgetown University and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. After her term in office she founded the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm and wrote several books, most recently her memoirs “Hell and other Destinations”.
