Director’s Welcome

Meet our Director

Welcome to the NPLI:
We Invite You to Join Us

It was shortly after 9/11. Joe Henderson, then the Director of the newly established CDC Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Response, asked to meet with David Gergen and me to discuss leadership. There we were at Henrietta’s in Harvard Square, surrounded by a busy lunchtime crowd.

David, a former White House advisor to four Presidents, had recently inaugurated the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. I was on the founding team of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Joe was leading a major new government initiative established in the wake of the post-9/11 anthrax attacks and the wider bioterrorism concerns they raised.

Prior to 9/11, the country perceived itself as immune to foreign attacks, surrounded by friendly countries to the north and south and by protective oceans on either side. In the aftermath of that historic day, rapid changes were underway. A new Department of Homeland Security had been established. Agencies with very different missions, training, and orientation were expected to rapidly change and find ways to work together. The federal government sought to adjust its approach to collaborating with at-risk states and cities. Business, non-profit, and community organizations would have to be integrated into the new homeland security profile.

Joe posed this as a leadership puzzle. How could we get all these different agencies, organizations, and interests to work together and build the connected network needed to better secure the country? Leadership would be key. A tight, responsive, and adaptive security network would be the objective.

Then came the question to David and me. Would we be willing to take this on?

We were asked to establish a new program at Harvard University to address the leadership challenges posed by the post-9/11 threat environment.  Under those circumstances, the answer from us both was, “Yes.”

Over the past twenty-two years, the NPLI has learned, taught, and disseminated our findings. Our faculty pioneered active field research, sitting alongside national leaders through times of crisis.

Three lessons punctuate what we discovered:

1. Crises create gaps in capacity that demand rapid coordination of organizations and resources. Leaders must therefore quickly assess the situation’s complexity and assemble the required effort. NPLI faculty designed the Meta-Leadership curriculum to guide this important work. Meta-Leaders fill the vacuums by proactively leading up, down, across, and beyond.
2. Leadership and character matter. Crises test character. Uncertainty punctuates times of crises, so therefore, trust in the character and expertise of leaders provides the bedrock upon which necessary action builds. The measure of this character is service to the shared cause, seeing and working beyond oneself.
3. Role models inspire and encourage great leadership. We invited to speak in our classroom leaders whose Meta-Leadership practice and character fortify other leaders and the public in times of crisis. These leader practitioners demonstrate courage, curiosity, tenacity, resilience, and keen intelligence. This experience is essential to the academic-practice partnership that shaped the NPLI from its start.

Today, the country faces a different threat scenario. The population is polarized. The United States has struck a very different posture in its global relationships. Technology itself now poses a unique set of risks, with cyberattacks and AI. Climate change and its devastating impact surround and imperil us all. The population still reels from the aftereffects of a global pandemic, unsure if we are ready for a repeat. There are poly-crises and perma-crises.

The answer still remains, “Yes.” The NPLI is here to help leaders assess these risks, determine the problems to be solved, and guide them in developing their competencies and capacities to lead.

Sadly, David Gergen – with his clarion voice for public service, for leadership that unites people and issues, and for our collective responsibilities in shaping history – passed in July 2025. We miss him dearly.

However, his mission, his legacy, and our commitment remain.

The accumulated knowledge, research, experience, and community that is the NPLI are as important today as they were when we launched.

We invite you to join us. Whether it be in reading our publications, participating in a seminar, or practicing Meta-Leadership, we hope you will be on board with our commitment to raise the bar on crisis leadership and, in the process, elevate our shared responsibility to respond to crises with intentional leadership, empathy for those affected, and a commitment to serve.

Leonard J. Marcus, Ph.D.
Founding Director
National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University