The young professionals’ panel at the 2008 International Civil Service Commission conference was a truly remarkable event.  Nick, Garret, and I met with our UN counterparts at United Nations Plaza 2, one of their main office buildings, to go over final preparations and introduce everyone face-to-face for the first time.

We then crossed the street to enter the UN Headquarters grounds.  It’s hard for me to put in words even now the sense of honor and amazement I felt at being an invited guest there.  After we passed through security and were given our access passes, the group made its way to the Secretariat building for the conference session.

Nick sat at the panel table, as the official NASA rep from Strategic Partnerships, while I and Garret sat in the audience to take notes on the ideas and reactions people had.  I was impressed at how amazingly candid the young professionals from the UN were.  They didn’t hold anything back, good or bad.

As outsiders to the UN, we focused on presenting our work as a group at Johnson Space Center to help make it a more inclusive organization and our perspectives on what we believe makes a workplace a positive environment.  Nick did an excellent job at conveying our shared message of the importance of an inclusive workplace and incorporating the ideas that we came up with together in response to the primer questions.

The head of all HR for the UN system was the moderator of the session and it was attended by all the commissioners of the ICSC.  Of all those there, the commissioners themselves seemed to pay the most attention to what everyone said and to really “get” it.  They recognized the problems that were raised as being valid and were encouraged by the candor and willingness of the panel members to get involved in making a better system.

After the session was over, the commissioner representing the United States came over to those of us in the NASA group and thanked us for representing our country well.  In her previous life, she was the head of HR for the Office of Personnel Management and the go-to-person for fixing such systems.  Even now, it just blows me away that we were able to help influence senior UN officials to take action on making their system more inclusive and responsive by illustrating the positive changes we’ve seen in our own area of expertise.

In the space of three hours, we were able to share our experiences with colleagues from across the world and senior officials at the UN who report to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly and can effect real change.  In fact, this went so well that we are now talking about putting together a Young Professionals’ Conference next year to see how we can build on this success and expand our relationships.  I compiled my notes on the main concepts and questions that I think were raised in the ICSC panel session and shared them with the group, so I think that might give us some ideas on topics for the conference.

In the end, the biggest thing I got out of this personally was a new appreciation for the shared challenges we all face in the coming years as our predecessors prepare for retirement and young professionals in many (if not most) crucial sectors are poised to take up the banner.

I’m encouraged to know that my colleagues both inside the aerospace industry and elsewhere stand ready to face the challenges head-on.  Participating in this conference at the United Nations is one of the greatest honors I’ve had yet.  Since I don’t believe our best days are those behind us, I can’t even begin to imagine what will come next.