Rising leaders, MBN shows, story of the week (and an August music note)

Dear Colleagues,

The MBN program for early career professionals just hosted Boston College’s Martha Bayles on America’s free speech debate. She has a book in the works. You can read Martha’s film reviews in National Review. We’ll have her back soon on press freedom issues.

Next in the series: Peter Skerry on immigration (August 22), Guy Gugliotta on post-Civil War America (August 28), and Urban Ahlin on the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East (September 16). Urban once negotiated the release of Swedish citizens from Iran’s notorious Evin prison in Tehran. He’s Sweden’s ambassador to the United States and is kindly inviting MBN young professionals for a lunch discussion at the Swedish embassy in Georgetown.

Networks and company cohesion

Let’s keep growing our network, and importing new ideas and fresh perspective. If you’ve not yet been tapped to participate in our rising leaders program, let me know directly. We’ve had terrific groups with a fabulous mix so far, including great talent from inside and outside the company.

Let’s keep finding ways to hang together. This week, we’ll start a series of small group discussions on MBN’s current work and our vision going forward. These conversations are open to all MBN employees.

Tom Melia will cohost these exchanges with me. Tom is a member of the MBN board. He’s worked on the Hill, at the State Department, and for NGOs engaged in our region.

This week’s meeting will take place Thursday, August 21 in Old Town Alexandria. It’s coffee at 11, sandwiches at noon, back to work in Springfield at 1 pm. Let me or Leila Bazzi know if you’d like to attend this first small group discussion (MBN extra curricular activity is on me; no company money or taxpayer expense involved).

Our next town hall meeting will take place the week of August 25 in Springfield. Stay tuned for the exact date — and for details about a special guest speaker.

Newsletters, shows — and story of the week

Let’s keep spreading the word. MBN/Alhurra is launching a suite of Arabic and English-language newsletters to create a new distribution channel for our unique journalism on and for the Middle East and North Africa. We’re building relationships. We’re also acquiring first-party data in order to better advance our mission and serve the MBN audience.

We’ll start with a Friday newsletter — a first scheduled for this Friday — that showcases MBN/Alhurra talent and underscores the distinctive value provided by a high-quality, U.S.-sponsored digital information source for Middle Eastern audiences. Thanks go to colleague Christian Caryl for his close work with Leila and Matt, and for leading on this.

MBN is presently small, understaffed, stretched thin — and fighting forward. I’m proud of the way you persevere. Think of the work we’ve launched new shows this summer: Rami’s Sharp Notes satire, Aya’s What’s the Real Story? for Gen Z, Randa’s investigative pieces, and Joe Kawly’s The Diplomat.

We’re developing Conversations with Andres Ilves (Andres just interviewed former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert). We’re marketing Face to Face with Ibrahim Eissa, our Egyptian colleague who challenges guests brilliantly and respectfully on issues of faith, family, identity, and ideology. We’re after the roots of extremism, and committed to platforming principled voices of moderation and tolerance.

Story of the week? Our colleague Ezat explains how Elon Musk is winning fans in Yemen. His Starlink satellite terminals are offering unrestricted access to the Internet. That’s a direct challenge to the Houthis, who have held tight control over the country’s other Internet providers since they seized the capital city of Sana’a in 2014. That’s why the internationally recognized Yemeni government, Houthi rivals, view Starlink as a force that could loosen the grip on communications and curb the Iran-backed group’s ability to track opponents.

We’ll keep producing real journalism aligned, to be sure, with American foreign policy goals. Our funder the American taxpayer can be proud of MBN’s work, and of the way you acquit yourselves in these stressful times.

Music notes  

If you’re inclined for an August change of pace, try this. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed three symphonies in the summer of 1788, three years before his death. During his short life — he died at the age of 35 — Mozart produced five violin concertos, two dozen piano concertos, 22 operas, 41 symphonies, and sundry other works.

He could be a silly, immature fellow. He suffered frequent colds, flus, and infections. Mozart maintained a serious work ethic, though. He’d rise at six, compose until nine, teach into the afternoon, perform in the evening, and work on pieces until one in the morning. His marriage to Constanze Weber in August 1782 did little to calm the man. The couple moved apartments in Vienna a dozen times.

Here’s Karl Böhm with Symphony 39. Here’s San Francisco-born conductor Jeanette Sorrell, rehearsing No. 40, filled with — as she notes — its persistent moodiness. Mozart struggled with ‘black thoughts,” he’d say. Here’s Nikolas Harnoncourt with Symphony No. 41 together.  These three works from the summer of 1788 were all written in six weeks.

Deep breath and perspective. Ours is a marathon, not a sprint. Take care of yourselves. More at next week’s town hall meeting on the board’s visit in early September. More, too, on the September 5 offsite with our senior leadership team. We’ll sharpen MBN’s vision and strategy — and identify new ways to provide you with the support you deserve.

My best, Jeff