On January 25, the Millennial Action Project’s COO and Executive Director Layla Zaidane addressed the opening meeting of the Leadership and the American Presidency (LTAP) program at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRI) in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the RRI’s Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity, LTAP provides educational programming, speaker events, and internship opportunities focused on public service to yearly cohorts of college students. The event was facilitated by Director of the Center for Civic, Education, and Opportunity Emily Tran.
Following Emily’s introduction, Layla began by introducing MAP and explaining its mission to cultivate a post-partisan political climate by empowering young leaders. She explained how traditional partisan structures fail to represent many Americans’ voices and do not channel the enthusiasm for change that exists among young people outside of public institutions. By activating young legislators through MAP’s Future Caucuses, “We create spaces where, instead of defining problems or challenges along these partisan lines and...forcing people to choose their partisan identity, we give them another option, and that’s choosing their generational identity.”
The bulk of Layla’s address focused on her professional path to MAP and the lessons she has gleaned for young people entering the public service sphere. A first generation immigrant without political connections, Layla began her career interning for the United Nations before working at several small nonprofit organizations. Following a stint in a digital communications role at a private firm, she worked at the Center for American Progress developing communications strategies for youth political engagement and grassroots advocacy before landing at MAP.
Through this variety of experiences, Layla said, she came to understand empathy as the defining characteristic of great leadership and a vital part of good governance. “This ability to listen and to empathize with others helps you build relationships. It helps you build coalitions...It’s essentially a prerequisite to being open to other viewpoints and enables you not to change your opinion, but to strengthen your solution bolstered by new input.” As more and more young leaders enter public service, she observed, they are eschewing rigid partisanship in favor of a more empathetic brand of politics.
Layla distilled her advice for the LTAP class into three points. First,“make sure that ‘yes’ is part of your vocabulary.” Take advantage, she told the students, of the events, connections, and learning opportunities they encounter, because any of them could lead to new opportunities. Second, “stay curious” and be open-minded about trying new things to develop a variety of skills and experiences. Finally, “develop a positive mindset, assume best intentions.” A kind, optimistic outlook, Layla asserted, is not only important in our politics, but also opens professional doors.
The latter section of the event was a Q&A with the new LTAP cohort. Prompted about challenges she faced when entering the professional world, Layla relayed early learning experiences and advised the students to engage fully on the experience at hand, rather than focusing on where it may take them. On the role of internet media in politics, she argued that the political ascent of young people with intimate understanding of digital communication will result in improved policy and regulation.
Other students asked about the prospects for bipartisanship and MAP’s strategies to build a politics of collaboration. Layla described MAP’s efforts to identify less-contentious issue areas that present policy overlap between parties so that policymakers can “build the muscle memory of working across the aisle.” She reiterated the importance and effectiveness of cultivating a political identity based on generational unity to replace divisive partisan identities.