Han Kang - Former U.S. Diplomat
“We are each ‘becoming’. I am on this journey of learning and growing, and invite anyone who wants to join me.”
About Han
Han Kang is a former senior U.S. diplomat with nearly two decades of experience guiding public health, development, and humanitarian programs in the Africa and Asia regions. In numerous roles in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Han supported crisis response and risk mitigation, while serving as a trusted advisor.
I first met Han in a virtual USAID leadership training course in early 2021. Han exemplified warmth, compassion, and competence. Later, when we served together in USAID’s Bureau for Global Health leadership team, I saw firsthand why Han stood out as a leader – he made sure that every colleague he encountered felt seen, supported, and capacitated to deliver.
I was delighted to profile him first in this series on resilient leadership, and grateful for the open-hearted reflections he shares!
Q: Tell us about a time of crisis, when you were called to deliver resilient leadership.
In early 2021, I was based in Yangon, Myanmar. It was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines were just becoming available. I was serving as the Deputy Country Director for Development & Humanitarian Assistance for USAID in Myanmar. On February 1 2021, I woke up to tanks rolling into the city; the military was overthrowing the democratically elected government in a coup.
Within a week, 75% of our Ministry of Health colleagues and most of the health workers in public sector clinics and hospitals, went on strike in opposition to the coup. White coats piled up in the streets. The military responded with violence. A CDC colleague based in the country was arrested and the embassy was attacked by a military-affiliated group. I was searched at military checkpoints, similar to what our colleagues in Myanmar were experiencing.
In this crisis, I was called to protect our team, in terms of making sure that they felt physically safe. And, my USAID colleagues and I were called to sustain the lifesaving health services we had been supporting, despite the closure of many public sector health services.
Q: What was your vision for success and resilience, for yourself and your stakeholders, during the crisis?
“Success during this crisis was about striking the balance between effort and empathy.”
Success during this crisis was about striking the balance between effort and empathy, holding myself and my stakeholders mutually accountable – the expectations and directives continued to flow from various parties at headquarters – to redirect resources and reframe our programs to sustain lifesaving health services. Such a consequential event like a coup can completely disrupt our sense of being and our sense of place.My colleagues and I felt that we had to be forgiving and keep learning from each other, when we could not meet the high expectations that we and others were setting for us.
Leadership is not defined by position or title, but rather how my words, my actions inspire others to follow. I was expecting myself and my stakeholders to show up with commitment and confidence, grounded in our strengths, and with the belief that change is possible at a personal level, a social level.
Q: How did you cultivate your and your stakeholders’ resilience?
“Becoming more intimately connected with the country and its people… deepened my commitment to the work… and to the promise we were making to the people of Myanmar.”
I absolutely love your Active REST Framework ©, and especially the importance of social connectedness.
Among the people I turned to was my colleague, Dr. Myat Htoo Razak. Myat Htoo was involved in student protests that culminated in the 1988 uprising and the subsequent violent military crackdown, similar to what was happening in 2021. As a co-founder and leader, Myat Htoo worked to sustain health service delivery in Rangoon via a network of 37 free clinics all over Rangoon in 1988. Based on this experience, he gave me practical advice on how to deliver health services in neutral and safe places, outside of public sector clinics and hospitals. He also displayed a remarkable ability to preserve and reinvent himself.
The grandson of U Razak, the Burmese political leader who employed civil disobedience to advocate for independence from British rule, Myat Htoo came from a family of resilient leaders. The connection that I built with him and his family allowed me to become more intimately connected with the country and its people. It provided so much meaning and deepened my commitment to the work that my stakeholders and I were doing, and to the promise that we were making to the people of Myanmar, during this time.
In addition to social connectedness, I relied on three tools to support my own resilience:
Acceptance of my stakeholders’ humanity and vulnerability: vulnerability is a treasure, and my stakeholders were willing to share that with me. Whether in Myat Htoo and his family sharing essays and memories about the great U Razak, or my colleague Nu Nu Khin who invited me to translate her father’s autobiography and his final note to her, I was given gifts of their stories, their vulnerability.
Mindfulness: I was keenly observing the ways that my stakeholders processed the coup in different ways; some had lived through military control previously and others had not. It was essential to mindfully create an environment of psychological safety, so that my stakeholders could show up as their authentic selves without fear of criticism or retribution.
Physical activity: Movement is medicine.
Q: Everyone talks about psychological safety but actually fostering it proves challenging. How did you actually foster it, during that crisis and since?
“Showing my own humanity and vulnerability is an invitation to others to do the same.”
To foster psychological safety, I start by being open and honest about my own story. Showing my own humanity and vulnerability is an invitation to others to do the same. We are shaped by our imperfections.
In a word, we are each “becoming”. Each of us is a work in progress. We may strive for perfection because we conflate approval with high performance. As long as we acknowledge our imperfections, they can be sources of insight and growth. I want to show that I am on this journey of learning and growing. It’s a journey that’s open and I really do want to invite anyone who wants to join me to do so.
Q: Are there any behaviors that did not serve you well during the crisis?
“Suppressing (my) emotions hindered my ability to process and to adapt to the reality of what was going on.”
There were moments where I avoided or actively suppressed my own emotions. For example, family members and colleagues designated in “non-essential” positions had to evacuate following the attack on the embassy. The military regime had cut off internet and cell phone service. I missed them dearly but there were moments when I didn’t want to show that. I realized that suppressing those emotions hindered my ability to process and to adapt to the reality of what was going on.
I wish I would have leaned into creative activities that I enjoy. For example, I play the violin and wonder how differently I would play a song based on how I was feeling at the moment, compared to when I didn’t have those emotions.
I recall with regret using some words with my colleagues that inadvertently worsened wounds that were unhealed or still healing. I remember characterizing the military’s violent tactics against protesters as something similar to what they did against the Rohingya people. I did not realize at the time about the sensitivity of that particular statement, and how it may have been perceived in light of Myanmar’s complex and controversial history. I did make amends by apologizing with a commitment that I will be more mindful and more sensitive next time. Because of the trust that I had built with my stakeholders, I received the best gift that I could have received, which was their forgiveness. Going forward, I would consult with trusted colleagues to recognize and understand these unhealed and unhealing wounds, these sensitivities.
Q: Can you share a role model for resilient leadership?
“When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?” - President Nelson Mandela
I’ve been involved in the Global HIV response for decades. I recall what South African Leader and Peacemaker, President Nelson Mandela, said in the year 2000, at the first International AIDS Conference to be held in the African region (in Durban, South Africa): “When the history of our times is written, will we be remembered as the generation that turned our backs in a moment of global crisis or will it be recorded that we did the right thing?” It applies to HIV and it applies to how we lead in crises in general.
President Mandela’s prolonged imprisonment did not squash his aspirations for freedom; rather, his hope and his impact grew bolder. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
Q: Who do you want to celebrate for the resilience they are demonstrating during challenging times?
Sydney Steel worked with me as a Special Assistant in the Global Health Bureau. In February of this year, when she was herself looking for work after the abrupt dismissal of hundreds of USAID’s institutional support contractors, Sydney proactively wrote a recommendation for me for a Chief People and Culture Officer position. She didn’t have to do that. When I asked her what inspired her to do this, she said she thought I’d be great in the position. It got me to think that she sees something in me that I may not yet see in myself. Stakeholders whom I've worked with can be my mirrors.
Q: What’s a mantra you’ve been saying to yourself during challenging times? Mine, during this year, has been to remind myself that “there are many good ways to do good in the world”.
“I am. I can. I will. I do.” - Christine D’Ercole
Christine D’Ercole went to New York with dreams of successfully auditioning to be a ballet dancer. She was rejected over and over, being told that her “thighs were too big”. Despite immense talent, she never was successful in landing that coveted role. Eventually, she became a bike messenger in New York, a step towards her highly successful and very visible role as a Peloton instructor.
Christine reminds us to embrace who we are, our imperfections, our strengths. She says “I am, I can, I will, I do”.
I am - recognize, accept, embrace all of who we are
I can - embrace our entire range of capabilities and how those will evolve over time
I will - envision the future in terms of who we want to become
I do - take a step towards that future self.