Just before WHA79, IHP editor Kristof Decoster spoke with Jocalyn Clark, international editor of The BMJ, for her new article on the campaign for next Director-General of WHO, which has just kicked off. They had a broader discussion than was able to be included in the BMJ article. Here, we publish a fuller Q&A between these two editors who discussed the qualities needed to lead the organisation in this moment of geopolitical disorder, strained finances, and future planetary health challenges.