Living
as
a
Leader
in a Borderless World
50
Contract Management | August 2009
For a "borderless leader,"
the goal is to not only be
a leader, but to live as a
leader, which will help you
to influence and lead teams,
organizations, communities,
and careers to success.
BY Cameo
Ritterbush
Contract Management | August 2009
51
Living as a Leader in a Borderless World
On October 16, 2007,
Dr. R.A. Mashelkar,
the director for the
General Council of
Scientific & Industrial
Research for the
Indian government,
opened the Mahatma
Gandhi Memorial
Ceremonies with a
profound statement,
“A borderless mind
and borderless
thinking alone can
lead to a borderless
world.”1 Unfortunately,
while Dr. Mashelkar’s
idealism is shared
by many, it has not
come to fruition in
today’s global market.
In fact, quite the
opposite has occurred—
the globalization of
business has created
a borderless world
without borderless
minds to captain the
ship that will lead
the next generation of
Fortune 500 businesses
to success.
52
Contract Management | August 2009
It’s not surprising that today’s leaders lack
the agile skills required to navigate a changing market. Years of habitual segregation
and compartmentalization of work, home,
programs, departments, and lines of business have created generations of linear
thinkers eager to file and box life into neat
packages. Despite this inherent leadership
trend, a borderless world continues to
expand, and globalization has become a
part of everyday life.
Business strategist and author of The Borderless World, Kenichi Ohmae, perhaps put it
best when he wrote:
Globalization is a fact. You can’t stop it; it
has already happened; it is here to stay. And
we are moving into a new global stage. A
radically new world is taking shape from
the ashes of yesterday’s nation-based economic world. To succeed, you must act on
the global stage, leveraging radically new
drivers of economic power and growth.2
Luckily, the concept of “borderless leadership” a provides beacon of hope. Borderless
leadership is an effective principle that
recruits the power of observation to generate a big picture philosophy from which to
influence and lead teams, organizations,
communities, and careers to success. The
idea is to remove all walls, boundaries, and
borders from the mind, and, as a result,
create a “borderless mindset.” This type of
leadership encourages everyone involved
in the global community to observe, think,
and live without parameters or boxes; to
remove all segregation and compartmentalization from the work and the home.
Once one has un-filed his or her life and
unpacked the boxes, he or she can begin to
not only be a leader but live as a leader.
Borderless Minds: The
Human Element
The English language is as diverse and
complicated as those who speak it. Often an
individual word can have multiple meanings
and definitions based on the context from
which it derived. Therefore, it is important
to read the sentence fully to completely
grasp the intricacy and meaning of an
individual word. Humans have a similar
characteristic—humans are the words and
the context is the surrounding environment. In essence, the leader must employ
a borderless mindset in which he or she
evaluates the context or environment of a
team member to recognize the individual’s
dynamic contribution to the team.
As a result, the human element question of
a borderless leader should be, “what is the
context of each group member’s contribution?” For instance, a highly organized
and communicative group member could
be viewed as a micromanager or a group
facilitator depending on the dynamic of the
group. In addition, an employee’s adversity
to travel could have a negative or positive
impact on the team. If the trait is a simple
byproduct of personal restrictions due to
continued education requirements, the benefits received from further training could
outweigh the negative impact of not traveling. An individual’s environment or context
includes everything from the organizational
culture, business department, the project
team, and even the employee’s personal life.
However, when implementing the borderless state-of-mind, it is important to
recognize the difference between being educated and getting involved. The successful
employment of borderless leadership is to
observe and gather the necessary information to make the right decision based on the
big picture. As Marcio Moreira, vice chairman of McCann WorldGroup, stated in a
2005 presentation, “Truth be told, the world
has seen profound change, but most of us
have barely scratched the surface of that
change.”3 Moreira continues by saying, “Our
ground level view is, by definition, immediate, incomplete, unfocused. Blurred. It takes
time and perspective to develop a sharper,
clearer picture.” By removing the borders
from your mind, you can begin to get a
clearer picture of the team and its members
over time.
Borderless Thinking:
Innovative Ideas
This new philosophy has initiated what
many scholars and business leaders refer
Living as a Leader in a Borderless World
to as “borderless science,” a field in which
academics and professionals focus on the
effects of globalization on the way we do
business. According to Dr. Mashelkar,
ƒƒ
Update employees on events that may
affect them;
ƒƒ
Listen to understand, rather than to
evaluate; and
ƒƒ
Encourage team members to share
information with others.
Today, more than ever before, we not only
need “borderless science” but also need
“borderless thinking” for problem solving. Yet we find that we work and think in
isolation. It is only in an environment which
fosters innovation that borderless minds
can be formed and borderless thinking can
flourish.4
Dr. Mashelkar’s statement raises two
questions: 1) how does one create an
environment that fosters innovation, and 2)
what role does borderless thinking play in
generating innovation?
A borderless leader can cultivate an inventive atmosphere by encouraging open
communication, allowing all team members
to provide input, as well as taking an active
role in the business process, regardless of
authority or job title, without fear of ridicule
or retaliation. At a basic level, the leader
needs to take steps to remove both the institutional and perceived borders surrounding
the team members and to create an environment that ensures employee input will be
heard. By doing so, a leader will promote
the type of behavior and attitudes that
foster borderless thinking.
According to a 2003 article developed by
the HRDQ Research and Development Team,
“Team members must keep talking with
each other despite hectic schedules, scarce
resources, and conflicting priorities. In
fact, effective communication is the key to
keeping a team productive and operating efficiently.”5 The HRDQ Research and Development Team offers the following suggestions
for fostering better open communication
within your team:
ƒƒ
ƒƒ
Ask questions to solicit employee or
team member opinions;
Rely on regular team meetings to
provide team members with useful
information;
The key factor when applying the borderless thinking mindset is to establish trust
within the group. One effective approach
involves the leader presenting his or her
ideas and thoughts openly with the goal
of persuading other team members to
do the same. By providing his or her own
opinions, and listening openly to feedback
from others, the leader can reinforce the
confidence he or she has in the group,
thereby empowering the assembly to
reciprocate that trust.
The creation of an open environment, which
allows cross communication among all
team members (whether across a department or entire organization), can result in
groundbreaking ideas due to the exchange
of diverse ideas. For instance, in my company I was recently able to significantly
increase revenue and product profitability
while decreasing the overall unit price
through the implementation of an innovative borderless idea. The idea was shaped
from an open exchange between multiple
department function leads, which resulted
in a new approach to an existing production
program. The change required the coordination and combination of multiple customer
contract awards for the same production
line. Through the careful combination and
coordination of contract awards, I was
able to decrease the overall cost to both
the customer and the company by utilizing
economies of scale and eliminating other
requirements affecting price and schedule.
As a result, I could offer multiple customers
a noteworthy price reduction.
Similar borderless and innovative ideas
are in practice successfully at a number of
Global 500 companies. The following companies are just a small sample of the success
within the industry:
Contract Management | August 2009
53
Living as a Leader in a Borderless World
ƒƒ
General Electric,
ƒƒ
Boeing,
ƒƒ
IBM, and
ƒƒ
CISCO.6
In his 1994 article entitled, “Productivity:
Lessons from General Electric,” author Jack
Welch states, “Borderless behavior in our
company lets a medical business based
in Milwaukee…to empower a Swedish
manager in Asia…to use a Japanese associate…to make diagnostic equipment with
components sourced from India and China…
for sale in Europe.”7 None of these innovative borderless ideas would be possible
today without the encouragement of open
54
Contract Management | August 2009
communication and the utilization of key
borderless factors.
Borderless World:
Creating Personal and
Professional Synergy
As Mr. Loh Khum Yean, CE of SPRING
Singapore, affirmed: “Borderless collaboration creates synergy. It opens up new
opportunities. It creates a positive working
relationship and facilitates smooth resolutions whenever issues arise.”8 As previously
touched on in this article, years of habitual
segregation and compartmentalization of
work and home have created a generation
of linear thinkers eager to file and box their
lives into neat packages. The old slogan,
“keep work and home separate” is no longer
a viable option in today’s borderless world.
As such, the borderless leader needs to
create a synergy between personal and
professional livelihood.
For instance, the skills acquired at work are
applicable to home, and the skills acquired
at home are applicable to work. Conflict
resolution can be applied to all problemsolving scenarios, regardless of whom the
conflict is with (be it between coworkers,
friends, or family members).
In addition, the borderless leader’s application of leadership qualities throughout life
allows him or her to continuously develop
decision-making skills in various situations.
The diverse and constant learning hones
the borderless leader’s skills beyond the
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Pay the required renewal fee at the time of recertification,
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Adhere to the NCMA Code of Ethics,
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Complete at least 60 hours of continuing professional
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management topics or related technical subjects every
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T H E S TA N D A R D O F E X C E L L E N C E F O R C O N T R A C T M A N A G E M E N T P R O F E S S I O N A L S
Living as a Leader in a Borderless World
cubicle or office, often allowing the leader
to draft creative, win-win solutions to problems. According to FranklinCovey’s 2005
seminar, The Seven Habits for Managers,
“Synergistic managers are always seeking
alternatives that are better than anything
anyone has come up with before.”9 Perhaps,
the goal is to not only be a leader, but to
live as a leader.
and career through the turbulent waters of
global markets to success. Once again, as Dr.
Mashelkar opined, “A borderless mind and
borderless thinking alone can lead to a borderless world,” and this will ultimately lead
to the creation of endless opportunities. CM
Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research, “Building Borderless Minds
and Borderless Thinking,” Mahatma Gandhi
Memorial oration, New Delhi, India (October
16, 2001).
2.
Kenichi Ohmae, The Borderless World: Power
and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy—Management Lessons in the New Logic of the Global
Economy (Hong Kong: Collins Business, 1999).
3.
Marcio M. Moreira, “The Borderless Brand,”
presentation, Advertising Educational Foundation (2005).
the Contract Management Leadership Devel-
4.
Mashelkar, supra note 1.
opment Program. She is currently a contract
5.
HRDQ Research and Development Team, “Project Leadership Skills,” Organization Design and
Development, Inc. (2003).
6.
Courtesy of the University of New Hampshire
Masters of Technology (UNH MOT) cohort#1,
BAE Systems Employees: Leadership & Team
Management, Course #MOT936; Professor Tuck
Pescosolido.
7.
Jack Welch, “Productivity: Lessons from General Electric,” Boardroom Reports (November
15, 1994): 8.
8.
As quoted in “Borderless MTI, Limitless Opportunities.” Challenge editorial team, Singapore
PS21 Office, Prime Minister’s Office, Public Service Division, (2006), accessed at www.ps21.
gov.sg/Challenge/2006_06/ministries/ministries.html.
9.
The 7 Habits for Managers: Managing Yourself,
Leading Others, Unleashing Potential (United
States: FranklinCovey, 2005).
About the Author
Conclusion: Tearing Down
the Walls
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood
before the Berlin Wall and addressed a challenge to the general secretary of the Soviet
Union: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Although the phrase was literally applied
to the Berlin Wall separating West Berlin
from the German Democratic Republic, the
phrase can also be metaphorically applied
to the walls professionals around the world
have created in their own lives. Tear down
the walls. Stop limiting your abilities as a
leader to the immediate, incomplete, unfocused, and blurred picture. Develop a clear
perspective of team members, allow open
communication and innovative ideas, and
create a personal and professional synergy.
Only then can you take the helm of the ship
and guide your community, organization,
56
Contract Management | August 2009
Endnotes
1.
CAMEO RITTERBUSH is a recent graduate of
administrator for the Electronic Solutions
Line of Business for BAE Systems. She is also
a board member of the Lone Star Chapter of
NCMA in Austin, Texas, and is an advocate
for the student outreach program at the University of Texas-Austin
Send comments about this article to
[email protected].
Discuss this article with your peers online!
Just go to www.ncmahq.org/cm0809/Ritterbush and click on “Join Discussion.”
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