Need some extra momentum to put your goals in motion this year? We have some ideas, even if those goals require you to break a few boundaries along the way. We asked our NI14 conference speakers when they've found themselves breaking boundaries in their careers. Their answers are proof that there's more than one effective way to shake things up and create big change, whether you're working across sectors, across cultures, or even across teams.
Snehal Desai
Global Business Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions
Breaking boundaries is all about collaboration. Strategic relationships are critical to capturing individual strengths and the ability to make concrete change happen. We can do so much more when similar interests and common ground is found. I cannot emphasize enough how important public-private collaboration is to my work, especially with the ever-evolving landscape of the markets we touch. For example, we are breaking boundaries by working directly with oil and gas operators to tackle new industry challenges, such as facilitating sustainable water management in hydraulic fracturing operations.
Paula Thornton Greear
Marketing Expert
I’ve found myself in the position of breaking boundaries within organizations with respect to cultural competency. How can you effectively address an issue if you are not communicating across cultures? For example, the caucasian A-list movie star may have a higher Q Score and name recognition with the Board of Directors, but it just may be that the hip-hop singer or a telenovela star is the most effective person to engage the young teen struggling with literacy, hunger, etc.
Matt Mahan
CEO, Brigade Media
Our leadership team recently engaged a professional coach to help us work together more effectively. We’ve used this opportunity to define our leadership values and openly evaluate our respective strengths and gaps as leaders. This may not sound like major boundary-breaking stuff, but I think the hardest work is often the work you have to do within yourself in order to achieve your wildest dreams outside yourself. It’s been a real privilege to step back and work on our leadership skills at this early stage in the company. I think it will prove to be a wise investment for all of us and the company.
Meriwether Hardie
Senior Executive Associate, Rainforest Alliance
When I was younger, I used to think that the idea of business co-existing with conservation was impossible. Now, I believe that it is the only way to create change on a big enough scale. For me, this was breaking a boundary in my perspective, and my understanding of impact.
Shivani Ganguly
Principal and Founder, Friday Consulting
I don't accept "no" for an answer easily--and when I do get a no and it doesn't make sense to me, I want to know why. This can be annoying for people that I work with, but it has helped me to accomplish a great deal, and stay within budget and on time in a variety of projects and situations.
Trista Harris
President, Minnesota Council on Foundations
I spend a lot of time at work thinking about where I need to go, but I don’t have a set idea of what tools we have to use to get there. Being flexible allows our organization to come up with new strategies and tactics that can supercharge our efforts.
R. Paul Herman
CEO and Founder of HIP Investor Ratings
Whenever doing something new, that's usually a boundary breaker. 47% of people are not excited about change. Only 10% of people are problem-solvers, according to Myers Briggs scores. So, as 1 in 10, I find myself breaking half the population's boundaries all the time.
Want to hear more?
All of these featured leaders spoke at our conference this year. You can watch video of some of our favorite moments that happened on the main stage on our website. Watch now.
