Boundary Spanning Leadership: New Book Shows How to Bridge Divides

28 March 2011 - Brussels - Globalization powered by technology has erased many borders but boundaries in human relationships remain, as sharp and menacing as ever. Boundary Spanning Leadership: Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovation, and Transforming Organizations, a new book from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), shows how to overcome these barriers, solve complex problems and drive innovation.

Using a decade of global research and client experience, CCL's Chris Ernst and co-author Donna Chrobot-Mason (University of Cincinnati), take readers from rural towns in the US, to skyscrapers in Hong Kong, from modernizing South Africa to the bustling streets of India. They offer a series of boundary spanning techniques that organizations around the world have used successfully, including Lenovo, Juniper Networks, IKEA, British Gas and Philips.

"Turf battles, generation gaps, and culture clashes are common terms for boundaries," says Ernst. "They are largely about identity and relationship — how we define ourselves and where we fit into an organization or society."

Guy Kempfert, global head, Learning & Development at Syngenta Crop Protection is a Boundary Spanning Leadership champion. "I haven't seen another methodology that responds so effectively to the strategic shifts in the global business environment," he states. "We're using boundary spanning methodology to steer through a major transformation of our business that requires us to work across strongly-held group identities. The book offers pragmatic insight and exercises based on solid research and real-world experience."

"You may be a CEO or a middle manager. You may be in an international NGO or local government. You could be working in Johannesburg, London, Qatar or Moscow, or all of them at the same time," says CCL's Rudi Plettinx, VP & Managing Director, EMEA. "The book's message is the same: through boundary spanning practices, you can solve problems, create innovative solutions and transform your organization."

More information on the book, including a video and blog is available at www.spanboundaries.com.

About the Center for Creative Leadership
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that accelerates strategy and business results by unlocking the leadership potential of individuals and organizations. Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit educational institution focused exclusively on leadership education and research, CCL helps clients worldwide cultivate creative leadership — the capacity to achieve more than imagined by thinking and acting beyond boundaries — through an array of programs, products and other services. Ranked among the world's Top 10 providers of executive education by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the Financial Times, CCL is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., with campuses in Colorado Springs, Colo.; San Diego, Calif.; Brussels; Moscow; Singapore; Pune, India and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its work is supported by 500 faculty members and staff.

Media Contact

CCL's Europe, Mid East and Africa headquarters is in Brussels, headed by Rudi Plettinx, Vice President & Managing Director, EMEA.