NLI encourages today's leaders to go way "outside the box" - and beyond their countries' borders

Robert Rosen, chairman/CEO Healthy Companies, was one of three keynote speakers during the NLI Leadership without Borders conference at UMUC in April.

By Andrea Martino

Organizational leaders "must demand global literacy of themselves and their companies. They must develop a new set of attitudes, behaviors and competencies and encourage people at all levels of business to be more personally aware, socially skilled, economically enlightened, and culturally wise," says Robert H. Rosen, president of Healthy Companies in Washington, D.C.

Rosen and many other international speakers offered their insights on what it takes to compete successfully in today's global marketplace during a "Leadership without Borders" conference hosted by the UMUC National Leadership Institute (NLI) and its partner, the Center for Creative Leadership, on April 4-6. Manfred Kets de Vries, clinical professor of leadership development at INSEAD (France) and Jan Eyvin Wang, president of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Americas (Norway) joined Rosen as keynote speakers. Additionally over 30 presenters and four panel discussions covered topics as diverse as developing international negotiation skills, cultural adaptability, and geographically dispersed teams. Pre-conference workshops on country-specific leadership skills were organized by the UMUC Institute for Global Management.

"This conference was about becoming a more successful and effective global leader," said Carol Dell'Amore, NLI director. "It attracted over 140 people that were both managers themselves but also human resources professionals responsible for the training and development of others and academics who are interested in the whole study of leadership."

Mike Singletary, a former NFL hero, spoke on "Diversity as a Matter of Heart." Fittingly, the global leadership event included an international banquet and an international music performance of flamenco dancing and African music and dance by the University of Maryland's Department of Ethnomusicology.

"NLI's conferences clearly promote UMUC as a center of knowledge on contemporary leadership issues," said Dell'Amore.

For those who may have missed the opportunity of attending the conference, conference proceedings are available for purchase through NLI.