angle. If you try to impose a single culture, you diminish the higher end of the group’s potential because you’re basically settling for a norm instead of letting each member be the best at what they are. What an incredible experience that must have been. Oh my gosh, yes. And as a woman, it was an opportunity to go work in the Middle East, where women were not given many public leadership roles at the time, though that certainly is changing and I’m so grateful for it. There were countries that asked me to not act as the leader when I was in-country; that my second in command should appear to head the team. And I give the United Nations credit for responding, "If you won’t respect our team culture, then we won’t come to your country. And the burden of proof is on you to establish that you’re entitled to this money, so if we don’t come to your country, it will impact your ability to prove that." That was kind of an early lesson for me in why you can’t just cram everybody into a single paradigm. The UN backed me up as an individual. I hope I learned that lesson and can pass it on to others as well.
Does that apply as well to your board service and/or your work for KBH? Absolutely. Board service is a microcosm of any team, but on steroids. You’re dealing with the biggest issues, but with a very small team. Typically boards are 7 or 8 people. I’ve been privileged to be around some very intellectually gifted, accomplished people, and if everyone’s trying to evaluate the same problem with a different set of skills, hopefully you will reflect all of the aspects of the issue and come up with the best solution. The KBH Center is built on the concept of interdisciplinary cross-functioning as well. That’s why it’s sponsored by more than one school—the McCombs Business School and the University of Texas School of Law. We’re working on bringing other UT schools under the same tent so we can create that true partnership and avoid the siloed mentality that we may have had in the past. The benefits of interdisciplinary approach and letting everyone shine seem inarguable, but a lot of leaders can’t manage that. The fact that you can is a testament to who you are as a person and a leader. CORPORATE COUNSEL BUSINESS JOURNAL
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