Working in the 21st century

I had a simple, yet profound, meeting today that involved two faculty from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (one a female from Tunisia and one an African American male), an Indian national ex-patriot male, a Qatari male, and me. Each of us had our own accents, language and experiences but we were drawn together by the shared task of improving Qatar Foundation's acquisition process by engaging professors and students in project teams focused on various steps forward in the improvement process.

Seldom have I seen a group so open to each other and willing to engage in the give and take required to tap each others' insights and skills. It was the dual commitment to process improvement with the recognition of the need to learn and to foster learning for students that made it work. There wasn't one moment of hesitation throughout the 45 minute and I left feeling that this is the best of what higher education has to offer in the 21st century - diverse voices and intellects tackling tough problems together.

Simple pleasures of global leadership work...