News > New Year's Update: January 2003

Mark Gerzon, President, Mediators Foundation

Our work in the coming decade is to help nurture a new vision of leadership that crosses, rather than reinforces, borders. We are assembling a "Global Leadership Network" that will generate a variety of specific projects under its auspices.

In addition to the remarkable network that is already committed to exploring this vision, another asset Mediators Foundation brings to this work is my forthcoming book, Leaders Beyond Borders: The Global Leadership Revolution, which includes interviews and resources from civic leaders from every region of the world. Once published, this book will help promote this initiative. (A book summary, including the complete Prologue, is available on our website www.mediatorsfoundation.org.)

The research for, and response to, Leaders Beyond Borders is already helping to identify natural allies in the major regions of the world. I have secured the interest of Chinese, Southeast Asian, European, African, Caribbean, and Latin American partners; and am currently in the process of identifying Indian, Russian, and Arabic partners. A generous initial grant will now permit us, during the early years of this work, to bring more colleagues from around the world into the process of designing and promoting the Institute’s work. Because global involvement is so vital in this initiative, this support will make a profound difference in the next phase of our work, and we express gratitude to all our funders for their generosity.

The key challenge we now face is to maintain a steady, patient pace, slowly and systematically building the cross-border relationships that are the key to building an authentic movement for global leadership. Similarly, instead of rushing to publication with "my" book, my colleagues and I are listening, revising, and adapting the message so that it gradually becomes "our" book. (Our long-term strategy is to find co-authors in strategic cultural and language markets who would re-write and re-publish the book in their own editions.)

If this vision connects to yours, we would be delighted to keep you informed of our work and welcome your thoughts, contacts, referrals, or other assistance. With luck, Mediators Foundation can make a small contribution in 2003 to fostering an alternative vision of global leadership.

On behalf of the entire Mediators Foundation Board, and our administrator Dallas Gale, we wish you a wonderful, peaceful New Year.