What are the challenges and benefits to working with teams from other countries?
EM: There are technical challenges in working with other countries as well. It is actually one of the reasons why I enjoy the job so much because I enjoy working with people from different cultures. We actually conduct most of our business using telecons—we have a weekly telecon where several people from all over the world dial in. It’s a regular mission meeting, except we can’t see each other. We use telecons and e-mail to exchange information. That works pretty well, but there really is nothing like sitting face to face, and that is why we have to travel. Some people are leery of working with international partners. They see it as an obstacle for various reasons, including technical or logistic, but in my experience, it’s really not any different than working with a company here in the United States. In the end, the obstacles that you have to overcome are equivalent. I’m a big proponent of international collaboration. The benefits of working with foreign partners are many. The planet
