Telling Stories, With Boundaryless Thinking

A global mindset is essential for success in an increasingly interconnected world. For Kristin Fallon '11, that means developing boundaryless thinking, with no set geographical reference. “It is about thinking outside of your immediate world and really accounting for the world at large. We are in the U.S. and so we are thinking about the world from the perspective of the U.S. – as someone from Europe looks at the world from a European perspective. However, trying not to have a fixed perspective is key,” says Fallon, the director of content and storytelling at GE Healthcare.

In her career, Fallon says, building relationships and building trust have been essential. But lately, she says, adaptability and tolerance for ambiguity have played a bigger and bigger role, working in the healthcare industry during a global pandemic. As a marketer at GE Healthcare, a medical technology and software multinational corporation, Fallon must create content that's globally applicable. “If I am going to tell a story, it can’t just be from my vantage point in the U.S. It has to be globally applicable, yet locally relevant. And that can be tough but it is why I love my job."

Fallon leads a global team, which she says can have its advantages and disadvantages. There are vast time differences to account for. A single project can draw in team members from multiple continents. “We are filming a documentary and we need help editing around the clock," she says, "so I have a team in Europe that edits while we are asleep in the U.S.” She credits her global mindset for giving her “compassion and empathy.” It is fundamental, she says, when working in a global company.

During her time at Maryland Smith, Fallon participated in a summer fellowship, partnering with entrepreneurs and engineers to build and pitch business cases to venture capitalists in Israel. She credits this experience with helping her build resiliency and the ability to navigate different cultures. “They were really tough on us. For one, the Israeli culture is very direct and they were venture capitalists, they don’t have time to waste. So why I loved it was because it taught me not to give up.”

Fallon advises current Maryland Smith students to embrace opportunities to meet people who are different than they are, even if just in their own community. In a globalized business world, she says, a global mindset is a minimum qualification. ”If you don’t have that, your resume doesn’t make it past the first round. Granted, it can be difficult to demonstrate a mindset on a piece of paper, but I think there are ways that you can make your resume, or your cover letter, show that you have taken a global approach to the experiences that you have had. And that is on each of us to figure out our own story and be able to tell it.” 

Fallon is also an executive advisor with the Center for Social Value Creation at Maryland Smith.

–By Terqueasha Wooten, first-year MBA.

If you are a Maryland Smith alum and are interested in telling how you have used global mindset skills to succeed in your career, send an email to global@rhsmith.umd.edu. You can see other global alumni stories on our website.