The Legal Side of Global

I know, it's not something we often think about, or want to think about, but let’s pause for a minute and discuss what it means to work across boundaries—because, in global business, boundaries aren’t just cultural or organizational. They’re also legal. And the reality is, just like cross-functional collaboration, legal frameworks can mean very different things to different people, depending on where they sit, where they operate, and what their objectives are.

In my world, working across boundaries & borders is about lateral thinking—understanding that you're a single piece of a much larger, interdependent system. That system includes markets, departments, technologies… and yes, laws. Real leadership means being able to see the whole, to absorb insight from across domains—including legal, regulatory, and compliance environments—and feed that knowledge back into your part of the puzzle. It's how you build a better flying machine. Think Leonardo da Vinci…

Legal Boundaries Are Still Boundaries:  If we agree that working across boundaries means solving complex problems through shared knowledge and integration, then we should also recognize that legal considerations are one of the most critical boundaries global leaders navigate. You can’t just create an amazing product or design a seamless customer experience and assume it will work across the globe. What’s permissible in Rome may not be legal in Beijing. What protects your IP in New York may be completely ineffective in Nairobi. What empowers your team in Silicon Valley may not align with labor laws in Berlin. The law is a boundary—an invisible, but powerful one.  To lead globally, you need to know how to move across these boundaries.

Let’s be clear- I’m not talking about breaking laws -I’m addressing the need to understand them, navigate them, and integrate them into the decision-making process at every level of your organization. Because ignoring international legal implications isn’t just risky - It’s reckless. Here’s what I mean:

You’re the Chief Operations Officer of a multinational organization trying to reduce global costs and enhance customer satisfaction. You’ve got teams everywhere—product development, operations, sales, legal, implementation, customer relations, and finance—all working in different countries and jurisdictions. Every one of them touches the customer. Every one of them is bound by some form of national or international law. Legal must be part of the conversation. Not a stop sign, but a co-pilot. When the team all plays by different rules, you are bound to get yourself (and the organization) into serious trouble when working across the global landscape.

International business is governed by a web of rules that span:

• Jurisdictional issues (Where will a dispute be settled?)

• Contract law (How do we protect ourselves across legal systems?)

• Labor law (What rights do employees have in different countries?)

• Taxation and transfer pricing (How do we manage global profits legally?)

• IP protection (How do we keep our innovations secure?)

• Trade regulations and sanctions (What can we export, and to whom?)

Here's the critical component — every department has a stake in these issues. Every one.

Legal is Not a Department—It’s a Cross-Boundary Discipline.

In many organizations, legal sits off to the side, brought in to review contracts or respond to crises. But in a boundary-spanning enterprise, that’s not enough. Legal needs to be embedded within your strategic systems. It must interact with HR to align with employment law. It must partner with IT and cybersecurity. It must inform product design and international expansion. It must collaborate across boundaries and borders. Think of it this way:

• Departments have critical interdependencies that require legal alignment

• Teams often operate with competing goals—but legal frameworks help find common ground

• Laws impact how flexible teams can be, especially when contracting, outsourcing, or hiring abroad

• Leadership needs to both advocate and inquire—and legal considerations guide that balance

  
  

You can’t optimize just one part of the business anymore. You have to understand the system—and law is an important part of that system in a global ecosystem. Just like your internal network of departments and business units, the legal environment is a network that casts a wide net. It includes local legislation, international treaties, regulatory bodies, and intergovernmental organizations. It includes evolving norms like data privacy, sustainability requirements, and ethical sourcing mandates. If you're not working across those legal boundaries intentionally and strategically, you’re setting yourself up for disruption, corruption, and ultimately... failure.

It is important to repeatedly ask yourself:

• How do we embed legal expertise across our boundary-spanning teams—not just at the top, but throughout?

• Are we designing global processes with legal interoperability in mind—from contracts to compliance?

• Can we move faster and innovate more effectively by knowing the rules, not avoiding them?

  
  

The legal side of international business isn’t just a “check-the-box” exercise. It’s a core leadership discipline. It’s part of the shared system we operate within, and just like everything else when working across boundaries & borders, it requires awareness, collaboration, and action. Da Vinci said it best:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

He emphasizes the importance of action and practical application after gaining knowledge and intention and highlights the need to move beyond passive understanding and actively engage with what you have learned.  In a legal, global, customer-centric context, knowing where the lines are… and working within them (not around them) is critical to your success. When you integrate legal knowledge across boundaries & borders, you empower your people to see and solve problems across systems. When you align operations with law instead of reacting to it, you don’t just protect your business, you strengthen it.

And that? That’s how you build the kind of mousetrap that flies.

Is your flying machine built on a strong global legal foundation?

I’d love to hear your thoughts—how are you working across legal and organizational boundaries to elevate your business and customer experience? Have questions or need a sounding board? Let’s talk.SheriLMackey@gmail.com

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