Non-Linear Thinking.

Crossing borders motivates this year's LATIN TRADE Bravo Business Award winners. International integration helped Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar convert a mid-sized European nation into a global player. Juan Hernandez, head of the Mexican government's office for nationals living abroad, made Mexicans in foreign lands feel welcome at home.

Where many see impossibilities, Bravo honorees see global opportunities.

The international element changes the equation. Banco Santander could grow only as big and as fast as the Spanish market-until Chairman Emillo Botin redefined Spain's financial industry to include Latin America. Embraer CEO Mauricio Botelho had a good domestic product in his company's commuter jet, but the plane maker's global sales effort is what made revenues really take off.

Ideas also cross borders. As power company AES aggressively expands internationally, CEO Dennis Bakke sent decision-making authority to his new- market executives-a revolutionary form of management. At Universo Online, CEO Luis Frias is poised to export his portal's unique mixture of Brazilian jeito (talent) with a dose of one-stop Internet shopping a la America Online.

Some of the best initiatives are born without borders. Adventure travel is worldwide by nature, but Lindblad Expeditions Chairman Sven-Olof Lindblad found an untrodden trail: making environmental protection part of the business formula. Democracy and justice have no borders. Peru's former president, Valentia Paniagun Corazao, gave the world a refresher course in what those concepts mean with his skillful management of a difficult transition in his Andean homeland.

International leaders are needed more than ever today. Our awards seek to recognize the achievements of a few to encourage the ongoing efforts of the many. From business and innovation to the environment and humanitarian concerns, global perspective is the toughest-yet most important-issue facing countries and organizations.

Mike Zeliner

P.S. As this issue closed, terrorists had launched an attack on the United States. In our Special Report, we look at the immediate impactfor the region.

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