Why C-suites need more headquarters around the world

New style of C-suite

Interestingly, China is the place where a rising generation of chief executives is starting to challenge and change the way they interact with people inside their organisation.

Business in China has long been centered on interactions that prioritise maintaining harmony and building what is called “guanxi,” the social structure of influential personal relationships that is especially strong in China. But in today’s global context, they are acknowledging the need to change their executive decision-making style. They are starting to rethink their actions and redesign their traditionally very luxurious C-suite offices. In Business, the Chinese walls are literally coming down.

Closer contact, faster decision making

The way younger generations of Chinese execs look at their offices is more centered on collaboration, on making information easily accessible to all involved rather than on ceremonial meetings or making an impression. A new range of work settings has been added, including spaces equipped with technology that accommodates information-sharing and fosters discussion and the evaluation of new insights.

A new breed of C-suite executives has come to understand that valuable insights can be gained by meeting up and working with the people who are more “real worldish” and more locally anchored than those who still hang around in what passes for “headquarters”. This could be an early sign of global brand C-suites starting to pitch their tents in multiple headquarters around the world.

Becoming global locals

Global brands live among people. No matter the amount and quality of data input, people’s true feelings, emotions and trust in their favorite brands will never penetrate lush C-suite office bubbles. Even daily reporting from every corner of the world will never be able to compete with actually being where the action is, where local culture lives and breathes around you. This is not something you can learn from any number of PowerPoint slides, Excel sheets, projections or pie charts.

The next step will be C-suite executives and executive boards actually moving to markets around the world – not for a three-day fieldtrip, but for a three- or six-month stay. So they will actually live in their best or their worst markets around the world, in their local organisation, in that alien culture that doesn’t show up in the numbers.

Meet the global locals

It is often said that globalisation erases most if not all cultural differences around the world. Passing a Starbucks on every street corner between Vancouver and Moscow, ordering the exact same Big Mac from Taipei to Gdansk and sharing a Coke from Melbourne to Trondheim, it is easy to forget we are not just one world and one look-a-like population. Global village?

It’s a far too romantic a view of the world. The world is still an enormous place to cover, even for the most sophisticated global brand organisations. Local habits, local traditions, local loyalties, local business jargon, local trust and mistrust: only the local people in your global organization can make C-suite executives really see what this market is about, what drives consumers and businesses there. Today’s secrets to global business success are no longer found or formulated behind a head-office desk.

Call in the movers

Global headquarters is starting to sound more old-fashioned, static and tired by the day. Once the prestigious place of strategic and decision-making power, chosen with care and a great deal of attention to the style of the building, as befits a great big global brand organization. But now, does it still work? Less than it did before, if at all.

There is really no reason why the C-suite, either individually or collectively, shouldn’t be physically present in a local market for a few months, taking their families with them if possible, slipping into the local population anonymously, since they are unknowns there, after all. Doing their own shopping, watching local television, having a simple meal in a local bar or restaurant, talking to people at local markets.

Don’t say it can’t be done. Not with all the technology we have now for staying in touch with anyone at any time of the day in any time zone. State-of-the-art mobile and other means of communication have freed us from having to be based in one office location all the time. It is easy to have global governance and local governance at the same time at any spot on the planet.

Learning from local life

Going abroad and finding yourself in a totally different culture will make you think differently about things. As companies make more and more worldwide acquisitions, today and in the years to come, business leaders will have to become more culturally involved.

Ideally, they should live and work in several regions. This will give them a more nuanced understanding of how people really view their brands. It will also help open their minds to the concept of diversity and the value of employing people of very different backgrounds. It will bring them insights into human interaction that they can use to improve the global organisation or adapt their international HR strategy to new times. It will bring them new insights that can help them devise new market strategies and ideas on anything from finance, marketing, HR, logistics, production, sales. Leading a life away from the corner office environment brings new inspiration.

Improving C-suite effectiveness

Like everything that incites change, a new way of looking at C-suite life also starts with embracing a new leadership mindset. There are plenty of chief executives who have already adopted a way of conducting business that is far more open to non-C-suite levels; they have started to operate more like global locals, introducing ways to exchange information and instigate honest discussion with a wide spectrum of opinions.

This world is such an exciting place right now for anyone involved in global branding and business. The speed of technological change, the cultural changes that come with a new, more idealistic, sharing and caring generation, developing markets that are still growing if not exploding, the geopolitical volatility – all that just seems too much to handle by staying in one place or by cherishing the view from the helicopter. Things to do, people to meet, places to go – here are a few pointers that may help.

1. Get the most out of human relationships

Datasheets, charts, numbers: they will still play a big part in defining strategies and formulating decisions. However, a new generation of employees and executives bring with them a new sense of personal involvement.

It is a generation that has already been brought up with the habit of sharing their views and opinions as well as their feelings and emotions, all thanks to social media. It has influenced their outlook on how to work, and there is a growing belief in the power of teamwork, of being taken seriously, of not being there just to crunch numbers and stuff them into reports that may or may not end up on top-level conference tables. They like to be involved, they like to be heard, they want to feel they do meaningful work.

It would be stupid to ignore their “street savvy” ideas and ideals from the top corner office. The C-suite that gets out there to exchange views with them will build an effective relationship with them, will spot brilliance at an early stage and will harvest insights that may well speed up the whole decision-making process.

2. Delegate more to the people closest to your customers

The guys in Bangalore, Prague, Buenos Aires, Montreal or Amsterdam should be able to cope with decision making on their turf just as well as you can on yours. Decentralised decision making means you have scouts around the world who know their region like the back of their hand. They will pick up on any change that may harm or improve your global brand in their local market. The best thing to do would be to stay with them for a few months, working with them closely, letting them show you how the locals think about your brand or product.

3. Redesign C-suite offices for transparency and exchange

It is helpful to integrate advanced technologies within the traditional C-suite office setting. The days of offices as impressive sites of representation are truly behind us now. Turn offices into a workmanlike environment, where people can come and go for brainstorming sessions with internal and external experts and peers. Many companies are redesigning their boardroom floors, building smaller, transparent offices, flexible conference rooms, self-service kitchens, and informal meeting places, already called huddle spaces. It will limit unnecessary trips with large teams to characterless and mind-numbing conference rooms.

4. Stimulate collaboration and co-creation with your staff

Integrated technology helps to encourage people’s active participation right through the hierarchy of the organization. It will stimulate a freer flow of ideas and information from all corners of the globe, not just inside the office building. These are times in which sharing information is mining the new gold: the more information is freely available to see and judge, the greater the chance of finding that one nugget that can help your global brand to move ahead.

5. Live inside your markets

Stop flying in and flying out as if you were looking for curry in a hurry. Dare to think about creating a multi-year schedule for your C-suite to spend extended periods of time in markets that matter or the ones that worry you. Mobile communication will keep you abreast of things “at home” while you experience cultural differences from up close. As much as top executives can learn from any kind of data, there is nothing like seeing someone pick up your brand of peanuts, stick of butter or bottle of beer in a place you had to look up on the map.

Erik Saelens is founder & executive strategic director of Belgium's Brandhome group