A Shifting World and New Rules Advantages

The business world is shifting and it’s wise to understand and take advantage of the new rules.

  When I became the global marketing and brand leader for Deloitte, I was sure of only two things: there was much that I needed to learn quickly, and I could minimize typical learning curve mistakes by following the conventional wisdom – Think Global, Act Local. Eight years and 3 million air miles later I was still sure of two things. First, I could never learn enough. Second, conventional wisdom no longer goes far enough. These conclusions reflect a fundamental shift in how I think about building and operating global businesses. The change didn’t happen overnight. It was a process accelerated when I moved from my native Madrid to live in New York City, a place that in many ways is a microcosm of our exciting, tumultuous and diverse world. The relocation jolted my perception that operating a business across many countries required only an overall strategy, some acknowledgement of local differences and world-class logistics. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, when I arrived at Deloitte almost a decade ago, the brand was willing to challenge other industry giants to achieve the market recognition that we deserved. That goal became my mission. I am proud to say that today, Deloitte is one of the pre-eminent global professional services networks, having outperformed competitors for the first time by both revenue and size during fiscal year 2010. As a result of this experience, and after advising CEOs in many companies around the world, I have since altered my view of Think Global, Act Local to a new approach, Think Holistic, Act Personal (THAP), which I believe has enabled businesses to better operate, communicate and work together productively across borders. I invite you to learn more about Think Holistic, Act Personal in series of articles I am authoring. Though it may sound simplistic on paper, I can assure you that implementing it requires discipline and commitment. To begin with, it requires the will to lead and step ahead. Once it works – and it does work – everyone feels like a respected, contributing member of the organization and the approach becomes self-reinforcing.

The New Reality

Certainty is a thing of the past. Companies no longer have the luxury of assuming that they can survive glitches in the market with a few last-minute tweaks: markets are now too changeable from too many angles for that to be a sustainable approach. It is not enough to simply develop an ad hoc, last minute response as changes occur; strong companies have a mindset and approach that anticipate change and have systems in place that can deal with any changes quickly and efficiently.

Change comes from so many different directions

Change comes from so many different directions that companies and leaders can be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed or blindsided. Every day, we are facing a multitude of changes that affect every aspect of running a business. Laws, regulations, compliance requirements, customer preferences, technologies, competitors, changing demographics and shifts in lifestyles are only some of the forces at work. All of these present immense challenges for any business, but when magnified by the many other countries, businesses and customers entering the global marketplace having different legal requirements, customs, cultures and consumer preferences, the challenge is truly immense. Time moves on and markets evolve. Success will only follow for those organizations that respond effectively and swiftly to the only constant left in business: change.

Think Holistically, Act Personally

So, why do companies persistently fail to adequately prepare for change when they know it is such an inevitable, essential aspect of doing business? I would suggest that it is not because they are unaware of the constancy of volatility, ever-changing legal requirements and market conditions; it is more likely because they do not know how to best fit their companies for this new challenge. Some companies, however, stay the course. In fact, there are those that thrive through the years: entities of every size in industries and geographies across the board that fend off challenges of all kinds. The insights from these firms are revealing as they suggest several actions that are needed to fortify your business. In other words, they highlight how to position your company for distinctive, long-running, profitable progress. In summary, it’s a matter of Rs – to be precise six Rs that, when used together, help businesses achieve their objective of sustained, gainful growth. These will be explained over the course of the next set of articles but they are based on several key elements, including: focusing on the reason behind the business, generating and maximizing revenues, rousing people, developing a good reputation, building business relationships and ensuring resilience.

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