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 3,000,000 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 today one of the preeminent 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 the following pages. 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.
So yes, it takes work. Lots of it. But honestly, it’s not that complicated. Let me show you how and why Think Holistic, Act Personal is the management philosophy driving the growth of high performance brands today.
Sincerely,
Luis Gallardo