Living dinosaurs - the Galactic Headquarter

... or why American companies are losing the plot on global growth.

If you have worked for any American company that operates in more than 2 and a half countries, you will likely know about this thing called THE GALACTIC HEADQUARTERS (GHQ), sometimes endearningly referred to as the MOTHER SHIP.

Once the symbols of American economic dominance on an unsuspecting world, these GHQs are characterized by a number of equally intriguing quirks.

1. The one horse town : Often set up in out-of-the-way towns in the US as a sprawling campus of mind-numbingly dull, low rise buildings, these galactic centers defy location logic. Here are a few examples

Walmart has 2,100,000 employees. Bentonville has a population of 32,000

IBM has 390,000 employees. Armonk has a population of 3,461 (really!)

P&G has 138,000 employees. Cincinnati has a population of 332,458

Dell has 88,200 employees. Round Rock has a population of 61,136

Motorola has 66,000 employees. Schaumburg's population - 75,386

Funny how American companies routinely expect senior leaders to take bold strategic decisions on global growth and innovation sitting light years away from real life, real consumers and real markets.

2. Obsession with internal stuff - Almost as a natural extention of their Martian surrounds, these GHQs are often obsessed with matters not even remotely related to the real world of competitive action. Staffers consume gallons of coffee and terrabytes of computing power trying to make sense of a global business through the lens of centralization, consistency and compliance. Data rich and insight poor, these GHQs spend enormous time drawing out fairytale strategies, policy papers, process-charts and implementation roadmaps that have little relevance to what goes on in the real world.

3. The diverging realities - Over time, the GHQ staff begin to see 'field staff' as unruly children, in dire need of discipline and order. Without corporate policy guidelines, they surmise, these little kids would run off and 'do their own thing' - the GHQs worst nightmare.

Managers in the field, in return, inevitably start viewing the GHQs as a necessary nuisance and a sleeping giant - not to be disturbed from deep slumber unless absolutely necessary. Soon, there are 2 realities - the market realty known only to those in the market and the GHQ reality - relevant only in a dingy meeting rooom somewhere in small town America.

4. One size fits all - Most GHQs, over time, have come to believe in a very dangerous premise. What works in the world's largest economy must, eventually, work everywhere else. If, by any chance, there is a doubt cast from some lowly field manager in a third world (wonder why there's no second world) country, it must be because his limited intelligence cannot grasp the 'big picture' view of GHQ.

To most of us who live and work in the real world it is clear that the all-American GHQ is a dinosaur waiting for a meteor shower.

Interestingly enough, the process has started already.

- A major FMCG major has decided to spread its senior leadership team in multiple locations around the world - one in the US, one in Europe and one in Asia.

- A leading global bank has broken its headquarters into 2 parts - one in London and the other in Singapore.

- A retail major has shifted all its governance for emerging markets to Brazil and China - a much smaller GHQ handles only the US business

- A leading consulting firm recently announced the end of its corporate HQs, instead choosing to locate its global Chairman in the Middle East, CEO in NY and other senior leaders in various offices around the world.

I can go on, but you get my drift. American companies are slowly waking up to a new world where 'one size does not fit all'. A multi-polar world where diverse and distributed leadership is the only way to succeed. A world where decisions need to be taken now, not later, and leaders need to stay connected to the real world of business.

It will be interesting to see how many American companies have heard the alarm go off.