By the point Ana Botín, the chief chair of Spanish financial institution Santander (ranked tenth within the Fortune 500 Europe record), was 30, she had already lived and labored within the U.Okay., Austria, Switzerland, and extra.
At the moment, she considers that point “invaluable” and has tried to imbibe it into the corporate’s multi-country tradition, she informed Fortune.
For those who slice the work expertise of the highest CEOs within the Fortune 500 Europe record, the same thread emerges: many have spent vital chunks of their careers abroad earlier than touchdown the highest jobs.
Take into account Shell, which positioned second in Fortune’s rankings of Europe’s greatest corporations. Wael Sawan grew to become the power large’s CEO initially of 2023. Earlier than that, he served because the managing director and chairman of Shell Qatar. In his practically three-decade profession with Shell, he additionally labored in different areas, together with components of Africa and Asia.
Swiss commodities firm Glencore’s CEO Gary Nagle has additionally held management roles in Colombia, Australia, and South Africa. The identical is true for Mercedes-Benz’s CEO Ola Källenius, who spent a number of years heading up the German firm’s enterprise within the U.S. and U.Okay.
“I was part of the team that built the plant in Alabama. Building a completely new plant and a new product was a pioneering experience,” Källenius stated of his expertise in America in 2020.
Krisztian Bocsi—Bloomberg/Getty Photographs
Lloyds Banking Group’s boss, Charlie Nunn, spent properly over a decade of his profession within the U.S., Hong Kong, and different components of Europe earlier than taking the British financial institution’s high job.
In distinction, the development isn’t as prevalent among the many high executives within the Fortune 500 record of American corporations. In fact, there are a handful of exceptions, reminiscent of UnitedHealth Group’s CEO, Andrew Witty.
The CEOs of the tech and shopper behemoths that dominate the record in America have as a substitute honed their experiences at different U.S.-based firms. A lot of them have labored their manner as much as the C-suite over many years.
Amazon’s Andy Jassy spent 24 years on the firm, launching and main Amazon Net Providers within the course of. Whereas that’s vital, it dwarfs compared to Mary Barra and Mike Wirth, who spent 44 years and 42 years at Basic Motors and Chevron, respectively.
A number of European CEOs are additionally “lifers,” like Volkswagen’s Olive Blume, who joined the corporate in 1994. Earlier in his skilled profession, he spent 5 years in Barcelona as the pinnacle of planning at SEAT S.A., a Spanish automobile producer owned by Volkswagen.
The making of a world CEO
A couple of causes assist clarify why globe-trotting CEOs have turn into extra commonplace in European corporations over time: the corporate’s scale of operation and strategy to succession planning.
“There’s always been a disparity between U.S. corporations and European-headquartered organizations in that you’ll often find with those large European corporations, they’re going to be operating across multiple territories to get the critical mass,” stated Sarah Lim, managing director of board and CEO providers at consulting agency Korn Ferry. In different phrases, to succeed at constructing a sprawling enterprise in Europe, you need to suppose internationally from day one.
She identified that the largest U.S. corporations can obtain scale by serving their residence market. Take into account the case of one of many high Fortune 500 corporations, Costco Wholesale, which reported internet gross sales of $250 billion throughout its 2024 fiscal 12 months. That’s greater than Greece’s newest GDP figures.
“The necessity for those leaders to have worked in multiple markets is quite crucial…”
Sarah Lim, managing director of board and CEO providers at Korn Ferry
So, reaching significant scale for a lot of European corporations invariably means increasing their enterprise past residence. That explains why a big chunk of the European-headquartered corporations within the Fortune 500 Europe record have turn into family names internationally, even when they began small of their areas, whether or not that’s Zara-owner Inditex or Ikea’s mum or dad firm, Ingka Group.
As companies take off and abroad markets begin turning into important pillars—generally even larger than the unique European market—corporations need their high leaders to decipher what they’re up towards. Holding management roles in these territories is a superb litmus take a look at for this.
“The necessity for those leaders to have worked in multiple markets is quite crucial to understand the cultural nuances of either the teams that they’re leading, the customers that they’re supporting, the supply network that they’re working with,” Lim stated.
Brais Lorenzo Couto—Bloomberg/Getty Photographs
Gearing up for CEO succession
Succession planning is a vital course of for corporations contemplating their longevity and long-term efficiency. When getting ready for future transitions, corporations attempt to have a bench of candidates who can finally tackle the highest job.
Worldwide postings are a sensible technique to domesticate expertise for such management roles. They permit CEO hopefuls to navigate variations in regulatory frameworks, communication kinds, and extra, as a part of their profession improvement.
That additionally permits the longer term CEO to higher join with the corporate’s staff, stated Gianpiero Petriglieri, an affiliate professor of organizational habits at INSEAD. He pointed to research which have proven the advantages of dwelling, somewhat than visiting, overseas in bettering creativity and constructing numerous skilled and private networks.
“Mobility has become a marker of talent, and the willingness to be mobile has become a marker of commitment to a certain kind of career and organization,” he informed Fortune.
Main a European multinational firm isn’t any small feat. However CEOs are higher ready for the problem once they’ve “been there and done that,” because the saying goes.
To make sure, this doesn’t imply leaders with primarily home market experience are arrange for failure. However there’s a transparent distinction within the mushy abilities and cultural consciousness a CEO with worldwide expertise brings to the desk, stated Marlène Ribeiro, a Paris-based managing companion at government search agency Web page Government.
“We are not expecting the CEO to have the answer to all the questions,” she stated. Nonetheless, who they work together with and the way they achieve this throughout areas may finally give them the sting for achievement.
