Leading across borders: inclusive thinking in an interconnected world

Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company
Interview with Ernst & Young Chairman and CEO, James Turley
January 21, 2011

In a recent conversation with Ernst & Young Chairman and CEO, James Turley, Muhtar Kent described The Coca-Cola Company's global leadership strategy and why it pays off so well.

James Turley: You have quite a diverse background for the CEO of a US-headquartered organization. Do you think your background gives you an advantage in leading a company that competes globally for a diverse base of consumers? If so, how?

Muhtar Kent: I think it's important for leaders of today's global companies to be well versed in international affairs, and to have had a breadth of experience living and working in markets around the world. It's imperative to know your business from the ground up, and in our case, 80% of our business is outside the US. Knowing the business means having an acute knowledge of those markets, people and cultures that comprise the vast majority of our business.

James Turley: What does "leading with a global mindset" mean to you? Why is this important for today's business leaders?

Muhtar Kent: To me, it's about putting all our decisions and actions through a global filter. For instance, how would a decision made for our business in the U.S. impact our business in India? How would this innovation in Poland transfer to markets in North America? What can we learn from our experiences in Mexico that might apply to China? It's about critical thinking and cross-cultural understanding. It's also about people and leaders who are as comfortable working in Mumbai and Mombasa as they would be in Montreal or Minneapolis.

James Turley: You have assembled an extremely diverse and international senior management team. Can you share an example of a positive outcome or competitive advantage that resulted from the diversity of this team?

Muhtar Kent: A great example is our 2020 Vision -- a strategic renewal process that aligns our Company and our bottling partners around the world toward common goals and priorities to help us double our business in the next decade. Our vision is the by-product of input from so many diverse leaders across our Company and our system. This is the result of our collective strength and that is the real power of diversity -- realizing that the whole is infinitely more powerful than the individual parts.

James Turley: Today's CEO must take an extremely broad view of the world, keeping abreast of issues that extend far beyond the business. What does Coca-Cola do to broaden the perspective of its future C-suite executives? Do you have any programs that focus on building cross-cultural skills?

Muhtar Kent: We have a number of programs in place, including one that I have personally been very involved with over the past few years. It's a program where we take rising stars from across our Company and place them in special team assignments around the world. The whole idea is to place people far outside their comfort zones and get them working in areas of the business they've never had experience in, with people they don't know and often in markets they have never visited before.

For instance, a marketer in Atlanta may find herself working on a strategic planning team that is focused on building our bottling capabilities in the Southeast, or developing a juice strategy for our business in Eurasia. It's been an incredibly powerful tool.

James Turley: You have stated that one of your top people priorities is achieving true and sustainable diversity across all 206 countries in which Coca-Cola operates. Promoting inclusiveness on a global basis can sometimes produce friction among people with different backgrounds. Has Coca-Cola faced any cultural challenges in promoting diversity and inclusiveness globally and, if so, how have you overcome them?

Muhtar Kent: There are challenges, certainly, that still exist out there. But the barriers are breaking down and a large part of that goes back to our 2020 Vision, which I mentioned earlier. Building a diverse and inclusive workforce is central to our vision and we have metrics in place and expectations that must be met. When global leaders come together and agree on shared priorities and accountabilities, progress is inevitable.

James Turley: How might a company's failure to lead inclusively hurt its competitiveness -- in the short and long term?

Muhtar Kent: If you're behind in this regard today, you're already at a disadvantage. Once a culture of exclusion has been established, it can be hard to change, and that's detrimental to your long-term talent development and competitiveness.