Interim Country Managing Director — Delivery

A country leader who chooses, not one who covers everything

Country managing directors are often asked to be present in every segment, serve every customer type and keep every product line alive. This interim appointment asks for the opposite. It is not a caretaker role and not a growth-at-any-cost mandate; it is an executive seat with the authority to make choices and to hold them under pressure.

Where to compete and where to step back

You will set which country decisions are taken centrally and how much local managers may still approve, and name the proof a request for funding, capacity or control must carry. Every commitment gets your ruling to proceed, wait or close, and a proposal that offloads cost or risk on others with no one answerable for it goes no further. Investment will be declined where the case has no answer on who will use the service, what it relies on or how it could go wrong. You will settle who leads in the country and how problems are raised, broker disputes with operating leaders, and fix when and how often the board checks progress, exceptions and pending calls.

For a not-for-profit technology organisation, stepping back carries weight beyond the financial, because users and partners may rely on a service the organisation decides it can no longer run well. Doing it well means planning the exit as carefully as any entry: who takes over, what is communicated and when, and which capability is retained so the decision can be revisited if the evidence changes. Choosing where to compete, in turn, means concentrating people and money where the evidence is strongest, so that focus shows up in what ships.

Six countries and one popular commitment ended

In technology and digital platforms you have made general management calls where hesitation had a price you could count, leading businesses of at least $670 million in revenue and 1,200 people in six or more countries. Under your leadership the data has moved staff, money and senior attention, and you can name a well-liked commitment you closed, the facts that justified closing it, and what its end freed up. Carve-out, integration and turnaround experience are examined, with strategy formation at level 4 and, at level 3, owning a P&L, risk judgement and keeping an operating cadence. You can be candid with the Group Chief Executive Officer about what is not yet known and still make the call, and you will stop a commitment over the objection of a country head if the evidence says so.

The year and a half ahead, and the three weeks before it

By the time the first ninety days have run, the Group Chief Executive Officer and you should have settled where the country competes and where it steps back. Around month nine, work outside the chosen areas should be on hold or wound down, and its people and budget moved to the areas that remain. By month 18 country leadership and escalation should be settled, with progress in the chosen areas reported on a steady cadence.

The selection process is short: a video call held in confidence with the Group Chief Executive Officer opens it during week one, a working case set by the Regional President follows in week two, and an in-person discussion with the investment committee ends it in week three. Within two working days of each conversation, we will send you our assessment in writing.