The Myth of Consolidating "Headquarters"

The buzz in telecom, especially in the Washington, DC metro area, is about Sprint-Nextel closing their Reston, Virginia headquarters location and shifting the focus to Overland Park, Kansas. While Sprint-Nextel is as good a textbook case as any on how NOT to integrate two large companies following an acquisition, the issue of retaining two headquarters is of particular interest.

Why ONE headquarters location? Other than the symbolism and the potential cost savings, it is fascinating that a technology company refuses to embrace technology themselves. Some points that the current and previous Sprint-Nextel executives should have considered include:
- Executives should be out with customers, employees and investors, rather than sitting in any headquarters location.
- Technology allows for both audio and video conference calls from anywhere at anytime.
- The idea of a singe headquarters location is as archaic as castles, forts and bunkers.
- Many companies no longer have a single, sacred board room but rather meet at a location where board members can stay overnight (the outsourcing of board rooms).
- Staffs, like headquarters are now virtual. There is no reason why a CEO cannot be in Silicon Valley, the CFO in New York and the Sales and Marketing Chief be in London while their staffs, perhaps with the exception of the Executive Assistants could be anywhere globally if they are truly the best and the brightest.
- If and when “all hands” executive meetings are held, they are best held, like board meetings, at an outsourced location where all can be away from the disruptions of any office and focus on the tasks at hand.

If technology has freed executives and their staffs from being “hard wired” to their offices, it does indeed appear odd that executives still claim the need and benefits of being co-located at a “headquarters” facility.