Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.

Honeywell International Chairman and CEO Vimal Kapur has spent nearly his entire 35-year career with the company, in various roles and locations. But he didn’t start working at the company’s global headquarters in Charlotte until 2022, when he became its president and chief operating officer. One year later, he was named CEO.

Despite his long tenure with Honeywell, don’t mistake Kapur for someone who toes the company line. He says growing up outside the head office—he started his Honeywell career as an account manager in Pune, India—has shaped his leadership style. “My empathy for the problems people face on the front line is very high,” he says, adding: “Given that I was on the receiving side of requests from headquarters, I generally bash bureaucracy a lot.”

Keep it simple

Indeed, Kapur’s one-year tenure as CEO of the technology and manufacturing giant has been notable for his relentless efforts to simplify the business. In October, he announced a major realignment of the business around three trends: automation, the future of aviation, and energy transition.

The streamlined structure, he says, provides clarity about where employees should focus their efforts. They can shed businesses that don’t align with the three priorities. For example, Honeywell is reportedly considering the sale of its personal protective equipment unit, which makes face masks and other gear. The directive also frees the company to buy assets that enhance the portfolio. In June, for example, Honeywell acquired Carrier Global’s security solutions business to bolster its automation pillar. Earlier this month, it added to its energy transition business with the announced acquisition of a liquified natural gas technology player. “Simplification is the basis of our growth orientation, both organically and inorganically,” Kapur says. “I believe in simplification of everything. Less is good. It makes life easier for everybody, and I don’t have to explain every decision.”

Lessons from the outside

Kapur’s no-nonsense style is common among leaders who climbed the ranks by working in far-flung locales or outposts. Nikhil Deogun, CEO of the Americas for Brunswick Group, advises CEOs, including a number of leaders who began their careers internationally or have spent significant time in markets outside their companies’ headquarters. He says such leaders often have to be more creative and innovative in the way they solve problems.

“When you’re far away from headquarters, you have to be ready for the unexpected,” Deogun says. “You have to be able to navigate ambiguity and complexity, especially in developing markets where infrastructure may be poor, and you may not be able to reach the HR department or the finance department for help—the resources that modern executives rely on to help make decisions are often far away or irrelevant to the problems at hand.”

Kapur’s lengthy international experience—he transferred from India to the United Kingdom in 2010 as chief marketing officer of Honeywell Process Solutions before moving to Houston in 2014 as the president of the process solutions business—leads him to ask important questions about product appeal. Will Honeywell’s products and solutions resonate with non-U.S. customers, who make up half of its revenue? “I always look at everything through the lens of business and the lens of geography,” he says. “How will this sell in Japan? How will it work in Germany? I don’t think the question was asked before.”

Are you an ‘outsider?’

Are you a business leader who spent your career outside corporate headquarters? How has that shaped the way you lead? If you work for someone who grew up outside the head office, what is that like? Send your insights and anecdotes to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’ll share the most compelling examples in a future newsletter.

Read and watch more: global perspectives

• A CEO’s decision-making is shaped by whether their parents were immigrants
• Three of the four most valuable companies are run by Asian Americans born outside the U.S.
• More than half of America’s unicorns have immigrant founders