One of the first things I realized when I moved into a Global Capability Center was the “distance tax.” By that, I mean the quiet cost of being physically and emotionally distant from the people whose confidence you most need. My stakeholders sat in different offices across the globe. I had no chance of running into them at the water cooler, catching them after a meeting, or making small talk over coffee. If all I did was turn up for a quarterly finance review, there was no real reason for them to even remember my name.

I learned this the hard way. I made many mistakes while navigating global stakeholders, and some of those mistakes had real consequences for my career.

Pre-COVID, between 2016 and 2018, I was in a global role. The general managers whose leadership teams I supported were based in London. I travelled frequently, every two months for nearly three weeks at a time, to attend their leadership team meetings in person. At other times, they came to Bangalore and I hosted them. They knew me as part of the team, not because I was exceptionally vocal, but because I was present. I was in the room. I heard the conversations before and after the agenda items. I understood the context, the personalities, the pressures, and the politics. The key difference was that I was not operating like a distant support resource; I was directly connected to the onshore business.

Post-COVID, the world changed. Travel budgets tightened, operating models became more virtual, and I moved into a reporting and analysis role in Chennai. This was a true GCC setup. I was not part of anyone’s leadership team. I was no longer in the informal conversations where reputations are often built. Yet I assumed that if the work was good enough, the work would speak for itself. I thought I was doing a stellar job, until I was told I was not.

What went wrong became clear only in hindsight. I was not keeping my stakeholders informed or engaged. I had not invested enough in building relationships with the business stakeholders across the globe. In fact, I had mapped the wrong set of stakeholders altogether. Many of the people I was consciously engaging with were within the GCC ecosystem, not the business leaders who ultimately formed a view of my impact. That was a big mistake.

When a growth opportunity came up, I was told no. More specifically, I was told that I had not demonstrated anything substantial to the leadership team to deserve a seat at the table. That feedback stung because I knew I had worked hard. I had been proactive

in the center, led networks, contributed to local initiatives, and delivered what I believed was strong work. But that was the moment it struck me: I had been playing to the wrong audience.

A later experience reinforced this lesson even more strongly. We undertook a major change-management activity that, in many ways, was executed almost perfectly. The planning was robust, the delivery was disciplined, and the team navigated a complex landscape with care. Yet the outcome was still rated amber. Not because the work had failed, but because people did not fully understand the complexity of what had been done. They saw the result, but they had not travelled the journey with us. That was another important lesson.

Stakeholder engagement cannot be limited to broadcasting accomplishments after the fact. People need to understand the landscape, the constraints, the trade-offs, the dependencies, and the challenges. Periodic updates should not simply say what has been accomplished.

They should also explain how it was accomplished, what made it difficult, what risks were managed, and where support or patience may be needed. If stakeholders only see the final output, they may underestimate the effort. If they understand the journey, they are more likely to value the outcome. I also learned that organizations do not run only on formal hierarchy.

There is always an informal network at play, people who may not be the most senior on paper, but who have the leader’s ear. They shape perceptions, influence narratives, and often become the trusted sounding boards behind decisions. Ignoring them is risky. Keeping them informed, respected, and engaged is just as important as managing the official stakeholder map.

So what would I do differently now? I would build relationships before I needed them. I would set up intentional coffee connects with stakeholders, not just performance reviews and project meetings. I would create a cadence to talk beyond deliverables, to understand their world, their pressures, and what success looks like for them.

I would communicate more deliberately when things are going well, and even more so when things are difficult. And I would make sure I was solving problems that mattered to the business, not only those that were visible within the center. Visibility in a global organization does not happen by accident. It has to be intentional.

Especially in a GCC, doing good work is not enough if the people who matter do not see it, hear about it, understand it, or experience you as part of their extended team. The distance tax is real, but it can be managed. It requires deliberate relationships, thoughtful communication, and the humility to recognize that impact is not only about delivery. It is also about whether the right people understand the value, complexity, and courage behind that delivery.

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