The CEO of a $4 billion AI-powered business who helps companies hire talent around the world says globalization is ‘accelerating’

Emma HinchliffeBy Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor

Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

Joey AbramsBy Joey AbramsAssociate Production Editor
Joey AbramsAssociate Production Editor

    Joey Abrams is the associate production editor at Fortune.

    Nicole Sahin, CEO and Founder of G-P.
    Nicole Sahin, CEO and Founder of G-P.
    Mark Leibowitz—Laird & Good

    Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Nikki Haley loses in South Carolina, Nextdoor’s CEO is out, and a CEO says globalization is still going strong. Have a productive Monday.

    – Going global. Headlines blare that globalization is in reverse and remote work is over. But G-P founder and CEO Nicole Sahin has built a $4 billion business that declares the opposite. 

    Her company handles the infrastructure that allows employers to hire workers in any country around the world without establishing new corporate entities in compliance with local labor, HR, and tax laws, a lengthy process that is typically required. Workers across sales, AI, and engineering sign employment contracts with G-P; the company they will work for is G-P’s client. 

    Sahin recently talked about building her business—much of which is AI-enabled—on Fortune’s podcast Leadership Next with Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram. 

    “I read the news sometimes about globalization being in retreat, and I think it’s a little absurd,” she says. “There is a movement or like the idea of, ‘Hey, you know, I want to buy from my local grocer. I want to grow my food in my backyard’…But the reality is that our entire economic ecosystem is so interwoven so closely together that any business of any scale ultimately has people and talent from all over the world.” 

    Much of the conversation around changing patterns of globalization is actually about China and companies’ desire to “de-risk” their businesses by avoiding Chinese geopolitics or no longer relying on Chinese supply chains. But Sahin says that “de-risking” is “not just China.” “Smart businesses [are] really spreading out where their talent is…so that their risk isn’t so consolidated in any geo area,” she explains. 

    While employers summon their U.S.-based workers back to the office, this kind of hiring is continuing globally. Sahin says a key to success and culture fit for independent, international workers is purposeful onboarding. Even in countries that were long known for “cheap talent,” individual workers are now commanding compensation closer to western market rates. “It’s a huge leap of faith when somebody takes a job in another country where there’s no other people to rely on and no community or connection,” she says. 

    Learn more about globalization and AI by listening to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Emma Hinchliffe
    emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
    @_emmahinchliffe

    The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.

    ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

    - Last chance. Nikki Haley lost against Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary in her home state of South Carolina. Haley’s 20-point defeat means the former governor and UN ambassador has an infinitesimal chance of thwarting Trump's path to the Republican presidential nomination. Politico

    - Revolving door. Sarah Friar is out as CEO of the neighborhood networking app Nextdoor and will be replaced by Nirav Tolia, the founder she originally succeeded. Friar joined Nextdoor in 2018 after a stint as chief financial officer of Square and oversaw the company's rocky public filing in 2021. Barron's

    - Startup saga. Drama has engulfed Byju's, the edtech business once considered India's most valuable startup. Investors are trying to oust founder and CEO Byju Raveendran and those aligned with him, who include his cofounder and wife Divya Gokulnath. Byju's previous $22 billion valuation at one point made Gokulnath one of the most prominent global female founders. Nikkei Asia

    - Bad influence. A New York Times investigation uncovered thousands of parent-controlled Instagram accounts for young girls that are drawing crowds of adult male subscribers. The parents behind these accounts say the accounts bring in money and help girls who have dreams of becoming influencers, but experts say the phenomenon is dangerous for a new generation of young women. The New York Times

    - Behind the scenes. Erin Hawley is one of the most prominent forces behind abortion restriction efforts in the U.S.—even though many only know her as the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.). A member of the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group, Erin Hawley served as one of the lawyers responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade and will serve as lead attorney on an upcoming case challenging the legality of distributing abortion pills. Politico

    - Making work work. 3M’s “Future of Work manager” Beth Lokken sat down with Fortune to describe her unique role and why she hopes it becomes obsolete. Fortune

    MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Gro Intelligence founder Sara Menker is reportedly out as CEO as the company struggles to make payroll. Vogue China editor Margaret Zhang will exit Condé Nast. 

    ON MY RADAR

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    PARTING WORDS

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    —Dolly Parton, who says she "can't wait" to hear Beyoncé's full country album

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