Your best decisions shouldn't always be made at HQ
Madrid, October 7 2026 -ÌýOne of the easiest traps for a growing business is to confuse control with leadership.
As organizations become larger and more complex, the instinct is often to centralize: more processes, more approvals, more decisions moving upwards.
Sometimes that is necessary.
But I have learned that some of the best decisions in a business are the ones that never need to reach the CEO’s desk.
At Parques Reunidos, we operate parks across very different European markets. The person sitting at headquarters will never understand a guest in Oslo, Bottrop, Ravenna, or Antibes as well as a strong local team does.
And we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
My role as CEO is not to make every decision.
It is to create the conditions for the right people to make the right decisions: with the right information, clear standards, strong accountability and, above all, trust.
But trust only works when there is clarity.
What is non-negotiable?
Where do we benefit from acting as one company?
Where does scale genuinely make us better?
And where should we step back and let the people closest to our guests decide?
We have worked hard over recent years to find that balance.
We share capabilities, expertise, technology, and standards across the Group. At the same time, our Park General Managers have clear accountability for their businesses and the authority to make decisions close to their teams and guests.
The result isn't less control.
It is better ownership.
And for me, that is one of the clearest signs of a healthy organization: not how many decisions reach the top, but how many good decisions are made without needing to.
Pascal Ferracci, Parques Reunidos Chief Executive Officer
