World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim held an 18-hour, marathon video conference on Wednesday with the heads of the bank's over 100 global offices.

The video conference was part of Kim's efforts to listen directly to the voices of field staffers on how to reform the bank. It began with each field office being connected with the World Bank's headquarters in Washington D.C. during their respective daytime hours. Since it tracked the sun's trajectory around the globe, it was dubbed "follow the sun."

The meeting began with field staffers in the Middle East at 6 a.m., moving on to Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, East Asia and West Asia. The final video conference ended close to midnight in Washington.

"Most other executives joined the meeting only when their respective regions were involved, but Kim was present all the time, presiding over the meetings and participating in discussions, except for 20-minute breaks between sessions," a World Bank spokesman claimed.