I got the question, in connection with it becoming official that I would become vice president where I am now. Are you going to take your place now? What are you thinking? Will you step forward now and take your place?
That comment stuck with me. Step forward and take my place. I’m good. I’m tremendously good at my job. I am competitive, determined and over the years I have become better at running businesses forward than many men my age and in my industry do. Because I have to. I have worked all my working life in IT, which when I started consisted of less than 10% women and now stands at around 30%. I know budget, forecast on the penny when. I can see the goal that exists in ten to twenty years, make strategies for how we get there, I understand more technology than I need. I can work methodically and patiently, but above all I can see overall pictures. I have been involved in running projects worth many millions, I have worked with customers who turn over billions. I have been in smelters, traveled in mines that have more than 40 km of paved road underground, been with customers outside Sweden and gained insight into what strip mining is. My choice of profession has given me the privilege of working in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and the USA.
I have noticed a difference in how I look at a managers and leaders role compared to many. And that is that I am completely convinced that we must change how we look at successful leaders and how we create success.
How do you measure success? How do you know you have succeeded? When are YOU the BEST leader?
Is it when I get the Tag Heuer watch because I was elected Leader of the Year? When I get to talk to 700 people about my view on leadership? Or is it when I get to have my father, who in many ways laid the foundation for how I look at leadership, in the audience at a leadership event when I give a lecture on why I lead as I do?
Of course that means something to me and that I’m proud!
….but…
What really matters to me is when people I have around me and that I am responsible for somewhat feel safe and step forward. Take a step up and take their place. Dare to write the certificate with the risk of “failing”, challenge themselves to lead interviews with potential colleagues even though you do not yet see yourself as the fantastic role model you are, dare to expose yourself and your feelings for me even though we are at work, write fantastic blogs even though it doesn’t feel comfortable. When people know that every tag-line or word of value is for real and not just talk. I look forward to when we as “leaders” understand, right in the stomach and heart, that the only thing we have as our main task is to ensure that everyone around us who is on a journey to the next step, is given the opportunity to take that step. It’s not about strategies or hidden agendas. When we release, enable and see people’s potential, there is no stopping what will be achieved.
Having said that. I have taken my place 😊 The energy I get and my feeling of success is not in my title or position. It lies in all the people around me who take their place more and more every day. So today I want to thank ❤️
I want to thank those who let me find out what my leadership philosophy is and let me practice, fail and succeed over the years and I want to thank all the amazing people who work with me today. I’ll quote Buzz Lightyear.
❤️✨ To infinity and beyond ✨❤️
