Our quest is to unfold what has made us successful in the past and what will make us successful in the future. We will shed light on some of the challenges and questions we are facing in the near future that our Nordic CEOs and boards will have to respond to. THE FOUR PILLARS OF NORDIC LEADERSHIP Based on our interviews with Nordic leaders, we have identified four defining pillars in the Nordic way of leading businesses. Each pillar is a theme in itself that presents us with key questions on how to grow and develop our Nordic businesses and consequently our societies: PILLAR 1 – TRUST Trust is a fundamental value that our Nordic societies – and businesses – have been built on and still rely on today. Lars Sandahl Sørensen, CEO of DI, has a succinct statement on trust in Nordic societies: ”The Nordic model of society is characterised by a high degree of trust in authorities, individuals and structures. It is a Scandinavian trait that we keep our word. We are doing well because we do not cheat on the scales. Our trust-based society is under pressure, and we must do everything we can to protect it. We will undermine our own competitive strength if we abandon the concept of trust” Is it true this fundamental characteristic is under pressure? What will be the consequences if we abandon trust as a pillar in Nordic businesses and societies– and what can we as Nordic leaders do to turn the development around? PILLAR 2 – SCALE Scale – or maybe lack hereof – is another fundamental pillar as we in the Nordics create a lot of innovation through small and medium sized businesses. But successful start-ups are often divested before reaching their full potential. Is this sustainable or do we need to learn how to scale our businesses in order to compete globally? Jonas Hemmingsen, Nordic CEO of GroupM offers his perspective on this: “We see a stronger entrepreneurial culture with many young people who innovate and succeed in launching, scaling and selling their business […] In the Nordics we are good at combining a business / entrepreneurial mindset with strong innovation and digital skills. But we must be better at capturing the benefit of that as a society! Often, the valuable start-ups move abroad, raise even more capital and down the line exit to an international player or IPO – e.g., Unity, Skype, iZettle, and that does not generate a lot of new jobs locally, but create even more enthusiasm for joining local start-ups.” We often praise the small and agile companies in the Nordics, who can quickly adjust to market needs and develop new innovative ideas. But we are in a “new wave” of globalisation, dominated by big players and platforms. And to create sustainable growth and wealth in all dimensions, we need to constantly challenge ourselves. Is a position as ‘greenhouse’ and ‘sub-supplier’ in the global value chain sustainable in the long run? Or do we also need to have the ability to build and scale companies within the Nordics? 4
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