Johan has a knack for translating high-level business problems into technical opportunities – a skill that he believes is all about assembling the right team, being resilient and always learning from his experiences. His natural curiosity and refusal to fear failure helps him to find the hidden opportunities in any situation he encounters.
I enjoy conversations with individuals who have a completely different perspective to me just as much as I like talking to like-minded people – the common thread is that they’re passionate about their interests. I see myself as a generalist as I’m inspired by a whole range of things in a lot of different fields.
Everything I’ve worked on has had the internet at its core – I’ve been a consultant for 20 years, but I have also worked as a developer, solution architect, tech lead and product owner in various industries and countries. I also once co-founded my own company, which I ran for a few years. It was a good experience and it taught me a lot – for example, that it’s not enough to have a kick-ass tech product and idea, you also need momentum in sales and other areas of expertise. The best results always come from a team effort where everyone pools their skills, ideas and perspectives together.
Depending on the size of the challenge, firstly I think about how to tackle it and who to collaborate with. When you gather the right team at an early stage, including tech people, engineers and stakeholders, it’s much easier to find the right path forward. Once you find the right people, the opportunities are generally quick to present themselves.
This is a difficult question! Now we’re a year and a half into the pandemic, I’d say it’s to embrace the new normal. I hope that many businesses take the opportunity to evolve new ways of working and find opportunities based on the new situation we’re all living through.
Both on a personal level and in business, I get really enthusiastic when talking to people about everything from their subculture to what they do for a living. I enjoy conversations with individuals who have a completely different perspective to me just as much as I like talking to like-minded people – the common thread is that they’re passionate about their interests. I see myself as a generalist as I’m inspired by a whole range of things in a lot of different fields.
I believe the best way is to be continuously interested in things, to learn and improve over time – and have fun while you’re doing it! Then you’ll be happy and the team around you will be too. It’s also important to embrace failure – fail fast and move forward, bringing the learning with you.
I try to clear my mind by doing exercise and prioritising time with my friends and family. I also get out into nature to get some headspace, perhaps to a summer cottage in the Swedish archipelago. The Nordic way of life is great for getting away from it all, but it’s important to involve other people when things are difficult. Building a team is important in life as well as at work – don’t be a one-man island!
I believe in accepting change – it is what it is and fighting it will only make your life harder. Instead, be practical, find a pragmatic way forward, adapt and make the best of it. Even the changes that are hardest to accept will often lead to new and interesting opportunities.
Definitely the people and the culture. Both here in Stockholm and at our other offices you see like-minded people sharing a lot, and it’s always a diverse crowd. There are a lot of nationalities in the Stockholm office and even the locals share an international mindset. Our office is rather small, but we have a lot of cross-site collaboration which I love, as well as a really organic way of knowledge-sharing between sites.
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