Tag Archive for: leadership

In the Midst of Cultural Differences – Leadership in Europe and in Asia

Over the past 18 months, I have had a great opportunity in being given the responsibility for a mix of teams from Europe and Asia and I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned in the process of effecting change.

Leader Plays a Big Role in Meaningful Volunteer Work

Four years ago I was studying in Santiago, Chile. During my studies, I got to know a few really great people also from El Salvador, which is a small, beautiful developing country in Central America. A year later, when back in Finland, I invited them to join my birthday party. Of course they couldn't travel across the world, but this invitation led to something bigger.

Bean Bags and Circus Tricks Won’t Change the Corporate Culture for Better

”Corporate culture is all that happens when nobody’s looking.” This is how William Wolfram, the founder of DealDash, defined corporate culture to me. I haven’t yet found a better definition for corporate culture anywhere and believe me, I’ve tried. William’s definition captures the meaningfulness of corporate culture very well; culture affects everything and on all levels of the organization. For your organization, corporate culture can either be a strength or your biggest obstacle to success.

Successful Marketing is Human-to-Human – Serve, Listen and Meet Your Clients as People

As an entrepreneur, I’m a very satisfied customer of Tommi Kivistö. He sells me the phones I need and takes care of the cell phone plans. He makes sure I’m satisfied and explains all the bureaucracy in a way I can understand. The new logo of the Finnish operator Elisa decorates his workspace. Sometimes I wonder, how that money could’ve been spent to train other people to be more like Tommi. Because that’s what marketing and selling to human beings is all about: encounters and experience.

Knowledge Doesn’t Change People’s Behavior – Great Leaders Do

The act of managing should have consequences. Either you should change your behavior or make a conscious decision to carry on your work in the same way as before. You need knowledge to understand, which direction you should manage the behaviors. But don’t believe in the illusion that you could actually manage or lead with knowledge.