and the next day.
Lars,
I've invited you in here because I can't think of anyone but you who
speaks with more CXOs about the world and what's happening out there.
And
I have a question for you.
All this both end or paradox mindset,
is it real?
Do you hear it?
I hear it all the time.
I hear it in different formats.
Why?
Because it becomes such a complex world.
How many solutions are black and white?
How many situations are black and white?
Basically,
it's very few things that you can say
you can only do it this way or that way.
That is right, that is wrong.
So each time you find a dilemma or an opportunity,
challenge,
you need to find your way through it.
And those situations change all the time.
And therefore,
you need to find,
in many circumstances,
you need to consider many aspects to find the right solutions.
And therefore,
often you end up with thinking,
at least,
both ways.
And practically,
what are some of those competing demands that you hear about?
Well,
the competing demands is that if the majority of your key employees
wants a really good purpose
and don't really care about your bottom line,
and all your owners predominantly care about your bottom line,
you kind of need to go both ways.
And therefore,
you need to be able to combine it.
And I'm amazed of how many people,
individuals,
and companies who actually succeed in doing that.
And find ways that we would just a few
years ago never would have thought possible.
What are some of the
most pressing, competing dilemmas that
the people you talk to are challenged with?
The key dilemmas right now is,
one,
what do you bring to the world?
And how do you make a business out of it?
How do you attract the right people and retain the right
people with a purpose and with a willingness to give?
If you go to Silicon Valley now,
the first question you'll get,
what problem in the world are you solving?
Just a few years ago,
you know,
what's your business case?
And of course,
you need to consider that all the time.
And you have massive constraints in terms of climate,
in terms of geopolitical tensions,
in terms of unknowing financial markets.
How to attract employees.
So you have these huge challenges that
cannot be solved by yourself alone.
So you need to work with others.
And when you need to work with others,
you need to find the right solutions
and consider both ends of the equation.
And in your own leadership,
does this sit in you?
Like,
is it actually a mindset that you go into conversations with?
Often it is.
And it's often a situation where you want
to try to understand what's going on.
The other side.
Yes. And what's the reverse?
What could be the reverse argument of this?
And look at the tensions in the world now.
Look at how we geopolitically,
you know,
go into the same room with totally different approaches.
If you only understand your own approach on this,
if you only accept your own approach
and your own way of doing things,
you will end up losing.
The other dimension to this,
I think,
which is important is that nobody can succeed alone.
Everybody needs partnerships.
All types of partnerships.
All types of partnerships.
You know, going to market, R&D,
or private-public partnerships with different interests.
If you have an ability to think in this manner,
then you have a real,
true opportunity of succeeding in your partnerships.
Also unusual partnerships.
If you cannot do that,
basically you end up working with yourself.
And that's, one, pretty boring.
Two, for sure, unsuccessful.
So if you take the square root of the three most surfaced
dilemmas or issues from your conversations with leaders,
what are those three?
Right now,
it's one,
attracting and keeping the right human capital,
the right talent,
no matter where in the world, actually,
and making sure that that's sustainable.
Two is how to utilize technology of today
and tomorrow in the best possible way.
And three,
I would say,
and three,
I would say is how to lead and navigate in a world of true
constant change where the only constant is constant change.
And how do you embed that into your
organization and still keep a direction?
When you speak to CEOs,
what are the most pressing dilemmas or paradoxes that they sit with?
I think in terms of paradoxes,
how do you continue to be a successful
company in an owner's perspective?
And how at the same time do you actually show and do you
actually create value to the world on a continuous basis?
I think that is probably the key dilemma.
And then,
of course,
it's a dilemma when you have public
opinion changing so much all the time.
So you end up with a very few countries in
the world where you can actually deal with.
Because there are all these public issues that you need to consider.
And I think that is true dilemmas.
You've seen it in many different ways.
And your competitors might still be operating in country X and
you shouldn't because your interests are outside of that country,
because you're forced to be outside of that country.
So there are constantly big dilemmas like that.
Is this the end of the epoch where leaders were kind of
heroic decision makers?
No,
I think you need to be pretty heroic these days.
But you need to be heroic in the way that you accept
that what was a clear cut decision just a few
months ago cannot be a clear cut decision tomorrow.