Excited young people are swimming in the pleasant summer evening. The water is black and still. The harbour lights spread a strong, yellowish glow that illuminates the foam from irregular swimming strokes. Amused, we follow them attentively from the tranquillity of the cockpit of one of the boats in the harbour. They are getting nearer and nearer.
Suddenly, one of them notices us and shouts: “Turn round, there’s no party here, it’s just a bunch of pensioners!” He points disappointedly at us. As on a given signal, the group turns and swims away quickly, shouting happily, to another part of the harbour where the music is getting louder and louder. We look at each other. Pensioners?
Sure, we’re all in our 40s, but still. The realisation hits me. Until that moment I saw myself as a young person. Vital, eager to change and move forward. Admittedly a bit more rigid, more inflexible, and with grey streaks in my hair. Days become years and sometimes your concept of time changes. It’s what you don’t notice when you go to work, day after day.
Twenty years have passed since I walked through the entrance and into the company for real. Then, I used to run with my bike over my shoulder on the way to work if there was too much snow; my physical energy was different then. Ten years have also passed since I took over as CEO of our family company Järnmalmer. At a time when the world seems to be spinning a little quicker. A time of rapid change when the view of work has been reshaped. An average business leader in Sweden has been in office for about 3.5 years. I think of all the years it has taken to get to know the business, learn it from the ground up, understand the culture and its core. Everything has different perspectives. My predecessor, who was my father, was in this position for 40 years.
Half of all companies started in Sweden close within 10 years. Within 20 years, almost two out of three have disappeared. As a business leader, you have the task of ensuring the company’s survival. Deliver now and simultaneously develop the business so that it can live tomorrow. A crucial factor is to get the organization involved, to work with the corporate culture. It is often easier to draw up strategies and plans, talk about goals and sales. It is said culture eats strategy for breakfast, and there is a lot in that.
By spending more time with cultural issues, I find that you can get people to flourish and pull in the same direction and then sales and targets take care of themselves. Regardless of the time perspective, the key is as a business leader to inspire, push the boundaries and be inquisitive and drive a constant process of change. It is the constant change that takes us further, adapts us to reality, and that preserves our legacy.
Mattias Malmer
CEO
