In this episode of Nordic Leaders: Fail Smart, we welcome back Jarmo Suominen, CEO of Rejlers Abu Dhabi, marking his second appearance on the podcast—our first returning guest! We explore leadership lessons from one of the UAE's fastest-growing professional services firms, diving into resilience, growth, and adapting to an ever-changing business landscape. Key Takeaways: 1. Focus and Learning from Failure: ?️ Focus on the task at hand and avoid over-planning. ?️ "When you’re somewhere, focus on what you’re doing. When you’ve had enough, start looking for something else." 2. Leading Through Cri ..read more

?️"Create habits that create a good life." In this episode we catch up with Taneli Rantala, CEO of Lifted, and dip in to highlights of Taneli's journey from a strategy consultant to a visionary entrepreneur.  Taneli´s philosophy emphasizes the importance of leadership style, organizational culture, personal development, and taking hard decisions to create successful, resilient leaders. Listen in to get insights into ?Enhancing organizational culture and productivity. ?Creating a consistent, coherent leadership approach. ?Developing team "coffee and success" practices for a positive gro ..read more

A warm and polished performance from Dutch organizational theorist Fons Trompenaars, recognized around the world for his work as a motivational speaker, consultant, and author of several books on culture and business. He spent over 30 years helping Fortune 500 leaders build meaningful connections to manage and solve business and cultural dilemmas to increase global effectiveness and performance. Recognized by Thinkers 50 as one of the most influential management thinkers in the world, Fons was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 alongside Peter Drucker.  Don’t miss this action, learni ..read more

“Everyone should do something to make the world a better place.”  Listen in to the inspiring tale of 17000+ vegetable boxes and recipes delivered to Finnish families.    The social economy in the EU comprises 2.8 million enterprises and organizations, 13.6 million jobs and 8% of GDP. It’s an important part of the economy, and the influence is increasing - so it was high time we invited Emilia Järvinen , co-founder of Venner, on to the pod to hear the story of rapid growth and social impact.   In just three years Venner has expanded from the original web-shop for groce ..read more

Welcome to Season 4 of the Nordic Leaders Podcast! In this episode we interview André Noël Chaker, speaker, entrepreneur, executive and lawyer that came from Canada to Finland 30 years ago. What we cover: André's beginnings and his move from Quebec to Finland (4:54) What Arnold Schwarzenegger taught him (6:09) How he turned a hobby into a profession (and got all these cool "gigs") (9:23) Trust as a key driver of value (14:06) The essence of great speaking  (20:14) The secret of his success (22:05) His upcoming book "Speak or Die" and why he wrote it (25:14) Gratitude A fantastic and c ..read more

What is Alexander Stubb, former prime minister and politician and now Director at the School of Transnational Governance, hopeful about in the future of Europe? How does he manage to achieve so much in life (and does he think of himself as an overachiever)? What's the problem with how media tell the world? And what's their role in the future? How is life after politics? What is leadership in today's world? What can the Nordics export to the rest of the world, and what should they import? Who will win the premier league this season?  Tune in to hear about these and more into this episode ..read more

Camilla Tuominen is a speaker, illustrator, author and former CEO & co-founder of Emotion Tracker. Camilla talks with energy to David and Nick about showing-up and being authentic managing emotional energy producing better results in the virtual world and having the courage to be herself Great fun returning to season 2 of the podcast! Please contact ..read more

Tim Segaller, leadership coach, resilience trainer and co-founder of Rising Minds – a social enterprise providing life coaching and mindfulness training – chats with Nick Vertigans and David Goddard about His personal journey into mindfulness What mindfulness is and what it isn’t How mindfulness helps “to and step into a more intentional, conscious state” How ..read more

In this insightful episode of Fail Smart, we sit down with Asko Känsälä, former Deputy CEO of Elisa, a leading telecommunications company in Finland. Known for his sharp thinking and profound insights, Asko shares the experiences, philosophies, and failures that have shaped his leadership journey. Together with Asko we explore what it means to lead with empathy, balance, and impactful simplicity. Key Takeaways from the Episode: Failures and Successes Don’t Define Us: Asko discusses his belief that failures and successes, while part of business, don’t shape identity. Instead, it’s about exper ..read more

Natal Dank is the Co-founder of PXO Culture, Chief Trendwatcher at the HR Trend Institute and named one of the Most Influential HR Thinkers of 2022 by HR Magazine.  Recognized as a pioneer of Agile in the people profession, Natal hosted the first London-based Agile HR Meetup in 2016, which has since grown into a global movement reshaping the L&D and people profession. Helping to make workplaces the kind of places people want to be a part of. She is co-author of; Agile HR: Deliver Value in a Changing World of Work & author of recently released; Agile L&D: A Toolkit to Impr ..read more