A young, driven and innovative leader. Ellen leads a successful family business that runs a few hotels.

Why have you chosen to be a leader; what drives you?
The big reason why I have chosen to be a leader is that I found a passion for the service industry early on. Partly because as a leader in this industry, you get to meet a lot of different types of wonderful people with very mixed backgrounds. But also because it is an industry where good leadership is of great importance because it is so hugely important to create a workplace where staff thrive. Because if the staff are happy, the guests are happy, which is the most important thing for running a successful hotel.
When I studied Hospitality Management at Glion in Switzerland, I got to see how the status of the industry looked different in the rest of the world compared to Sweden. What I want to bring is workplaces where people are proud and to continue to work with and raise the status of the industry. Working in service is extremely dynamic and fun, no two days are the same.

You are relatively young. How do your coworkers notice this?
The positive thing about my age is that I pick up on trends quickly and am always hungry to develop the product, which I hope creates an innovative and dynamic workplace. This, combined with the fact that I am involved in running a family business, means that I am extra passionate about my job, which I think my colleagues notice.
Then, of course, many situations that arise are completely new to me, but I think it will always be more or less like that because it is a leadership role that covers a lot of different areas of work. So I will probably never be fully learned, but must see it as an opportunity to constantly develop.

There is a lot of talk about sustainability and sustainable leadership. How do you work with it?
Sustainable leadership is extremely important because the industry has a high staff turnover where stress and high tempo are commonplace. That's why we work with continuous employee surveys and conversations with staff. Even though I know my staff very well and can quickly sense if something is wrong, it is important to have a routine and a system where we constantly take the pulse of the organization to be able to act early if something is wrong. Our entire workforce has also been given the opportunity to undergo a free health examination to get help with both physical and mental problems. This has really been a recipe for success for us as I see that we have lower staff turnover than the hotels I have worked at before.
Sustainability is of course an important part today, we work constantly with local suppliers in both hotel and restaurant operations to have as little climate impact as possible. In the restaurant and breakfast, in addition to this, we work hard with seasonal ingredients and always good vegan and vegetarian options. Today, sustainability should be a hygiene factor and something you live with every day!