You have been working in boards for the last 10 years in parallel with heavy operational roles, what tips do you have for others who want to reach a similar position as yours?

The most important quality as a leader and board member is self-awareness. You need to know yourself to lead others. I know what I am interested in, what knowledge I have and how I can manage my time. I'm very clear about that when I take on new assignments. I have high integrity and energy and I like to have fun. If the companies see that I add value and the chemistry is right, then it will be good.
Working with several companies at the same time enriches me, but is not something I can recommend to everyone. It energizes me and adds value, but I'm probably not quite normal. I am driven by challenges and change and love working with challenging people. I use experience and knowledge from different industries and create value that would not have been possible if I had only had one job.


You took on the role of CEO at digital agency Creuna almost 2 years ago, how do you work as CEO with the company's culture and values?

A bit cliché perhaps but very true "culture eats strategy for breakfast". In the five CEO jobs I've had, culture has always been the key to the solution. Creuna was in a difficult phase when I took over as CEO. We needed to find a new backbone and show what strength we have. So the management team and I started working in a structured way on what Creuna is and our values from the ground up. We reviewed the vision, mission, business goals and developed new values that reflected the new Creuna. We introduced goal management and worked actively with the leaders. Then I added my whole personality to show that you can play and have fun if you can also be very professional, humble and deliver the highest quality. In one year, we managed to turn the culture around and today we work according to our strong values - love what you do, always connect and Boldly go beyond. This has allowed us to attract new customers and win awards at a rapid pace.

What is the biggest challenge for Creuna today?
Definitely the shortage of labor. There is extreme pressure in our industry. The pace of change is increasing exponentially and our customers are screaming for digital transformation and customer experience. At the same time, the competition for labor is total. We are competing with everything and everyone for the best skills. We're solving this by working in partnership with our clients and building a strong and clear culture for our people.

What is the most exciting thing at Creuna right now?
At the beginning of 2019, we picked up an initiative from our Creunians (Creuna employees). We started a sustainability initiative where we work on three levels. The first level is internal. We joined the Breakit Impact Challenge to find out how sustainable we are and how we could carbon offset. The internal project has meant that today we are climate neutral. We have turned everything around, even our diet. At Creuna, vegetarianism is the norm. If you want animal protein, you have to order special food. The second level is external - how do we team up with individuals, companies, the industry and others to influence the world towards the UN climate goals? We have several partnerships in the pipeline that will be launched in 2020. The third level is the most important - how can we make an impact through our work? We created the Creuna Climate Review, which is integrated into Creuna's methodology and development process and aims to make our customers aware of how they can become more climate neutral.