Per LöfgrenYou work with helping companies develop their strategy and implement it. What is it that drives you?

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I like to contribute where I work. If I and the people I work with can help make their companies better and all their employees feel better, then I'm happy. If we can also shift to a more sustainable business model and be a small part of solving the big societal problems, I will be even happier!
How can you think and act as a company when times are as uncertain as they are now?

The foundations of good crisis management are built in everyday life. One thing that has helped me is to work a lot on building trust and confidence in the board and management team. It becomes so much easier to work with difficult issues then - and this applies to all leaders in the company. If all leaders understand how to build trust and commitment in their teams and help teams become self-governing, it's much easier to deal with both external and internal adversity.

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I like to have a well-developed strategy, business model and implementation plan that the board and management team agree on. They should agree on where the company is going in the short and long term, why the company exists and what the key building blocks are to get the company there. I also try to find ways of working where the board helps the CEO and management team to develop the strategy and business model. Then the management team implements the plan and the board supports and follows up on the implementation. I think it's important that the board's and management's "annual cycle" is synchronized and promotes cooperation. This makes it easier to replace building blocks in the plan and to adjust the details when necessary.

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When external or internal setbacks occur, communication becomes even more important! If everyone has a clear picture of what needs to happen in the coming year and there is a good dialog, I feel it will be easier to capture opportunities that emerge, speed up some projects or investments and slow down others when needed. A good tool is to decide in which scenario we need to make which decisions, where the decisions should be anchored and taken, for example to prioritize or stop development projects or to dismiss employees. Being prepared makes it easier to make decisions.

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How are you affected by the fact that times are uncertain?

It is clear that many players are cautious at the moment, while other parts of the economy are in full swing. New orders are declining and margins are being squeezed in the retail and construction sectors, for example, while the export industry is still doing well. I feel that the uncertainty in external factors is causing some companies that are still doing well to act cautiously. One challenge is to continue working on the transition to sustainable business models when order intake is declining and margins are under pressure.

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