Johan Segergren and Stefan Wikström are a radar couple in HR Sweden who met at the fast-growing Proffice IT in the late 90s. One month before September 11, 2001, they established Wise Consulting AB, which would become Sweden's first slightly larger and organized consulting company in HR with the slogan "Business-driven HR". After being acquired in 2005, they were on a fantastic growth journey in what would become Wise Group AB, a company characterized by rapid organic and acquired growth with a strong culture as the foundation of the business. Since spring 2019, they now run Andpartners Nordic AB (& Partners in everyday speech) with a focus on People & Business Excellence and Leadership Management. The company has gotten off to a strong start in HR-Consulting, HR-Search and Management Consulting. The Radar couple has many plans for the future and a strong belief in the link between ambitious HR work and successful and sustainable business.

You both have extensive experience in starting companies and growing them into successful businesses. Now you are doing it again through &Partners. What are the biggest lessons you have learned, and how can you use them to grow your business sustainably?

There is one key where we have really practiced what we preach, and that is to never neglect the recruitment of hired consultants as well as partners. We want to find those who show a genuine commitment, a curiosity and a strong will to contribute to succeed together. Another lesson is that challenges are a natural part of your everyday life as a manager or entrepreneur, accept them - look at them from the outside - discuss and consult - act, preferably at a fairly high speed. It has been a successful formula for creating sustainable growth.


During the Corona pandemic, Sweden's leaders and the existing leadership are put to the test. How will this shape the role of leaders going forward?

The crisis creates a humility among both managers and employees that nothing can be taken for granted, we are quite convinced of that. This will create opportunities for greater unity behind the company's mission and culture, but it will also place greater demands on leaders to formulate and communicate mission statements and values in a better way. What we look forward to analyzing in the future is whether, in this "fast" time we live in, we quickly return to old footsteps or whether there will be major permanent changes.

The "GIG economy" tends to evolve, and current forms of employment are dissolving. What is your prediction, what does the future labor market look like?

Our prediction is that the GIG economy has received a huge extra boost from 10 good years, where many have dared to step into the GIG sector. We believe that the Corona crisis will cause quite a few people to return to a life as an employee again, but that this change is temporary. In the long run, organizations' great need for agility should benefit the GIG economy as companies' needs for both the amount of skills and the need for different specialists vary so much over time.