Friday August 31 – Copenhagen

On the high speed train to Copenhagen.  Today will provide a glimpse into the southern countryside of Sweden as we make our way from Stockholm, passing through Norrköping, Linköping, and Malmö, with final arrival in Copenhagen, Denmark for a weekend of yet another cultural experience. 

Thursday August 30 – Uppsala / Stockholm

Today’s full day of programming began with a trip to Uppsala to return to the Uppsala Science Park and to the University of Uppsala. 

I had the pleasure to meet with Eva Åkesson, Vice Chancellor of Uppsala University.  Eva is the 19th Vice Chancellor to take over leadership of the University, and the first female.  Eva assumed this role in January, leaving her previous position as Vice Chancellor of Lund University.  We met in the Rektor’s office, where Eva is reminded of the leadership of those who have come before her with portraits on the wall, but she is just as interested in looking forward and urging renewal.  This is in part evidenced by her use of social media, such as Twitter, and a blog to keep touch.    Currently 22% of Uppsala University’s full professors are female and the university continues to work towards increasing this percentage.  The University is active in mentoring and ensuring role models are in place.

I spent the next several hours at the Uppsala Science Park interacting with several companies who are working innovation.  I had the opportunity to meet with Christina Frimodig, CEO of STUNS, which is a cooperation between businesses and the university.  The goal of STUNS is to provide a linkage between the research area and private funding to continue innovation with a focus on projects with scalability and transferability.  She also shared her experiences participating on several boards and working for Pharmacia. 

I next had the opportunity to meet the CEO’s of Angstrom Aerospace Corporation (Kjell Bohlin) and IMINT (Harald Klomp).  They shared their passion for technology and how their companies have evolved. 

In the afternoon I met with Ann-Louis Mänsson, Head of the International Department at the Swedish Parliament (Sveriges Riksdag).  Ann-Louise shared her perspectives on leadership and her experience working for both the public and private sector in Sweden.  When asked what she believed were contributors to the success that Sweden has had in promoting gender diversity, she indicated that a long history of social obligation and liberal parental leave were contributors.  She has also seen increases over time of both genders utilizing the provided parental leave. 

Media has also contributed to gender equality.  One specific example was an ad of a famous wrestler holding a baby with the title “Daddy’s Leave”.  This ad was designed to continue to promote the use of at least one month of paternal leave following the birth of a baby. 

 Ann-Louise shared that the public sector has moved faster than the more conservative private sector in terms of achieving gender equality and there is still room for improvement within Sweden in terms of equal pay and continued representation of women on boards.  

Wednesday August 29 – Stockholm –Saab

I was welcomed by Saab today to learn about their product line and company, as well as to exchange dialog with several leading women in business in Sweden.  I had the opportunity to meet with Lena Olving, Deputy CEO & Chief Operating Officer, Gunilla Fransson, Senior Vice President, Security and Defence Solutions,  Security and Communication Division and Annika Bäremo, Senior VP and General Counsel.  Each of these leaders took the time to share their leadership journey, challenges and plans for the future.  Saab is leading the way for change in many areas.



Tuesday August 28 - Uppsala





Annemieke Alenius, Carol Hibbard and Karolina Sidwall

Today was spent focusing on the Science and Technology area in Uppsala, the innovation capital of Sweden.  The first meeting was hosted by the Administrative Director (Annemieke Alenius) and the Marketing Manager (Karolina Sidwall) at the Akademiska Hospital.   Annemieke and Karolina shared an overview of the hospital and some of the unique challenges in leading in the public sector.  They shared how the hospital is incorporating lessons learned from other industry including tele-medicine, and information sharing.  Annemieke shared her thoughts on the contributing factors of Sweden’s success in women in leadership:  childcare structure, liberal parental leave (480 days!) with some of the leave required to be split between the parents, culture - working mothers are the norm.  There are also many programs designed to increase the number of women in leadership roles such as training programs and mentoring programs. 



The afternoon was spent at the Uppsala Innovation Center, hosted by Mr. Lars Olde.  The Uppsala Innovation Center provides a business incubation center for entrepreneurs.  Through the center, entrepreneurs are provided with business resources including Business Coaches from throughout industry.  During a given year, the Uppsala Innovation Center hosts several dozen project ideas in various stages of becoming a business.  Out of 71 companies that have passed through the Incubator Acceleration Phase, 67 are still in business.  Lars attributes the success rate to a stringent screening process for the applicants. 

 

Ms. Kristin Hellman also provided an overview of Uppsala Bio, a non-profit devoted to linking Academia and Industry in the life science area.  They sponsor approximately 5-6 projects each year.  In partnership with Akademiska, they are helping to take entrepreneurial ideas from all employees and turning them into innovations.  78% of the participants have been women. 

Lastly I had the opportunity to meet with the CEO of Arocell, Dr. Anne-Charlotte Aronsson.  Her company participated in the Uppsala Innovation Center Business Incubator project with Dr. Aronsson participating as the Business Coach.  She followed the idea into establishment of the company and became the CEO.  Her perspective on women in leadership is that there is still much progress to be made with women entrepreneurs and she is always looking for ways to promote women in leadership in a highly technical field. 

Monday August 27 - Stockholm



Elisabeth Tarras-Wahlberg, Senior Advisor KREAB Gavin Anderson



Map of Stockholm

I began my fellowship in Stockholm today by meeting with Elisabeth-Tarras-Wahlberg.  She is a Senior Advisor at KREAB Gavin Anderson in Stockholm and also is a consultant for TV4 in Stockholm.  She is former First Marshal of the Court of HRH Crown Princess Victoria and worked in various roles for the Royal Family for 32 years prior to making a life changing decision and took a position in Qatar where she was Diplomatic advisor to HRH Emir of Qatar.   

Her perspective on women in leadership was that there should be more focus on women in top management and leadership positions than just the focus on more women on boards.  Sweden is making progress but Elisabeth believes that Sweden could continue to do more in this area as well. 

She compared and contrasted her leadership experiences in Sweden and in Qatar.   When asked what the key to successful media relations was, it was to keep a continuous open dialog. 

I am pictured here with Elisabeth in front of a cow from The 2004 Cow Parade in Stockholm.  The Cow Parade is an international public art exhibit that features artwork by local artists and after the exhibition, the cows are auctioned off and proceeds donated to charity. 

I also had the opportunity to meet with an advisor to the Governor of Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).  She shared some of her key leadership qualities:  trust, being present, being “prestigeless” (a very common trait here in Sweden), and empowerment. The bank has a very flat organization structure and it is very common for new employees to be given the opportunity to present at key meetings, including board meetings.  Her perspective on how Sweden is doing well in women in leadership roles is flexibility, and companies set diversity goals and measure them.  Her company focuses on achieving gender equality goals for the under-represented gender. 

Late in the day I met with Dr Anna Rathsman, Senior Deputy Vice President at the Swedish Space Corporation.  She is an electrical engineer and has led multiple teams at the company in designing satellites.   This meeting was a nice precursor to a planned trip to Kiruna next week to visit the Esrange space center.  

Sunday August 26 – Arrival in Stockholm!

After multiple transfers and surprisingly no travel issues, Keith and I arrived in Stockholm on Sunday afternoon.  We were greeted by Mr. Martin Brozek who met us right at our gate.  What a wonderful way to be welcomed to Sweden.  We experienced the Arlanda Express from the airport to Stockholm, discussed the program with Martin and experienced some of the city prior to getting some much needed rest. 

Day 1 - Eisenhower Fellowship

 

August 24, 2012 Tomorrow I begin my travels for the 2012 Eisenhower Fellowship.  This experience will take me to Sweden and Finland for a leadership exchange program.  During the next three weeks I will have the opportunity to meet with key leaders in government and industry to engage in dialog on leadership, innovation and culture.  I look forward to key learning with a specific emphasis on Women in Leadership.  Special thanks goes out to my program coordinators in country who have scheduled an outstanding program of events, meetings and cultural immersions.