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.