During my long period as CEO of Atea Sverige, I had the privilege of building strong relationships and trust with individuals throughout the company. Despite our extensive presence, with over 2,000 employees across 30 offices, I was known as ‘Lasse’ to almost everyone.
This personal connection and friendship in the company fostered trust and enabled us to act swiftly and flexibly, resulting in remarkable innovation and new solutions. With the aspiration of becoming the national leader in IT infrastructure, we maintained high ambitions and pursued excellence relentlessly.
I recall visiting one of the most senior professors at the Swedish ”Handelshögskolan” to share insights into our culture, agility, and commitment to our values. I emphasized how we lived these principles and were achieving remarkable results. I suggested starting a research project to help other companies to learn from the effectiveness of our truly value-based approach. Unfortunately, I was unable to convince the professor to undertake this venture…
Nevertheless, I am still confident that we had discovered a winning formula for running a company.
Let me share a memory from one of our kickoffs (Atea was well-known for organizing exceptional kickoffs).
We invited a keynote speaker who has addressed numerous companies worldwide. Upon entering the packed auditorium filled with employees from all offices, he turned to me and remarked, ‘Lars, what is this…? I have visited countless companies globally, but the energy and spirit in this room are truly world-class…’
I expressed my gratitude and told him that it was my passion to explore how good we could be!
The picture from a Atea-kickoff. As you can see, we are dressed in national team uniforms…
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Atea – winning together with friends
