As the new CEO of Bisnode, I realised that there was one issue that stood out as on of the most important to solve: renewing the agreement that Bisnode had with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). The existing one was about to expire and there was a great deal of uncertainty about what the future would look like.

Bisnode was the world’s largest partner of Worldwide Network D&B and the business volume we generated in this area accounted for a significant part of Bisnode’s total turnover.

We had a qualified team from our side that was dedicated to working with the D&B team to create the conditions to be able to sign a new strategic partnership agreement. But it was very complicated and there were many competitors who also raised their hands, and who were more than happy to take over this agreement with the venerable D&B.

I didn’t like the idea of “hoping for the best” – I wanted to actively get in to the game to try to improve our odds of winning the contract. So I wrote a letter to the then CEO of D&B, Sara Mathew. “Hello, Sara. I am the new CEO of Bisnode. Of all the people I need to meet as new CEO of Bisnode, you are the most important! Please give me an address in any place on earth that suits you best, and I will come there at short notice…”

The meeting with Sara and then other people from her management team was the start of an inspiring development journey together with D&B. We made progress in our negotiations and were able to sign a new long-term cooperation agreement.

When Sara left, @Bob Carrigan took over. Bob and I met more and more often to discuss how we could maximise the power of our collaboration. I actively promoted the idea that we at Bisnode should contribute to strengthening and developing the spirit of cooperation throughout the Worldwide Network.

The trust between our companies and between our teams grew and I remember with pride how one day I was invited to D&B HQ in New York to share my view of leadership and how we were working to develop Bisnode.

Today, Bisnode no longer exists as an individual company – the company has been acquired by … D&B. All’s well that ends well …

hashtag#Leadership, hashtag#Partnership

Below a picture from my visit to D&B headquarters in New Jersey