Together with the company DGC, you were part of a real success story, what driving forces and characteristics are needed to enable such a journey?
We kept going for just over 25 years before we made our exit and it would never have worked if we hadn't had a lot of fun along the way. We were a group of competitive guys and girls who got along well and complemented each other, that brings success. I may have the ability to surround myself with good people.
What is a meaningful life for you and how have you managed to combine family and six children with a long career as CEO?
The combination of a large family and a CEO job is probably only possible if your partner takes the main responsibility at home, so I have to thank my wife Lotta for that. A meaningful life is a life in love, and with small children you bathe in it (and lego bricks and snotty tissues), being needed creates meaning, of course that also applies in working life.
You have now lived in Paris for just over a year, what valuable insights and thoughts about the next phase of your life has the time there with your family given you?
When you are a CEO and receive 100 emails a day and employees are queuing to talk to you, you feel very needed, you can easily believe that you as a person are indispensable to the company. The same day you step down, you realize it was just a role you had on loan, and it becomes very quiet. It is a tough transition. The relationships that are real come to the fore, to family and friends, and interests that have previously taken a back seat. Now I know that you can live a good life without being a stock market CEO. But at the same time, I've started to long to go back there, it's a lot of fun to work.