Malin, you have built up 2050 Consulting in Linköping. What are your driving forces?
When you work with climate and sustainability issues every day, you realize how big the challenge is to transform our society, and also how urgent it is. Getting to work with companies that want to change their way of doing business and take greater responsibility is extremely fun. In addition, getting to coach others and support employees to contribute to customers' transformation is a bonus. The more talented employees 2050 has, the more we can scale up the effect of our work. Many of those we employ are young and extremely competent, which in itself gives a lot of energy. We can really learn from each other and together achieve good results. I also think it's fun that the Linköping office is 2050's second largest office (after the head office which is located in Stockholm).

People sometimes talk about sustainable leadership. What do you put into that concept?
For me, sustainable leadership is about long-term thinking and responsibility. The company's long-term development and profitability depend on the company taking responsibility for the consequences of the business, both positive and negative, and internal and external. A company that, for example, causes large climate-related emissions, negatively affects biological diversity, uses materials or products that are not produced with fair working conditions or allows corrupt business methods, will not survive in the long run. In any case, the value increase of the company will be poor. So for me, the responsibility towards people and the planet is closely linked to the responsibility towards owners and employees. A leadership that includes sustainability as a natural part of the business is therefore good leadership. But maybe that's being a bit high-flown. You can see it as simply cleaning up your own mess, respecting nature and not treating others in a way that you don't want to be treated yourself. Then you will go far.
You are very involved in the climate issue. How do you handle working with customers who are not prepared to change?
The fact is that it happens quite rarely that I come across companies that do not want to find ways to become more sustainable. Partly perhaps they do not turn to 2050, partly we have a principle that we turn down assignments that we suspect are more about "greenwashing" than anything else. When it happens, it is usually about individuals in the company who are skeptical. By listening to their thoughts and trying to understand why they are skeptical, and ensuring that we understand the core of the business and what is really important to address, you usually get those who are initially averse on board. But, with that said, it is clear that I sometimes get frustrated that it is going so slowly, and that you sometimes bring in completely irrelevant perspectives in the decisions about how to move forward. In those cases, I can sometimes be happy to be a consultant and be able to move on and work with someone who wants more and faster!