Roland is a growth leader who knows that success, growth and profitability are created with the help of strong commitment and burning passion among employees and leaders. He was involved in building the successful Wise Group, and today works as CEO of Origo Group.

After being involved in building up Wise Group, you went on to take on a new challenge as CEO in a completely different type of business. What surprised you most in this new context?
After such a long time within one and the same group, I had a good handle on most things in the company regarding operations, business models, services, employees, etc. Suddenly I stood there in a completely new context and industry without either history or further deep knowledge of the business. Something that struck me was how long it takes to deeply understand the new company's all services, business models, pricing. I had an illusion that it will probably go quite quickly, just as long as I put my shoulder to the wheel. But still now after almost a year and a half I do not have full control. Then it is about partly getting that control, partly having great confidence in all colleagues and relying on that they can most things better than I and to be ok with it.
We are a merger of five companies and we work a lot to get it to become one company with a common view of culture, leadership, sales, delivery, etc. I knew that the changes required to get there would take time, but all change takes so much longer than I both thought and hoped. Not least as an inveterate time optimist, I think that everything should go faster.
Another clear thing that has struck me is what enormous differences there can be between two corporate cultures. Despite the fact that both companies are Swedish service companies with mostly academics, it is striking, interesting and fun that there can be such differences.

Many leaders have the ambition to make an industry move and take the step to new challenging areas. What advice do you have for them?
First, it is about deciding in advance that it is what you want to do and be consistent when the questions about new exciting jobs in the same industry come. Then it is about being clear about it already in the first contact with e.g. the recruitment companies. Also be clear about the reasons why and what you think your previous experiences can contribute with in the new industry. Be aware that it probably takes a little longer to find a new job in a new industry compared to going within the same industry, so you need patience. When you are then in place in your new industry, you must be really humble and realize that you no longer have the control you previously had and that you must put great trust in everyone around you. And make an effort to read up, familiarize yourself and get to know the company, the industry and the people. The positive thing about coming from another industry is that you have a lot of new things you can contribute with in your new context plus that your own development takes a real leap in a way it probably would not do if you had stayed in your old industry.

How do you build a sound corporate culture?
In that it is five companies that have merged, we have a mix of a number of different cultures, so in our case it is about starting to build a common culture. We need to create a culture where everyone, regardless of background, sees certain things in roughly the same way. Initially, it is about taking the culture issue seriously and that as CEO show that it is an issue I am passionate about. It is about showing that I myself am a value-driven leader in what I both say and do, i.e. go furthest forward and lead by good example. As a leader, you are always "on stage" because many study what you say and do. We have started a thorough work and have created an Ambassador group with representatives from each former company and each office. The group has developed value words and behaviors linked to these value words. Now we are working on getting it out in the heart, stomach, arms and legs of all colleagues in the company in various ways. It takes a continuous work to get a strong and clear culture and we have only recently started, so it is a while before it sits properly.