17Dec2024
Leader’s Digest | December 2024
by: Nordic Business Forum
Welcome to the December 2024 edition of the Leader’s Digest, your monthly compass for navigating the world of business leadership. In this issue, we’ll dive into the topic of professional and personal development.
Contents
- 8 Powerful Tips for Personal Growth
- Develop a Customer-Focused Mindset (Full Keynote by Steven Van Belleghem)
- Book Tip: Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
- Speaker of the Month: Rick Rubin
- Leaders50 listing by Thinkers50
- Inspirational Quote by Rachel Botsman
New Leadership Insights
8 Powerful Tips for Personal Growth
Continuous learning should be a clear focus for any professional. But how to develop and improve? Over the years, Nordic Business Forum events have hosted various speakers sharing great lessons on personal and professional development. We picked eight insights to help you grow in the new year:
💡 Brené Brown – Develop your self-awareness
Dedicate time daily for self-reflection and discuss your learnings with colleagues, a mentor or supervisor.
💡 Marcus Buckingham – Focus on your strengths
List moments when you’ve felt most accomplished. Identify the skills you used and integrate them into your work consistently.
💡 Arnold Schwarzenegger – Find your vision and think big
Write down a bold long-term goal and outline small steps to achieve it. Revisit regularly!
💡 Rutger Bregman – Make future-proof decisions
Audit your daily activities by categorizing tasks as impactful or routine. Dedicate more time to work that drives change or creates value.
💡 Juliet Funt – Create strategic pauses
Make space for workdays by critically considering what are the things you can let go and what are the most important things that need your attention.
💡 Daniel Pink – Align tasks with your rhythm
Shift analytical work to peak, administrative work to trough, and brainstorming to the recovery. Take regular breaks and disconnect from screens.
💡 Amy Webb – Learn to confront uncertainty
Regularly question your assumptions, identify signals of change, and engage with diverse perspectives.
Read more about each insight on our blog!
Develop a Customer-Focused Mindset
Full Keynote by Steven Van Belleghem
Steven Van Belleghem, the highest-rated keynote speaker at NBF 2024, argued that true transformation lies in redefining customer experience through mindset changes—not just technology. Here are four lessons from his keynote that you can apply to develop your CX strategies:
1. Adopt a Positive Approach
Whether through small gestures or big initiatives, find ways to make every customer touchpoint more delightful. Audit interactions like invoices or emails and ask: how can we make this better?
2. Trust the 95%, Let Go of the 5%
Focus on serving the 95% of customers who are trustworthy and decent, rather than designing processes around the difficult few. Flexibility and solution-focused thinking build credibility and loyalty, even when rules need bending.
3. Be the Oxpecker, Not the Fly
Like the oxpecker helping the rhino, bring value and be present for customers without being intrusive. Anticipate their needs and solve problems at the right moment with empathy and smart use of technology.
4. Become a Friction Hunter
Simplicity wins. Train your team to spot and fix pain points in the customer journey, from slow processes to unnecessary complexity. Combine this with emotional “peak moments” to create unforgettable experiences.
To dive deeper, watch Steven Van Belleghem’s full keynote!
Book Tip: Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
“Why are we so good at accumulating more information and power, but far less successful at acquiring wisdom?” – Yuval Noah Harari
Looking for a good book to end your year? Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI is a good option. In the book, Yuval explores how throughout history information networks have shaped societies. There were many insights that got us thinking and here a few:
- Information vs Truth? Information can be manipulated; critical thinking and media literacy are key skills to spot misinformation and make informed choices. (Even when reading this book, it’s good to practice critical thinking.)
- Ethics and AI? AI creates challenges like bias and eroded trust. Businesses must ensure transparency and fairness in its use.
- How to adapt? Rapid technological evolution demands continuous learning and adaptability to stay competitive and informed.
For more, we recommend reading or listening to Yuval’s newest book!
NBF Spotlight
Join us behind the scenes as we introduce our speakers, share event updates, and more!
Speaker of the Month: Rick Rubin
Few individuals have affected as many corners of the music industry for as long as Rick Rubin. He has collaborated with artists from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Johnny Cash, Adele to Slayer, the Beastie Boys to Lana Del Rey, and many more.
Rick founded Def Jam recordings in the 80s while studying fine art at New York University. Working from his dormitory, his first recordings with LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and Run DMC took hip-hop music out of the underground into the mainstream. Since, he has produced and guided the most popular and cutting edge musicians on the planet, in addition to owning and operating his own label, American Recordings.
Rick has also been listed as one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”. Last year, Rick published his book The Creative Act, which quickly became a popular guide for people in various industries.
At Nordic Business Forum 2025, Rick will address our subtheme of Growth through the lenses of creativity and innovation. During the main stage conversation, he will discuss how to master flow and vision.
Leaders50 List Published by Thinkers50
Three Nordic Leaders were featured in the 50 most inspiring business leaders list by our dear friends at Thinkers50!
We were happy to see Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, CEO of Marimekko, Merete Hverven, CEO of Visma AS, and Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk on the listing. The list features current leaders making a significant difference in their organizations, communities, and the world.
Thinkers50 is known for its biannual ranking of the foremost leadership thinkers, and together with the Thinkers50 Community has now done a new global listing focusing on inspiring organizational leaders. The list includes many familiar names such as Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Chanel’s Leena Nair, and GM’s Mary Barra. But it also features leaders from non-profits as well as corporations who are less well known, like: Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of the Female Quotient, Etienne Salborn, founder of the Social Innovation Academy, Uganda and Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva.
Learn more about the listing and check the full Leaders50 list!
Almost 6,000 tickets sold for NBF 2025 🎉
We’re ending the year happy and grateful: there’s 9 months to go until Nordic Business Forum 2025 and already over 5,950 tickets have been sold. Thank you!
Also, we want to share our heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been with us this year in one way or another. Happy holidays and see you next year!
Stop and Think
“Inconsistency can really damage trust. Because what I mean by reliability is that you are consistent in your promises, you are consistent in what you expect from people, you are consistent in the way you respect time. Reliability is not about being reliable once, it’s this continual loop of people knowing what to expect.”
– Rachel Botsman
