14Jan2025
Leader’s Digest | January 2025
by: Nordic Business Forum
Welcome to the January 2025 edition of the Leader’s Digest, your monthly compass for navigating the world of business leadership. This time, we’ll dive into the topic of business trends.
Contents
- 4 Business Trends Leaders Should Know in 2025
- Business Lessons from 2024 to Grow in 2025
- Webinar on Future-Ready Mindset with April Rinne
- Speaker of the month: Risto Siilasmaa
- NBF 2025 Livestream Price Update
- Inspirational Quote by Amy Webb
New Leadership Insights
4 Business Trends Leaders Should Know in 2025
2024 was quite an eventful year to say the least, and it looks like this year is no different. But what are the trends affecting business and leadership in 2025? Here are four key areas you should pay attention to:
🌱 Urgent Need for Sustainable Business
The climate crisis is escalating and everyone needs to step in. Also, consumers are increasingly favoring brands that embrace circular economies and eco-friendly initiatives.
→ Leaders should, for example, implement eco-friendly operations, invest in renewable energy, and ensure transparent sustainability reporting.
🌍 Navigating in a Polarized World
From geopolitical unrest to global elections, 2024 highlighted the deepening divides in many regions. This year, these shifts will directly impact trade, supply chains, and market dynamics.
→ Leaders must prepare for unpredictability and be ready to address controversial issues with care and transparency.
🤖 Smarter Use of AI
AI is transforming industries and the time to simply explore the tools is long gone. But, AI is not and should not be your solution for every problem.
→ Leaders should focus on using AI to automate where it’s effective and augment where human expertise shines.
🙏 Focus on Workplace Well-being
From mental health to flexibility and DEI, employee well-being remains a critical priority. Well-being isn’t just about perks—it’s about fostering mental health, flexibility, and inclusivity. Studies show poor mental health costs $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.
→ Leaders should integrate well-being into the heart of their workplace strategy.
Dive deeper into each point by reading the full blog about these 4 business trends in 2025.
Business Lessons from 2024 to Grow in 2025
What can business lessons from 2024 teach us about developing in 2025? Masters of Scale compiled six lessons from last year into one podcast episode. Here are a few highlights:
#1 AI disruption is only getting started
— Will.i.am, entrepreneur and musician
“This is the worst AI is ever going to be because it just gets better from here. And that’s being optimistic in every sense of the way—ethically, morally, business practice, legally, compensation-wise. This is the worst it’s ever going to be, being optimistic.”
#2 Be bolder than you’ve ever been
— Marc Benioff, CEO and co-founder of Salesforce
“You have to be ready to shift, to pivot, to evolve, to move forward, to make things happen when you see that opportunity, you’ve got to go. And I think that not enough CEOs do it.”
#3 Your best strategy may start with your gut
— Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder of Airbnb
“Sometimes, the best ideas start with a vision. They start with an idea, they start with a feeling, and then you validate them by reverse engineering a strategy to make sure what you’re doing actually makes some sort of modicum of business sense.”
Learn more by listening to the full episode!
Personal Development Boost
Webinar on Future-Ready Mindset with April Rinne
“To thrive in a world in flux, we need to radically reshape our relationship to uncertainty and flip the script to sustain a healthy and productive outlook.” — April Rinne
Want to learn how to develop a future-ready mindset? A global change expert ranked among Forbes’ 50 Leading Female Futurists, April Rinne, joins our next webinar to share practical tips to boost mental agility, tackle challenges with confidence, and thrive in uncertain times. See you on the 23rd of January!
NBF Spotlight
Join us behind the scenes as we introduce our speakers, share event updates, and more!
Speaker of the Month: Risto Siilasmaa
Risto Siilasmaa is the founder and former CEO of F-Secure, a global cybersecurity company. He also served as the Chairman of Nokia from 2012 to 2020. He played a crucial role in guiding Nokia through a major transition, including the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent.
Risto is known for his focus on resilience, digital transformation, and strategic leadership, sharing insights from his experiences in his book, Transforming Nokia. He continues to be an active investor and advisor in the technology sector.
At Nordic Business Forum 2025, Risto will share his top insights on how to develop strategic foresight. Get ready for valuable tools from an experienced business leader!
NBF 2025 Livestream Price Increase Coming Up
We’re grateful being able to say that almost 6,000 tickets have been already sold for Nordic Business Forum 2025! If you and your team can’t join us in person, worry not—we’ve got you covered! For larger groups, we have two options:
- The Group Livestream — for groups watching together in one location
- The Remote Group Livestream — for companies watching on their internal website with no user limit
The prices for these licenses will increase on the 21st of February, so make sure to check these livestream options soon!
Stop and Think
“Any decision you make about AI today, is going to have to still work well into the future.”
— Amy Webb
