2May2023
“The stats are heartbreaking” – Finalist Tobias Sturesson on Companies’ Cultural Health
by: Nordic Business Forum
Tobias Sturesson is an advocate for healthy cultures and the co-founder of Heart Management. He is also one of the five finalists in the Business Forum Group Speaker Contest 2023. The winner of the contest will go on to give their winning speech at all three Business Forum Group main events this September, in Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Oslo.
Tobias’s speech “How to Overcome Your Company’s Greatest Culture Challenges” discusses how to turn your organization’s culture around and change it for the better – and for the healthier. We interviewed Tobias on his speaker contest journey and what his topic means to him.
How did you start your speaker career?
“I don’t know if I see speaking as my career. I’ve always enjoyed public speaking, even as a kid in school. I can see that same trait in my teenage daughter. But I had a sense, I think from early on, that at some point in my life, I would find a message that was so important to me that I would be ready to fight for it (while I wouldn’t have guessed finding that message would entail so much pain). However, as our team at Heart Management have been helping leaders, HR, and Ethics professionals navigate critical company culture challenges over the last several years, I’ve increasingly found myself speaking to both small and large groups of leaders, and I began to realize that communicating a message through public speaking is a craft I needed to hone, not something that just came naturally.”
Why did you want to join the Speaker Contest, and how has your journey in the competition been so far?
“I learned about the competition through an Instagram ad only four days before the application closed. I talked to our team about it, and we agreed that putting the message of my forthcoming book into a 12-minute speech would be a great exercise that could help clarify it further. I’m very grateful that I joined. Being a part of this journey has helped me grow as a speaker and better communicate my message, and I couldn’t have been happier with the interaction with the fantastic Nordic Business Forum team.”
Why do you think your speech is so important for business leaders to hear?
“Right now, countless people worldwide are languishing or suffering because of an unhealthy culture at their workplace. The stats are heartbreaking. At the same time, many companies are getting off track from their mission, losing momentum, or facing significant risks because of, what I call, untreated cultural heart disease. Most of the treatment that has been proposed isn’t working. Yet there is an effective way to achieve and sustain much healthier cultures. And I want every leader to be informed and equipped to radically improve the culture in their organizations.”
Have you made use of the MySpeaker Rhetorich coaching? How did it benefit you?
“The coaching from André Chaker and Myspeaker Rhetorich has been a game-changer. It has helped me understand ways I need to improve as a speaker, but perhaps even more so, how to clarify my message and make it stick. I’m incredibly grateful!”
Want to hear more from Tobias? Join us online on 10th May at 18:00 EEST for the Speaker Contest 2023 Final! You will hear from Tobias and four other contestants, and you get to vote for your favorite speech.
