When Nathalie Ahlström steps into the CEO role at Ansell on February 16, she will be breaking a quiet rule of Finnish corporate life.  Read more »

For more than a decade, the global startup economy has been fixated on unicorns—companies valued at more than one billion dollars. Valuations became a shorthand for success, often disconnected from the underlying business reality. That era is now fading. In its place, a more demanding benchmark is taking hold: revenue. Read more »

For most of its 25-year history, Nexstim has looked like a familiar case in medical technology: strong science, slow commercialization, and years spent in what founders often call the “valley of death.” Now, that patience is starting to pay off. Read more »

Ahead of Christmas, a widely opinion-dividing topic took center stage in the leadership debate: the performance-based differentiation of employees. The discussion followed reporting by Helsingin Sanomat, which suggested that Nokia had introduced forced ranking among its managers. Read more »

Listeds met with Ulrika Björkstam to discuss resilience, a skill that can be developed at both the individual and organizational levels. Based on her work with Nordic executive teams, low organizational resilience tends to surface in recurring patterns. Read more »

More than 100 Nordic corporate leaders gathered at Helsinki’s Valkoinen Sali on Dec. 11 as the second annual Nordic Listed Leaders Gala celebrated executives driving sustainable and scalable growth across the region.  Read more »

Leadership fashions rarely move in straight lines. Our discussion with Sami Itani, professor of practice at Aalto University School of Business, suggests they may once again be shifting away from three decades of soft, empathetic management and toward a harder style built on clarity, accountability, and performance. Read more »

In management books, layoffs are described as an unfortunate but sometimes necessary instrument for safeguarding a company’s future. At Listeds, we started looking into this topic because many leaders told us they felt left out of the conversation: media stories tend to focus on those who lose their jobs (as the stories should), but rarely on the moral and emotional strain on the person delivering the news.  Read more »

In Helsinki this November, the startup world once again convened under the LED glow of Messukeskus. Slush, the Helsinki-based annual startup event often described as the largest founder-focused gathering in the world, brought together over 13,000 attendees, including investors with more than USD4 trillion in assets under management. Yet amid the buzz of pitch decks and caffeine, its CEO, 26-year-old Aino Bergius, moved with studied calm. Read more »

The article explores how brain fitness — the balance between high performance and intentional recovery — is essential for sustainable leadership. CEO Salli Hara shares her journey of learning to slow down, emphasizing that rest, boredom, and self-awareness enhance creativity and long-term success. Performance coach Heikki Huovinen reinforces that true productivity comes not from constant busyness but from mastering the art of recovery. Read more »

In a shifting workplace culture, understanding emotions is no longer soft – it’s strategic. In an era of accelerating change, driven by digitalization, geopolitical upheaval, and economic pressure,  the emotional climate in the boardroom increasingly matters.  Read more »

Niko Pakalén, a partner at Cevian Capital, compares the Finnish and Swedish economies and leadership cultures, calling for bolder moves and structural changes. Read more »

Titanium Oyj has appointed Katarina Rosenström, its head of legal and compliance, as interim CEO following the mutual departure of Walter Ahlström, who left last week to join DNB Carnegie Investment Bank’s Finland branch. The board has begun the recruitment process for a permanent successor. Read more »

Annakerttu Aranko, CEO of the Helsinki-based strategy consultancy Noren, has built her company around a simple but unusual premise: understanding business through the lens of human sciences to advise some of Finland’s leading listed companies. Read more »