Currently there appears to be a widespread feeling of rising uncertainty and a lack of a shared vision for the future. During Sweden’s recent election campaign commentators repeatedly asked where the larger visions for the country had gone. Amid promises of quick fixes and tactical positioning, the question of what society we should build seemed harder to answer. Similar examples with voices calling for a new vision have also been heard in the other Nordic countries recently. The most obvious example is perhaps Finnish Sitra that explicitly describes the need for “an inspiring new promise about the future”. 

Considering the turbulent situation in the world in the last decade, it is perhaps not surprising that we find feelings of uncertainty. It is in fact something we could expect if we apply the long-term cyclical perspective of thinkers such as Neil Howe who describes how long cycles shape the characteristics of our societies and how the change from cycle to cycle typically results in crises. Viewed through the ‘wheel of seasons’ model developed by my colleagues Mats Lindgren and Jörgen Jedbratt, our current situation may represent a transition from winter to spring, during which crises will lead to new dominant paradigms. If reality were to follow the model, this should mean that we are slowly shifting towards an increased focus on long-term perspectives and finally also a rising belief in a positive future. 

Another sign of the uncertainty is the rising interest in scenario planning. This is a well-known pattern that goes back to the oil crisis of the 1970s when Shell’s scenario planning rose to fame and it is now perhaps the most familiar tool in the foresight toolbox. There is furthermore a general acceptance of scenario planning as a relevant tool for our time, but if we want to get broad participation and support for changes the map provided by the scenarios also needs to be accompanied by something more visionary.

The Nordic effect

So, if we are approaching a period of renewal maybe it is time to start thinking about how Nordic companies and other organisations could help bring this new future into being and shape it? How can we contribute to the creation of a new vision that can guide and speed up necessary changes so that we can balance sustainability and resilience, productivity and family life, and so on? Even though there exists a joint Nordic vision for 2030 that was adopted by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019 this is apparently not sufficient (and to be honest, how many of you have read it? I have, but that’s more or less required as part of my job). 

Maybe it is safe to say that it is time for a new Nordic vision? And maybe this time we should start the process as soon as possible ourselves in our own organisations so that we together can create small pieces of the great puzzle that would make up a new shared vision.

For boards, this means connecting the vision to investment priorities, capabilities and partnerships, and deciding how the organisation can contribute to a wider Nordic ambition.

Geopolitical discussions have been framed through the lens of the Global West, Global East and Global South. Recently, a fourth concept has started to emerge in strategic discussions: the Global North.

The term is usually used more broadly to describe the developed world as a whole. In this column, I deliberately narrow it to the Nordic region because it represents a distinctive institutional model.

I first encountered the idea when Finland's President Alexander Stubb discussed the possibility of the Global North as an emerging geopolitical force during an interview on Ykkösaamu, one of Finland's leading current affairs programmes, in February 2026.
Strong Nordic cooperation is one dimension of this thinking.

Are we moving towards a new geopolitical geometry? The significance of the North has grown in recent years through developments such as NATO's enlargement and the increasing strategic importance of the Arctic region. The Arctic has received unprecedented international attention, not only because of security concerns, but also because of its growing relevance for energy, infrastructure, logistics and critical resources. 

The growing strategic importance of the Nordic region is reflected for instance in NATO's decision to establish its Forward Land Forces Multinational Staff Element in Rovaniemi, creating a permanent NATO presence in Northern Finland.

In 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard moved forward with plans to procure 11 new icebreakers from Finland, relying heavily on Finnish icebreaker expertise and shipbuilding capabilities.

The Nordic Effect

For decades, the United States has been the world's dominant magnet for talent, capital and innovation. Yet recent policy shifts and a growing emphasis on "America First" raise a strategic question worth putting to a board: What if America First ultimately makes America less attractive to global talent, capital and ideas? It is a possibility worth exploring. What if a more fragmented geopolitical environment gradually disperses global flows of talent, investment and innovation? What if some of these flows begin seeking more predictable destinations? This is where the Global North starts to matter commercially.

The defining characteristics of the Nordic region include stable societies, low levels of corruption, strong educational systems, safety and security, a strong rule of law, well-functioning institutions, advanced innovation ecosystems and a long tradition of diplomacy and cooperation. These are often described as social strengths. In an increasingly fragmented world, they may also become strategic economic assets.
For instance The World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2025 ranked Denmark 1st, with Norway and Finland immediately behind among the strongest rule-of-law countries in the world. Nordic countries also perform exceptionally well in innovation: in the Global Innovation Index 2024

When political risk increases elsewhere, predictability itself may become a competitive advantage and characteristics of an attractive investment environment. 

How could your company benefit if the Nordic region became an increasingly attractive destination for talent, investment and innovation?

No Nordic country can compete with the United States or China on scale alone. Together, however, the region represents a globally relevant platform for innovation, technology, research and investment. The four Nordic exchanges — Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo — are already a single functioning market.

Another signal of deeper Nordic integration can be seen in capital markets. In August 2026, Bloomberg reported that the Nordic Compass initiative was exploring a common Nordic stock exchange bringing together the markets of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The initiative includes major Nordic actors such as Wallenberg Investments, EQT, Nordea, Nokia, Kone, Nasdaq and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Its stated ambition is to strengthen the region's ability to compete for capital and support growth companies at a scale that individual Nordic markets struggle to achieve alone. Such discussions suggest that the idea of the Nordics acting as a more integrated economic platform is already moving from geopolitical speculation into practical business strategy.

If the twentieth century rewarded scale and the early twenty-first century rewarded speed, the next decade may reward trusted collaboration.

The AI race has moved past experimentation. 2026 is about execution at scale. The winners won’t be the fastest adopters. They’ll be the ones with the governance to deploy AI decisively across their organizations. Everyone else is already behind.

When I was considering joining Dell Technologies in 2022, one thing stood out above all else. It was the culture around artificial intelligence. Dell had decided to take AI seriously. The organization was thinking disruptively, moving with intent, and treating itself as the first test case, not just the advisor. It made me curious and convinced me.

Nearly four years later, I can say the leap we’ve made in AI, both as an organization and in my own leadership, has been remarkable. It has fundamentally changed how I work, how I lead, and how I see the future, with a strong sense of optimism.

This shift is not just about productivity. It is about whether organizations can scale AI safely, effectively, and continuously innovate. At its core, this is a question of governance.

The leader who cannot look away

There is a temptation among senior executives to treat AI as a technology matter, as something to delegate to the CIO or CTO, while the real business of leadership continues elsewhere. That temptation should be resisted firmly.

A leader must have a horizontal view across the organization. Strategy, culture, operations, finance, and risk are all now shaped by AI. This is not something that can be delegated away from the top. Leadership teams that try to do so are not reducing complexity; they are allowing it to build, unseen and unmanaged.

My own experience confirms this. Since embracing AI tools in my daily work, my leadership has genuinely moved forward. I use my time more intelligently. I produce more value in the role, and I see the same effect ripple through the organization: people doing more meaningful work, freed from the routine tasks that once consumed their days. This is not a marginal efficiency gain. It is a qualitative shift in what leadership and professional work can mean.

Governance: The leadership trend that cannot wait

Among the many dimensions of AI leadership, one has emerged as the defining challenge of 2026: governance.  This is where the AI race will be decided, not in pilots, but in the ability to scale with control.

This is not primarily a regulatory question, though regulation matters. It is a leadership and competitiveness question. 

"As John Roese, Dell's global CTO and chief AI officer, wrote in a Dell blog post last December, “Top on the list is governance. We haven’t established strong governance frameworks yet.” He added that “governance in general will be a big deal in 2026,” and that inside the enterprise, “investment in a structured approach to AI will become a requirement.”

Companies are often moving faster than their organizational structures can absorb, from AI pilots to genuine production environments. In that transition, governance gaps appear. Who is accountable for an AI system's outputs? How is training data governed? What happens when a model fails, or behaves unexpectedly, at scale?

These questions are already surfacing in boardrooms. And the leaders who have clear answers will have a competitive advantage over those who do not.

Data is the asset and the vulnerability

AI does not merely use data. It amplifies data's value and its risk simultaneously.

Modern AI platforms ingest vast volumes of information, generate new data continuously, and concentrate an organization's most sensitive intellectual property in ways that were not true even five years ago. 

The security implications are direct. As Dell's President and Chief Security Officer, John Scimone, observed in a blog post last October: "Hackers go where the data is," and increasingly, that means where the AI is. 

This changes the risk calculus for leadership teams in a fundamental way. AI governance and data security are not separate conversations to be routed to different functions. They are two sides of the same strategic question: can we trust the systems on which our business depends?

An integrated, whole-of-company approach to risk and opportunity is no longer a best practice. It is a baseline.

Infrastructure as strategy

For much of the past decade, infrastructure was treated as a commodity, something to outsource, abstract away, or procure from whichever cloud provider offered the best commercial terms. AI has reversed that logic.

Where data resides, who controls it, and under what jurisdictional framework it is processed have become board-level questions. The concept of sovereign AI ensuring that data sovereignty, model ownership, and operational continuity remain under an organization's own governance is moving to practical architecture decisions.

The question organizations must now answer is not merely which AI tools to deploy, but what kind of AI platform to build on. 

Finland's moment if it chooses to take it

Finland carries some genuine advantages into the AI era. 

The Nordic country has technology-oriented people. Digital literacy runs deep. Trust in institutions, a precondition for data-sharing and AI deployment at scale, remains comparatively high.

And yet the Finnish economy has not grown. That is the uncomfortable fact sitting alongside those advantages.

AI offers a path to a growth leap that organic development alone cannot provide. The United States offers a preview: a meaningful share of recent GDP growth is now attributable, directly or indirectly, to AI-driven productivity. Projections for the coming years are more striking still. The same potential exists here. But potential is not destiny.

What is required is a change from companies, from workers, and above all from leaders. The AI revolution is not arriving. It has arrived. The only useful question now is what each organization will do about it.

The best place to start is with oneself. Leaders who have done that internal work, who have actually changed how they operate, not merely approved a strategy slide, are the ones driving genuine transformation in their organizations. At Dell, we have trained for this, measured it, and held ourselves accountable to it. We want to be the best reference for what we preach.

Governance is not the brake. It is the engine

Some leaders worry that governance frameworks will slow AI innovation. The concern is understandable but misplaced.

Ungoverned AI does not move faster. It moves recklessly, accumulating hidden liabilities in data quality, security exposure, regulatory risk, and organisational trust that eventually force a costly reckoning. "Governance is not about slowing down innovation," Roese argues. "It's about building the guardrails that allow us all to accelerate safely and sustainably." 

The organizations that will succeed with AI over the next decade are not necessarily those with the most impressive early pilots. They will be those who built the infrastructure, governance, and cultural readiness to operate AI at scale reliably, securely, and with clear accountability.

AI can help address major global challenges. But that requires trust. And trust requires governance. The opportunity is immediate, and so is the risk of inaction. Delays now will be difficult to reverse later.

Finland has the technological capability and institutional foundations. What remains is leadership, the courage to build trust and take the growth leap within reach. The work does not start with another strategy document, but with each leader choosing to step into the unknown. In a race already underway, delay is not neutral. It is a decision to fall behind.

The circular economy is often discussed as an environmental necessity. But for many industrial companies, it is increasingly becoming an economic one as well.

Circularity can be understood as a system where waste materials are continuously upgraded into new industrial raw materials instead of being discarded. In this model, the goal is not only to reduce environmental impact but also to unlock the economic value that still exists in materials after their first use.

For policymakers, investors, and industry leaders, the discussion around circular plastics ultimately comes down to one key question: when does recycling become economically competitive?

When recycling becomes competitive

Circular plastics only become impactful at scale when recycled materials can compete with virgin raw materials in performance, price stability, and availability. When those conditions are met, recycled materials move from being a sustainability alternative to becoming a strategic resource.

Replacing virgin plastics with certified recycled materials can offer companies several advantages. It can open new revenue opportunities in recycled-content markets, reduce exposure to volatile raw material prices, lower regulatory and carbon risks, and strengthen supply chain resilience.

In this sense, profitability is not the outcome of the circular economy — it is the condition that allows it to grow.

Building the infrastructure of circular plastics

Turning this idea into practice requires industrial infrastructure and collaboration across the value chain. In Finland, this model is being developed together with recycling company Remeo. Remeo secures a steady and traceable supply of plastic waste streams, while Lamor upgrades these materials at a recycling facility in Kilpilahti in Porvoo.

At the facility, tens of thousands of tons of plastic waste are processed annually. Material that might otherwise be incinerated is transformed into recycled feedstock suitable for industrial use.

Through advanced sorting, washing, compounding, and quality control, the objective is not only to preserve material value but to increase it — turning waste into a competitive raw material for the plastics industry.

Chairpersons shape more than governance. They shape how CEOs lead. A new Finnish study examining the relationship between CEOs and board chairs suggests that appreciation, expressed through trust, autonomy, and recognition, may be one of the most influential yet overlooked drivers of executive performance.

Boards devote significant attention to strategy, performance targets, and governance processes. Yet one factor that may strongly influence how a CEO performs often receives far less attention: appreciation.

My new research (CEO experiences of appreciative leadership in the interaction with the chairperson of the board 2025) explores the relationship between CEOs and chairmen and suggests that trust, autonomy, and recognition from the board can significantly affect a CEO’s motivation and leadership effectiveness based on a limited number of interviews with CEOs of limited Finnish companies. 

The findings highlight how the tone of this relationship can shape not only executive performance but also the culture and resilience of the entire organization, in addition to financial profitability. The study also reveals a latent expectation among CEOs for a more human-centered leadership style from their chairman. 

The study highlights that appreciation is not an interpersonal nicety but a core determinant of sustainable performance. By moving from a culture of control to a culture of appreciation, organizations can transform "performance management" into "performance enablement."

The difference between appreciation and its absence is felt powerfully by CEOs

In terms of performance, appreciation allows for faster and more confident decision-making and fosters the resilience needed to lead through crises. 

“When the board truly gets why we’re doing what we’re doing, it fuels my motivation to lead beyond the numbers,” one of the participants mentioned. Conversely, a lack of appreciation leads to emotional fatigue and disengagement, even at CEO positions. As one participant stated, "When results were ignored, my motivation faded despite the bonuses". 

When the relationship between the CEO and chairman demonstrated appreciation, one participant said: ''I felt my chair genuinely wanted me to succeed, not just as an executive, but as a person. That trust made all the difference." However, someone had a contrasting experience. One executive said: ''Silence from the board was harder than criticism. I had no idea where I stood; it was silence, not support." 

CEOs perceived a lack of preparation or industry knowledge among board members as a direct form of disrespect toward their own professional efforts. One participant mentioned that “Having a chair with actual experience in my industry made me sharper. The feedback was actionable”.

Primary enablers for CEO performance 

1. Trust: The foundation of performance

Trust emerged as the most significant motivational factor identified by CEOs. In the social exchange between a CEO and the chairman, trust is the intangible return that fosters a psychologically safe space for strategic dialogue. One of the participants noted that "Knowing where I stand keeps me focused and calm." Another participant mentioned that "He didn’t panic or pressure me—he just said, ‘I trust you’ll find a way.’ That’s powerful leadership."

2. Autonomy 

A recurring theme in the study results is the need for autonomy. Appreciative leadership is often expressed not just by what a chairman does, but by what they refrain from doing. CEOs feel most appreciated when they are granted "space for leadership"—the freedom to lead in their own voice and make decisions without being constantly second-guessed. “What keeps me motivated is the ability to make a real impact without being second-guessed constantly," stated one of the participants. Another CEO mentioned that "I perform best when I don’t have to constantly justify every step. Autonomy boosts execution."

3. Recognition

Despite the formal nature of board governance, interpersonal warmth and relatedness are critical. CEOs highly value chairmen who act as mentors and sparring partners rather than just overseers. "When the chair acknowledged my effort after a demanding quarter, it made me push harder, " mentioned one of the participants. Based on the study findings, CEOs also acknowledged verbal recognition over monetary rewards as seen in the following comment: "A simple acknowledgment after a tough meeting made me feel seen—it had more effect than a bonus."

From ''You learn to expect nothing'' to ''Appreciation fuels energy''

Based on the empirical findings, the study offers several practical suggestions for enhancing the CEO & chairperson relationship:

1. Enforce role clarity and autonomy: Chairmen must avoid daily operational interference. A joint role description should be defined to clarify responsibilities and decision-making authority between roles.

2. Build strong interpersonal connections: The chairman should actively seek to understand the CEO as a person, including their values and performance drivers. This connection is vital for honest dialogue during crises.

3. Provide consistent recognition and feedback: Intangible rewards like verbal acknowledgment are powerful motivators. Boards should use feedback not just to correct, but to model the culture they want the CEO to cascade through the company.

4. Close board competence gaps: Continuous development and structured onboarding for board members are essential. A board that lacks market understanding cannot provide the "appreciative challenge" a CEO needs to grow.

5. Define and develop organizational culture at the board level: Leadership models defined for the organization should also apply to the board. Only a unified culture ensures that the CEO is empowered to perform and lead with enchanted style. 

Conclusion: Appreciation as systemic capability

Based on the empirical findings, appreciation may be seen as a systemic capability referring to the integration of appreciation into the very fabric of an organization, its culture, structures, and routines, rather than being treated as merely an individual leadership style or a set of isolated behaviors. Therefore, it requires a foundation that normalizes respect, feedback, and mutual learning across the entire organization and demonstrates that it is a shared responsibility between the CEO and chairperson. 

The study findings concluded that when appreciation is a systemic capability, it fosters enduring conditions for performance, well-being, and organizational success, ensuring that the positive effects of appreciative leadership cascade through all levels of the company.

Walk into an IKEA anywhere in the world, and you are stepping into a carefully constructed version of Sweden. The surprise is not that IKEA built a global brand from that idea. The surprise is how few other Nordic companies have tried.

IKEA did not become the world's most recognizable furniture company by accident. It did it by being relentlessly, unapologetically Swedish – and by understanding that Sweden, as a brand, does a great deal of the selling before a single word of copy is written.

The flat-pack logic, the unpronounceable product names, the meatballs: none of this is accidental quirk. It is a coherent identity system built on a country image that maps almost perfectly onto what consumers around the world want to believe about the things they bring into their homes.

The question for other Nordic companies is why so few of them have leaned into this inheritance with anything like IKEA's confidence.

Country brand is a product feature, not a footnote

In international marketing and communications, people use a country’s brand image as a quality shortcut. German engineering, Italian design, French gastronomy: these associations function as warranties, reducing the cognitive effort required to trust an unfamiliar brand.

The Nordic countries are in a remarkably advantageous position here. Survey after survey places the Nordics among the most positively perceived regions on earth: nature, honesty, technological competence, social trust, and clean governance. These are not just flattering. They are commercially useful.

Yet many Nordic companies have historically treated their origins as a minor biographical detail, often actively suppressing them. Nokia at its peak is the instructive case. In 2007, the year it ranked as the world's fifth-most valuable brand, the nation branding guru Simon Anholt observed that Nokia executives, when asked why they didn't make more noise about being Finnish, would explain that companies need to localize their marketing, that Nokia was a global company with more non-Finnish than Finnish employees, and so forth.

Anholt's own diagnosis was blunter: Nokia knew it was a bigger brand than Finland, and feared that closer attachment would cause brand equity to flow from the stronger to the weaker, to Finland's benefit and Nokia's detriment. Ericsson made much the same calculation. So did many Nordic industrial and technology companies that followed, preferring to lead with ISO certifications and ROI projections while leaving a significant credibility multiplier untouched.

Anholt, who launched the Nation Brands Index in 2005, thought this was a miscalculation. Consumers who feel loyalty toward a brand, he argued, are unlikely to revise that loyalty upon discovering it comes from a small or unexpected country. They are more likely to revise their opinion of the country, and feel a quiet prestige at choosing something that doesn't come from the US, Japan, or Germany. Nokia's Finnishness, in other words, was an asset it was too cautious to spend. IKEA had no such inhibition.

What IKEA did, and what it did not do

IKEA did not simply stick a Swedish flag on its products. It constructed an experiential world that expressed Swedish values: democratic access to good design, functionality over ostentation, and informality as a form of respect. The Swedishness was not decoration. It was the load-bearing structure of the brand.

Equally important: IKEA adapted without diluting. When its furniture proved too large for Japanese apartments, it redesigned the furniture. When Middle Eastern families needed bigger dining tables, it built them. The Swedish identity stayed intact. The execution adapted. Many Nordic exporters miss this distinction: they interpret localisation as identity compromise, when adaptation is precisely what makes the identity land.

The Nordic country brands are, if anything, even more valuable in B2B contexts than in consumer markets. When a procurement manager in Southeast Asia or a hospital administrator in the Gulf is choosing between suppliers, they are managing risk. The Nordic association with institutional transparency, long-term reliability, and regulatory compliance functions as pre-sold credibility.

For companies in healthcare technology, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure, telling a potential client that your company comes from a country consistently ranked as the world's least corrupt is not nationalism. It is relevant information that reduces their perceived risk.

How to make it work

Country brand is a multiplier, not a substitute for product-market fit. Three conditions seem necessary.

First, the Nordic dimension must be genuinely embedded in the proposition, not applied as a label. Authenticity counts: a company claiming Nordic values while running on the lowest-cost supply chains will be found out.

Second, the framing must adapt to market context: in Central Europe, Nordic signals design authority, in East Asia modernity and safety, in North America honest quality without pretension, and in the Gulf neutrality and competence. The core is consistent, but the emphasis shifts.

Third, and this is where many Nordic companies stumble: the story must be told with conviction. Nordic cultures tend toward understatement and a discomfort with self-promotion that, while admirable in a social context, can be commercially limiting. IKEA is not modest about being Swedish. It is proudly, insistently, structurally, operationally Swedish. The Nordic country brand is a shared asset. Most of the companies entitled to draw on it have barely started.