The Corporate Corner

This week Mats meet Corry Robertson.

Corry is a leadership Coach from Canada specialized in leadership coaching and organizational culture.

Corry and Mats discuss a number of interesting topics:

- Emotional intelligence and the importance of that in the workplace

- The impact of Zoom working on family life and the importance for managers have staff with kids to take that into account in the new normal

- The importance of psychological safety and  how people have a 6th sense around whether they feel safe or not

- How technical nerds could take advantage of their skills and transition into leadership roles


Find out more about Corry here:

Cory Robertson Webpage

Free personality assessment for you and your team


Book a call with Corry

Corry on Facebook

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The Corporate Corner Podcast

Mats is sharing some of the statistics for TCC.

Which episodes have been the most listened? From which countries and cities are people listening in?

Which device and platform is the most used to listen?

An episode for statistical nerds. Mats is also promoting the Webinar he is going to hold with Dr Anders Tegnell, the Chief Architect of the rather unorthodox Swedish Stratege: no lock down, no face masks, school open.

If you listen to the episode you will find the 50% magic discount code to use and find out how one person can win a free ticket. Sign up to the Webinar here:
 
The Swedish Corona strategy explained with Dr Anders Tegnell

This week Mats sits down with Camille Bonhoure, a young French lawyer and the first French guest on the podcast. 

Camille grow up in the SouthWest of France and already as a kid beeing part of the local choir group he travelled around Europe to sing. 

He did a part of his university studies in Denmark where he also worked for the Danish-French chamber of commerce, learnt Danish and got immerged in the Danish culture. 

His journey took him to Slovakia and now to Prague, Czech Republic where he is working for Honeywell. 

A true European incarnating the idea of movement between countries to share your culture and gain experiences from others. 

They discuss a number of interesting subjects like:

- The Elite School system in France and the advantages and disadvantages it might have 
- The difference between a Danish and French University
- The mistrust you feel between people on the street  in France but not necessarily in the Scandinavian countries
- the segregated French society and the importance of grades at an early age in French school system
- The notion of a second chance in life in the Scandinavian countries but not necessarily in France
- how it is to work for an American company with an American corporate culture

and much more. 

In this episode Mats sits down with Dr. Matthew Gamble and discovers a fascinating story about someone who grew up as a kid being atheist but who became a man of faith after smuggling 3 pounds of Marijuana into the United States from Jamaica and not being caught and taking it as a sign of some higher spirit.

After that enrolling in the Seventh-Adventist Church machinery and becoming a pastor.

Matthew was a Rock & Roll Pastor running his churches pretty much like a Startup and he travelled 6 continents to preach and give speeches.

Another drug experience, this time with mushrooms in Amsterdam makes Matthew doubt his fait and he leaves the church in 2017.

During his church year he was always nurturing a coaching mind and did several trainings and certifications and have now fine tuned that into becoming a business coach doing online coaching in Covid times.

You can find Matthew and his coaching business here at MagnetizeGlobal and book a free session to try him out. It's definitiely worth a try!

Matthew several time references this Ted Talk by Roland Griffith about psyilocybin and the work Roland is doing and the John Hopkins University. 

A new episode with Mats trying to explain why he has been so slow lately in producing new episodes of the Podcast. 

He talks about his new job to lead the Swedish-American Chamber of San Fransisco & Silicon Valley, how he talks Swedish at work for the first time in 27 years and how it is to lead a remote office and get up to speed in his new role. 

He also reflects on Zoom meetings that seems to always start on time and go on forever, the opposite to real life Corporate meetings where people often drop in when they can and the meeting ends early so people can go back to work. 

In today's episode Mats meets with Arend Dittmer from Germany working for Google in San Francisco. 

Arend is the first Googler in The Corporate Corner and he has an international career that took him from Germany to Canada and then to California. 

They discuss a multitude of subjects and here is some of things you will here:

- How is Google Management communicating to their staff
- What makes a difference between IBM and Google
- Why should a traditional company having their IT infrastructure go to the Cloud
- Should a company choose a single Cloud or multi platform cloud strategy?
- How should you approach a Cloud implementation going from premises to the Cloud?
- How was the Cloud actually born as a product?
- Cultural work differences between Europe and the US

Tune in and listen to someone who really know what he is talking about. 

This week Mats is doing a solo about his mindfulness journey that has gone from being a constant worrier to be more in peace and less impacted by the ups and downs and curveballs that life is throwing you.

He is aware that he might be living in an illusion and that potentially one could lose his/her edge by entering into a meditation world but does it matter?

He talks about the tools he is using to meditate (it really helps for modern people to sit down with a guided meditation) such as:
-   Headspace  with Andy Puddicombe (
-  Waking Up app with Sam Harris (get a free month of subscription by redeeming promo code OPENMIND)
- Eckhart Tolle more as an inspiration source but also teaches meditation

He shares how this could be applied in Corporate and what change it could make and the risk if you are the only one doing it in a very competetive environment. 

Science seems to comfirm the idea that meditation is beneficial such a increased grey mass in the brain and increased length of the telomeres (caps at the end of each strand of our DNA) linked to "reduced" aging process. 

But he is of the opinion that regardless the science, it's worth it and lifechanging. 

This week Mats sits down with someone who has meant a lot to himself, John Ireland from England.

John is a coach, leadership developer and very experienced trainer to leaders at all levels and he is delivering a very popular emotional intelligence training.

They talk about John's background and his upbringing in Northern England and how espcially two events shaped and formed him at a young age, the loss of his mother at the age of 11 and how he as a young man started to work for the Samaritans in London.

They discuss leadership, attitude and we get in an emotional sequence on why John is the fantastic accepting person he is and what is motivating him.

John shares his views on similtudes and differences between the sports world and the corporate world.

We'll hear many of John's fabolous stories and anecdotes.

If you want to get in touch with John you can find him here:

John Ireland, Coaching, Consulting, Training

In this weeks episode Mats sits down with his Nordic friend, Philip Hilm from Denmark and talk about Philip's exciting life and career as a professional poker player. 

We'll hear the story about a young Danish man who as a kid didn't naturally read the social cues between people and then spent a lot of energy and time to learn everything about it and when he was in his twenties he was broke and doing small jobs and decided to give poker a go and he became a professional poker player with an outstanding merit lists of which to mention only a few are:

Final table (9th) WSOP Main Event 2007
(15th) EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo 2007
Final table (4th) EPT Copenhagen 2006
Won (1st) WCP III Barcelona 2006
Won (1st) Sunday Million online tournament 2006

 Philip tells us how it is to be a professional poker player and why he left the scene to let construct 150 houses in Poland. 

He'll teach us what to look for at your opponents body and body language when playing poker and why he had to put a face mask on 10 years before it was mandatory in Prague (due Corona) when he went down to the local Casino. 

He talks about his current projects trying to master the Poker game by developing a "machine" that can master the game and he tells us how he apprehend and live the Corona virus crisis and fear that is spreading in society. 

You'll also hear how Philip saved a friend from the Scientology church by using his analytical and logic thinking. 

Listen to a very smart man with an unusual career that is almost like a fairy tale! 

In this weeks episode I,  Mats meet with Mike Robbins, who is an expert  in emotional intelligence, leadership, teamwork and company culture.

Mike is the author of several books and he just came out with his last book with the for the moment perfect title "WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER".

It's a book with the subtitle "Creating a Team Culture of High Performance, Trust, and belonging" and a the book is full of anecdotes from Mike's experience and life and it has a strong focus on soft skills, authenticity, inclusion and belonging. 

We talk about the book of course but also the inevitable Corona Virus.

Mike gives some practical tips one can do as a leader in a team event to get under the surface or below the tip of the iceberg to foster a more deeper connection between people.

We also talk about diversity and why it is such a big thing in the US and how Mike have approached this delicate subject.

If you want to know more about Mike or if you are interested in the book you can find more info here: We're all in this together book.

This week Mats sits down with Alain Hunkins. 

Alain is a leadership coach and has worked with thousands of groups and leaders in the last decades. 

He is also the author of his first book:  "Cracking the Leadership code: Three Secrets of Building Strong Leaders"

We talk about the book and some concrete trips and tricks for leaders. 

We touch upon a lot of subjects and here is a glimpse:

- How to be more emphatic, the importance of really listening when you talk to someone. 

- Only 21% of people think their leaders lead well. Why is it like that?

- How power and absolute power negativeley impacts the emphatic part of the brain

- How to lead in Corona times, what will be the new normal when we are on the other side of this Corona crisis. "When we come out of this you will be seen as either a stronger or weaker leader" says Alain. 


- Some examples of how Alain learned the hard way


Listen to someone with a lot of experience and who is willing to share it. 

If you want to connect with Alain, find below some useful links:

• Alain Hunkins Website
• Cracking the Leadership Code book website
• Alain on Linkedin
• TEDx talk by Alain

This week we meet Steffen Kaiser from Germany.

Steffen is an experienced CFO and has been in a multitude of executive management positions.  He has also been the person coming in to a company and having the tough task to massively lay off people, something that deeply affected him.

A sample of things discussed in this episode:

The challenge for management of involving the people who is actually doing the work into decisions that ultimateley impacts them.

How can management get out of their ivory tower and truly take in feedback even when it is not something they want to hear.

How to create an environment where it is not only EBITA but also people that counts.

How to navigate in a corporate experience when you have not only your staff to take care off but also need to manage your peers whose interest is not always aligning to yours and also more difficult to influence.

Listen to a very thoughtful man who has seen it all and been given serious thought on how to improve the corporate experience.

If you want to get in touch with Steffen you can contact him on LinkedIn by clicking here. 

Mats is sharing his sympathy with everyone impacted by the Coronavirus. 

From people losing their lives, to sick people and others loosing their jobs. 

The world will forever be a pre and post Corona. How will this impact the world economy? 

A thought goes to all people lining up in the unemployment lines (without possiblity to do social distancing) and the hopefully positive energy and new better world that might come out of this. 

From every crisis something good comes. 

What will be the future of work? Is home office the new normal? How are you coping at home with screaming toddler's around your legs? 

And what if you realize as a manager nobody needs you now people work from home and your natural authority is gone?

Some questions buzzing in Mats mind and a thought to all out there to be safe and healthy. 

In todays episode Mats sits down with Leigh Sembaluk. 

Leigh is a young Canadian with multiple talents. 

He grew up being a passionate soccer player and reached his goal and became pro. 

Unfortunateley he was injured in his first season and turned into coaching. 

He became more and more interested in what really makes the best players the best and what is really distinguishing them from the others. 

This lead to a book called Preception and it gives insights into Leigh's experience and gives valuable tips to coaches and goes under the surface what is really driving the conscious and unconscious behaviour of team players. 

Leigh's passion did not stop there and he decided to found a company, also called Preception. 

Leigh together with a team of scientists and software engineers develop hardware and software that allows to analyse movements and give valuable insight to players that they can use to improve their game. 

Listen to Leigh's fascinating story. 

If you want to connect with Leigh, read his book or check out his company:

• Leigh Sembaluk on LinkedIn
• Buy the Book Preception
• The Company Preception

Welcome to the 2nd season of The Corporate Corner. 

In this episode Mats will talk about the why for this 2nd season and also why the 1st season unexpectedly stopped. 

He will share the intention for this season which is to broaden the scope of the guests and also have some people on their way into the corporate life or who have recently left it. 

The intention is also to give a voice to people working in what is not always considered corporate, but people who have life stories to share around their work in different contexts. 

Mats will talk about the transatlantic move he and the family has made to land in Northern California and the challenges and benefits that came with that. 

He will share his thoughts on how polarized the socitey has become and how the behaviour of politicians trickle down in the society and Mats will share the analogy with a bee hive that went from hostile to nice in 3 days when the queen was exchanged. 

In a political rant he will share how he first discovered how politicians directly can impact managers in the corporate life and he will also talk about a book he has read: "A very stable genius" which is not very flattering for the President of the United States. 

To counterbalance that he will tell something we all could learn from POTUS. 

In this 2nd season the aim is to have bi-weekly episodes. 

Would it be possible to change the order of things so that what we love to do in life is predominant and that we make money in the spare time?

That is a question that Rasto asked himself and after a lot of hesitation he took a break in his corporate career to move to Bali and learn to surf and at his return from Bali he left the corporate security to start his own company. 

Rasto started to question what is really important when a close relative passed away just at the time when he was retiring and finally was going to do all the things he always wanted. 

Listen to a thoughtful soul talking about his life, corporate frustrations and how difficult it can be to have ideas in corporate when nobody really cares. 

DevOps engineer, Cloud Expert, university teacher and soon coffee shop owner in addition to running his IT company with a friend. Rasto has more than one string to his bow. 

Find out more at TCC Website : www.thecorporatecorner.net

In Today’s episode, Mats is sitting down (via Skype) with Bruce Eckfeldt. 

Bruce always wanted to become an architect and received two architect degrees at McGill university in Montreal. During his education, he was one of the first classes who had computers on hand and he quickly found himself interested in computer modelling and animation. 

Not long after, Bruce got into the field of product design and how to develop strategies around products. 

He was an early adopter of Agile and founded a company in 2002 around lean Agile software development.

Today, Bruce’s focus is executive coaching and he works with CEOs and leadership teams. 

Bruce talks about how he is coaching the leadership teams and how hard it is to sometimes stay in the coaching role rather than being more directive. 

He also explains why a CEO would need a coach and we talk about the importance of middle management, in companies, the people who make it happen and often are stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

You will also find out what "Minnesota nice" means and what connecion it has to Sweden. 

Find out more at TCC Website : www.thecorporatecorner.net

In this weeks episode, Ariel Andersson sits down with Jan "Janko" Palenčár in a deep conversation about finding your path in life, being a servant and what it really means.

Jan was interested in computers from an early age and started programming already at the age of 8. He started to work as a software engineer but quickly realized that he wanted something more out of life, that his path was meant to be in another direction, but he wasn't sure exactly what that path was, the last time he met with Ariel.

Jan experienced something called Vision Quest and went through an peeling of the onion, in this one year long workshop that opened his eyes to what he wanted to do and his path.

Some time later, he came across the work of Morgan Scott Peck centered around Community building; a community striving to create an environment where people can be themselves and use their talents and gifts.  A safe place where members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.

Jan went through some hard work on himself and came to an insight that he wanted to become a servant. A servant for humanity, for organizations and for himself.

He now works as a coach and healer of both humans and organizations.

A truly inspiring story of finding your path in life.

Key Points:

Community Building Workshop is a unique 3 day experiential work.

By joining you can gain (3 key takeaways)
✅ Building deep relationships based on unusual trust and safety with fellow participants in a very short time
✅ Learning to overcome personal obstacles in the way of authentic and effective communication
✅ Leadership development experience

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Some useful links referred to in the episode:

Connect with Janko on LinkedIn

Community Building Website

Czech Community Building Website

Community Building Workshop held in Prague end of September
    Facebook event
 
* A few more things on our blog for you to explore.

This week Mats talks to Per-Erik "Perka" Holmström and we'll follow his journey that is a mixture of innovation, corporate life and last but not least Sport, which has been an integral part of Perkas whole life. 

Perka is a man with ideas and he will never take no for an answer when someone thinks that one of his ideas can not be implemented.

Stubborn, talkative and visionaire is all adjectives describing Perka.

He'll talk about how Financial Hearing was created and how the task of reporting financial results for listed companies in Sweden that in the early 90ties was at minimum a week long effort to meet with investors was reduced to an evening at a fancy restaurant in Stockholm and also broadcasted via Webcast which at the time was unheard of in the board rooms in Sweden.

Perka also talks about he brought the crème de la crème of the Swedish industry leaders on a hockey rink for an ice hockey event as an alternative to a traditional get together.

And last but not least, we'll hear the story of how Perka was instrumental in bringing the Bandy sport to China where he has become an Honor Professor at the Harbin Sports University. 

Mats talks about new TCC Schedule ahead moving away from the weekly wednesday distribution and giving his view on how to stay in good shape while still in corporate.