Leadership in a new era: From emotion to preparation

The world moves faster than our judgement can keep up. Technology, geopolitics, and culture are converging into a constant pressure to act – faster, smarter, and more efficiently. What makes the difference is rarely speed. It’s preparation. The ability to think clearly while everything around is in motion.

I still remember an experience from the beginning of my career that has shaped the way I lead today.

It was back in 1998 – a long time ago. I had been working at Damgaard for nine months when my boss’s boss, the global sales director, called me into his office. I thought I had done something wrong.

He pointed at a globe and said: “You’re going to Australia… if you want to.”

A month later, I was there – alone, on the other side of the world, with a Nokia phone and almost no internet.

Before I left, he asked me to lunch. He said something I’ll never forget:

“You’re going to make mistakes – and when you do, I’ll stand in front of you and take responsibility. When you succeed, I’ll stand behind you, and you’ll get the credit.”

That was leadership in its purest form: trust, responsibility, and courage.

He trusted me – I think because I had already shown that I took my work seriously, even when I didn’t have all the answers.

Trust wasn’t just a word on a wall. It was built through action, over time, and it grew because we both took responsibility for it.

That experience has stayed with me ever since. It taught me that trust isn’t something you’re given. Trust isn’t given – it’s built over time through preparation, openness, and the courage to stand firm, even when things get tough.

Today, trust is still at the core of everything I believe in as a leader. It can’t be mandated or demanded. It has to be built, step by step, through collaboration between people who prove themselves reliable over time.

For me, leadership is not about control, but about presence and clarity. It's about creating a space where people dare to take responsibility because they know that someone will be there for them if things go wrong – and behind them when they succeed.

However, we are currently in the midst of a generational shift. A new generation is entering the workforce. They’ve grown up in times of peace and security, in a world where everything is just a click away. Many have never experienced real conflict, and that shapes their understanding of risk, patience, and consequences.

They seek meaning, balance, and community, and that’s a strength. They remind us that people need to feel connected to what they do; that well-being and professionalism go hand in hand.

At the same time, they need to experience that growth requires challenge. You don’t build resilience by avoiding what’s difficult, but by standing in it and growing through it.

At Context&, we call it Nordic Realism: a way of leading and working that unites the human with the pragmatic.

We believe in collaboration, responsibility, and honesty – and that trust is something you earn.

This also applies to our work with AI and data, where trust in processes, insights, and people is essential for technology to create real value. We succeed when we combine human judgment with technological precision and stand firmly, even when the pace is high.

We don’t run the fastest, we stand our ground with strength, because we understand the context and because we prepare.

We believe that technology only truly makes a difference when it’s paired with human insight and the courage to act on what we see.

That’s how we build solutions for our clients – and how we build culture for ourselves.

For our clients, it means we lead, develop, and deliver from the same foundation: trust, preparation, and human insight. That’s how technology becomes truly valuable – and how we create results that last.

The future doesn’t belong to those who shout the loudest or move the fastest, but to those who stand firmly, even when the wind blows.