New OLA Sweden office opens its doors

The latest Oxford Leadership Academy branch office was officially opened in Stockholm earlier this month. OLA Sweden has moved across Stockholm and now occupies offices in the Banhustorget district in the very centre of the Swedish capital.
 

The OLA Sweden building

To start operations in the right spirit, Lasse Wrennmark, President of OLA Sweden, organised a launch party which brought together all the Fellows, OLA CEO and Chairman Brian Bacon, and a number of representatives of the Swedish business community.

Lasse welcomes his guests

With the office packed to the rafters Lasse welcomed his guests and outlined the purpose and vision that drives the Swedish team:

Our intention with OLA Sweden is to grow the business in Scandinavia and to start deep conversations with companies about leadership and how to create more sustainable business. We want to create a leadership community of senior people who want to make a difference not only in Sweden but also in the world.

Lasse is also planning to expand his team of Senior Consultants, whose avowed aim is to contribute to changing the trajectory of our civilisation through the encouragement of responsible and enlightened business practice.

Fellows Jonas Sjöholm and Rein Lallo then shared with the gathering why they felt that OLA was the best vehicle for the contributions they want to make. Jonas was eloquent about the passion that drives him:

I’m really proud to be a part of OLA. The wide perspective that OLA have on leadership, the impact good leadership has both on individuals, companies and on the world as whole. OLA is a truly unique organisation with a true purpose, a great passion and intention to really influence and be a part of the solution for a better world through great leadership. The view from the individual through to the big picture is something that really creates motivation and the feeling of being able to make change.
 

The way OLA works with leadership and business creates real change for individuals, companies and society. The outside expression that we see in action is always based on what’s going on inside. With that perspective OLA creates a higher level of awareness, a true contact with the potential and the inner compass in every leader.


A number of the guests at the launch were past or current clients of OLA Sweden, such as Helena Anderberg, CEO of Novare, Carina Tapper, HR Manager at AkzoNobel, and Fredrik Karlsson, CEO of Twicht Health. Another of their peers, Anna Serner, CEO of Tidningsutgivarna, a branch organisation of the media industry which protects the interests of the press in Sweden, shared her perspective of working with OLA. She said that the experience had helped her executive team to cope with the very real challenges that her industry had been facing in these turbulent times. She added that one of the reasons OLA’s intervention had been so successful was the company was free from corporate jargon and double-speak. It was important, she said, to work in an atmosphere of complete transparency.

A few words from Brian Bacon

After an account from Oxford Leadership Academy CEO Brian Bacon of OLA’s global objectives it was time for guests and Fellows to mingle and sample the organic food buffet of Swedish delicacies, before drawing the evening to a close.

OLA Sweden:

Lasse Wrennmark, Managing Director
Henrik Lannerhjelm, Fellow
Elena Cartasegna, Fellow
Karl Sundkvist, Fellow
Jonas Sjöholm, Fellow
Rein Lallo, Fellow
 

October 2009