Posts

The Estonia Case: Challenging Sweden's Blind Faith in Government

-
Image
The Estonia disaster of 1994, in which a Baltic Sea ferry sank and hundreds of people lost their lives, symbolizes a problematic phenomenon in Swedish society: faith in the state. This event has raised deep questions about the limits of trust in state institutions, especially in Sweden, a country known for its strong faith in state institutions. The immediate reaction to the disaster and the subsequent investigations showed that many Swedes, even those who had lost loved ones, offered little audible resistance to the behavior of their government. This casts a disturbing light on state faith, especially considering that the most intensive investigations into the disaster were not conducted in Sweden but in Germany, which was not directly affected by this catastrophe. In the video "The sinking - How did Estonia really sink? - in an interview with a journalist, the Swedish government is criticized, particularly the then Prime Minister Karl Bildt. The journalist says that Bildt and hi...
Read more

The illusion of support

-
Image
Once again, one of these countless, long, and agonizing meetings occurred in a Swedish luxury resort. A strange mixture of busyness and relaxation typical of this event characterized the atmosphere. Knowing that the problems were growing, I headed straight for Thomasson. I engaged him in a conversation, urging him to come and visit us to explain everything to him, especially the unique situation we were in with the complete takeover of Sweden. No other part of the company had ever faced such challenges. Thomasson's gaze exuded a mixture of empathic seriousness and a statesmanlike dignity. It was as if he was fully committed to my cause and understood what was at stake. His gestures were deliberate, his words chosen, and when he entered my request in his notebook, he did so with a care that seemed almost ceremonial. I sat there, watching him, and felt hope sprout inside me. It was as if Thomasson's promise to come and listen to my suggestions had lit a small light in the dar...
Read more

The nanny state

-
Image
Sweden is a nanny state. Some people there don't like to hear that. It's a humorous, sometimes slightly mocking term for a social system in which the state plays an overly caring or patronizing role. Imagine an overprotective nanny constantly following behind you to ensure you're wearing your scarf so you don't catch a cold or constantly looking over your shoulder to ensure you're eating your vegetables. Now, scale that image to the size of an entire country and its society. In a nanny state, someone else always looks after aspects of life, often with the best intention of protecting health, safety, and well-being. In such a nanny state, profound psychological effects arise. This constant availability of support and the expectation that a solution exists for almost everything subtly shapes people's self-image and worldview. In such an environment, individuals often find it difficult to take matters into their own hands, as I have often seen in Sweden. Then, in o...
Read more

The challenges of Swedish top-down decision-making

-
Image
Milva, our steadfast protagonist of dubious management decisions, was more in control than ever and pulled her strings in the background. Her latest coup? A revolution in beverages that was more like a drainage. Her decisions acted like additional waves in an already stormy sea during turbulence and uncertainty. The tsunami of problems that had already built up due to the management's decision to relocate our operations to Sweden had already caused significant problems. Unrest that was either overlooked or - as I suspect - deliberately ignored at the higher levels. Because in the Swedish corporate culture, I had known over the years, everything had to be sold as a success. Milva's recent decisions seemed inappropriate in this context and downright counterproductive. They came up against a workforce already struggling with the challenges of restructuring and adapting to new ways of working. In this already tense atmosphere, their "Revolutions" are not like innovative i...
Read more

Kafkaesque conditions in Sweden's diverse working world

-
Image
There was one episode in my Swedish work adventure that I particularly remember. It involved a significant project I was managing, which, as is often the case in the adult world, didn't quite go according to plan. The story begins with a classic scenario: an impending deadline and a project progressing slowly. I realized that we wouldn't meet the deadline. So I did what any sensible person would do: I tried to convince my superiors Thomasson and Olsson to inform operations management about the impending delay. More than three times on different days, I tried to persuade both gentlemen to tell the truth. Each time, I was fobbed off with a smile and a "we're still waiting" as if I were suggesting that we all go to the moon together. The situation escalated unexpectedly and with an intensity that I would not have thought possible in the otherwise calm Swedish work culture. Operations management found out about the delay - not through the usual channels, Thomasson...
Read more

I make the world the way I like it

-
Image
So behind the glossy façade of the company that shone in glossy brochures and on the website was a world where conflict was very much pushed aside, much like a toddler persistently pushing vegetables around the edge of a plate. The culture was subtly but profoundly different, and I felt like an anthropologist who had discovered an unknown tribe. The longer I worked in this corporate culture, the more I realized that this seemingly perfect working world had little secrets. Secrets that were as closely guarded as my grandmother's apple pie recipe. Much remained unspoken, shrouded in an invisible taboo. Criticism? Not a thing. Contradictions? Not in this universe. Every new suggestion dipped into the black hole of the email distribution list, where it was constantly circulating. It was an endless digital ping-pong game in which everyone kept the ball rolling with an approving "Great!" or a "Good idea" comment, but no one dared to take the decisive shot. The m...
Read more

Summer vacations

-
Image
In Sweden, summer vacation is a cultural phenomenon deeply rooted in the nation's soul. It is a time when the whole country enters a collective summer break, an annual escape from reality that puts Swedish society into a state of summer trance. This extended vacation, spanning weeks to an entire month, is a sign of the appreciation of work-life balance, closeness to nature, and family time and a prime example of the quirky idiosyncrasies of Swedish working life. When the summer vacation begins in Sweden, the office becomes a haunted house. Many Swedish colleagues leave, and "oh-so-important" projects are suddenly put on hold. The first year you experience this, you ask yourself: is this possible? In the second and third years, a typical (or often seen) Swedish shrug of the shoulders sets in. From the fourth year onwards, you are glad that this summer vacation exists because it is a time of deep relaxation, no or hardly any emails, no meetings, no nagging from offices that...
Read more

Wellbeing about everything

-
Image
The conflicts that arose from the different work views became increasingly apparent and stressful. Our Swedish colleagues placed enormous value on "wellbeing" and personal wellbeing. As positive as it may sound, this attitude had far-reaching consequences in practice. Comfort and avoiding any discomfort in the working day was a top priority. As a result, they were reluctant to take on challenges or tasks outside their comfort zone. Instead, they offloaded such tasks onto others - their foreign coworkers. This tendency manifested itself particularly clearly in labor-intensive and dirty tasks, such as the upcoming maintenance of machines. These tasks required not only technical know-how but also the willingness to get your hands dirty. But time and again, we observed how some of our Swedish colleagues shirked these tasks, delayed them, or ignored them altogether, hoping that someone else would take them on. The consequences of this attitude were manifold. On the one hand, i...
Read more

Hurray for Swedish dissatisfaction

-
Image
One of the most striking and noticeable characteristics of some of the new colleagues was their pronounced tendency towards dissatisfaction and associated complaints. This tendency was disturbing in its regularity and intensity. What was particularly striking, however, was how these complaints were expressed - or instead were not expressed. Instead of openly and directly addressing their concerns or dissatisfaction openly and directly, they chose an indirect route, bypassing their divisional managers and me as the higher-level manager. These people were all amiable and polite. They were always smiling and cooperative, but behind this friendly face was a world of dissatisfaction and criticism. You could sometimes have good, short conversations with them and think that everything had been said or that they would directly address what was on their minds without hesitation. But to my great surprise, that's precisely what they didn't do. I knew from my previous years that Swedish co...
Read more