Trendspotting HK week 2019
During the week, the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce organized their annual Chamber of Commerce week, and this time the topic was local and global trends as well as to tomorrow's leadership. Ekan was there and participated in exciting dialogues with other companies operating in Western Sweden.
There are global challenges affecting us all such as the possibility of a global shift in power from the US to China, Brexit, protectionism vs. free trade, environment and climate issues. All of these challenges were discussed by this year's panel. When the participants voted on the various questions, a relatively positive view emerged despite some discussions. It is very difficult to predict the future, but what has been raised a number of times is that together we must do our part to influence the trends towards what many of us believe in: free trade, openness, equality and sustainability.
From global to western Sweden, a lot is happening in our part of the world, despite the fact that we are quite small in size. Gothenburg and its environs are really a city of development and expansion where it is bursting with ideas, technology development and above all major infrastructural projects. This means that a completely different business environment is being developed where many new players are emerging in the West Swedish market. The discussions gave energy and motivation that we actually have an absolutely fantastic opportunity to create the cities of the future together.
Furthermore, the modern leadership and future leadership were discussed where questions emerged such as: How important will the leader be in the future? What does the new generation demand in the labor market? How will AI affect leadership? What has been found is that we do not actually know, but that qualities such as responsive, human and cooperative are probably highly relevant to addressing the challenges of the future.
When I briefly reflect on the days, it is very clear that many companies, regardless of industry, encounter and discuss similar issues in this dynamic and fast-paced world. This is something that we at Ekan work with when we meet our clients as we often help other companies try to adapt their organizations to keep up with the development. The importance of sharing experiences with one another and taking the time to reflect is of utmost importance. When we work with change management, it is often some of these challenges that were discussed during the week that form the basis of the change in the end.
My colleague Ulf Tengroth drew attention to a quote from the week, "It wasn't better before, it was you who was better before". Therefore, let us reflect and think about how we can continue to develop together.