The seeds of success

The road to Senior Executive Programme for me was paved by the vast diversity and change within our industry over the last decades. I was seeking a way to preserve and nurture this success but also prepare our business for scalable growth (during a period of already rapid expansion). My approach had to be one of strategy and was focused on outcomes that would support our culture, not just our numbers.

Food ingredients is a broad and diverse industry that has grown exponentially in the last three to four decades. This is due to a combination of factors, but our organisation, and those of our peers, have co-piloted major changes. We’ve experienced what we might call a bio-evolution. Our continued focus on both sustainability and reutilisation of ingredients, has seen us turn waste product from other parts of the process to feed, and then to food. The best example of this is whey protein, a by-product from the cheese manufacturing process, which has been transformed into a highly valuable and in-demand product with distinct nutritional value. We now see it being utilised in a mainstream, high production way for human consumption.

These changes have propelled our business forward at speed, and as such I sought to surround myself with opportunities not just to learn how to manage our continued growth, but to bring the business and our teams along with me, as we move from a medium-sized business to an enterprise-level setup. I signed up around six months prior to becoming CEO, and was then delayed in joining, but with hindsight, the Senior Executive Programme came along at just the right time. The delay gave me the opportunity to analyse the needs of our rapidly changing business and face forthcoming growth, head on, with some CEO decision-making already under my belt to use as fuel for reflection and planning.

Our HR team helped to find just the right opportunity to support me as I transitioned from leadership into the CEO role, focusing on the combination of world-class academia, mixed with exposure to outside perspectives from other cultures, organisations and sectors. In the end, the Senior Executive Programme approach at London Business School catered to every need I had for my own ongoing development, as well as the structural, and transformational needs of Arla Foods Ingredients.

Transformative learning, in and out of the boardroom

I am entirely confident that the teams I work with see a different person today than they did before I completed the Senior Executive Programme.

The programme challenges the unconscious bias we all have as leaders. In the classroom, leaders of varied businesses come together and challenge each other’s thinking. You are forced to confront your bias and then explore new tools, ways of working and ways of thinking that shape how you then return to and function in your business as a result. Success with this programme means leaving ego at the door.

Having a cohort of senior executives exposed me to different approaches, and wonderful interactions, but it also challenged how I personally think and perceive myself as a leader. Not only was I the only Scandinavian, but I was the only business leader from my industry, so to explore organisational transformation and challenges through the lens of other leaders in sectors such as automobile, banking, oil and telecommunications was invaluable. We may face slightly different challenges on the surface, but many of them overlap when it comes to scaling businesses, engaging teams, and communicating change.

Alongside a diverse and experienced cohort, you are then exposed to the incredible faculty and external speakers. Through these elements we are covering themes and disruptive angles which place all of our challenges under a lens of a rapidly changing global environment. SEP stands out here for the style and quality of the learning, but also for how it utilises its location. We were all actively encouraged to embrace London as a city, which is another part of the experience and is a vital exposure to cultures outside of our own, and those of our businesses.

Ultimately, this programme will challenge you to consider the leader you want to be. For me, I recall being especially interested in the ‘Never Normal’ concept, and looking at the S-curve of successful businesses. Through this, SEP highlighted that to grow and excel, we have to consistently reevaluate and refocus, because being successful does not mean we can stand still, we have to elevate to the next level. I really reflected on what I wanted for the business and how we, as a leadership team could get there, not just tomorrow, but in years to come. It has focused my mind and brought clarity on next steps and the evolution of our teams, culture and approach to operational and strategic growth.

Applied knowledge and strategy

The format of this programme, specifically the time for reflection in the middle of the course really enhanced my leadership competencies. It works so well to cover leadership and strategy, then move on to change and impact having been back to work and into the business in the interim.

I went in very open-minded, which I believe is important. You must go in ready to be more than inspired, but to learn about where you can develop personally and be a better leader for your organisation. Active participation yields the best results.

Our business is on the brink of expansion and growth the likes of which we have not delivered or seen before, so there has never been a better time for me to focus on the what and how for our business. Since completing the Senior Executive Programme, I have been working with my leadership teams on the evolution of our company, and its legacy. This comes back time and again to having the right culture, but also the right view on what success looks like.

I want to develop our teams to ensure that top down we have the right leadership behaviours and empower our organisation to help us reach our goals. SEP helped me realise I needed a step-up plan for my role as CEO, so I needed to understand the narrative of what matters and how I participate in and lead change here. Having done this with tools I took from the Senior Executive Programme, my cohort and speakers, I then shared this with my teams, and we went on to implement this across two other levels of leadership - cohesive, clear planning on how each individual is feeding into and supporting the company aims. We have a clear purpose, an enhanced understanding across the business of the changing environments we operate in, and how each team and individual can play a role. The shift is organisational, but also cultural. I want to drive this sense of belonging and culture, ensuring that everyone knows what we are building and how they help. I hope when people leave for the day they really want to come back tomorrow, that this is a place people want to be. It means a lot to me that people enjoy their work.

I have been able to enact change in the way we operate and communicate, ensuring that within leadership we are focused on having people that are less operational and more builders of the business. It is a balance. We are always considering the next level, while not losing sight of scaling in the most intelligent way, and in a manner that is aligned with our values and driving purpose.

The learning, the style of delivery, and the exposure of SEP has been invaluable in helping me consider what I want to focus on as we continue to scale and grow the business, and I refer to these learnings often as we work towards our next goals. I also appreciate the frequent and varied programme of events and Alumni opportunities on offer to further support my experience and exposure to other leaders from the SEP from whom I can continue to learn.