Get to know the leadership trainers
Jenny Österlund
Tell us about yourself!
I’m a curious, out of the box thinker who believes in the power of doing good. I live in Umeå with my husband and two kids. I like to be out in nature, either working on some project in my garden or taking a walk in the forest.
I’ve previously founded and run my own company in the construction sector and worked in the IT sector as a project lead, agile coach and business developer.
Now I’ve found my place in the games industry where I have been working for the last 7 years. Currently running a startup and before that working as studio manager at Paradox Interactive.
How would you describe your leadership experience?
It started at the age of twelve when I started coaching my first basketball team. My leadership in sports was where I first experienced the power of good leadership and a strong shared vision.
Since then I have been a people manager, team leader and a business leader and even though they all have their different challenges and tasks it always comes down to leadership to make it work and have your people thrive.
What is “Great Leadership” to you?
To me a great leader is someone that inspires and enables people to reach their full potential and to strive for a shared purpose.
I believe that great leadership requires great bravery. You have to be brave enough to stand up for what you believe in, decisions you make and what is best for your people.
To be able to be a great leader for yourself and others I believe the first step is to get to know yourself, both as a person and as a leader. Understand what motivates you, what your strengths and weaknesses are, why you want to be a leader and what you wish to accomplish.
What do you see as the benefits of having a personal leadership trainer?
Having had the opportunity to have a great PT myself and getting a lot of value from the experience I can really recommend it. It’s great for generally getting new perspectives and challenging your own truths ways of doing things. It’s also really good to have someone to help you with specific tasks like for example an important recruitment or an organisational change.
The biggest value is not having someone tell you what to do but rather having someone questioning you and helping you think one extra time about what you want and how to do it. In the end your leadership is up to you, but a PT can help you get clarity on what is important to you in the given situation.
What can one expect from you as a PT?
What are your strengths? What value will you add?
Positive compassionate leadership is my cup of tea. My leadership is people focused and inspired by neuroscience and human behaviour patterns. Some of my strengths are, communication, building efficient teams, culture building and organisational structure. My goal when working with someone is to help them succeed in their role, grow as a leader and person and experience the joy and fulfillment of being a leader in the process.
Working with me you can expect someone that will be genuinely interested in you and your leadership challenges, tailored support to fit your unique challenges and continuously being challenged to step out of your comfort zone. I invest a lot of energy and effort into the process and in return I’d expect you to do the same.
It will be hard work but also a lot of fun!