I had the honour to have a speech at #AaltoMBA program’s 40 years anniversary as one of the alumnis. I had attended the second  MBA course starting in 1985 at Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration’s international center founded by Veikko Jääskeläinen.  I was simultaneously with the MBA studies working at Nokia and the company was sponsoring my study fees.

The english language program in Finland at this time was  a special one. Finland was not too international at this time and our industry neither. The only really international company was Kone, which had acquired Asea lift operations in 1968. At this time our financial markets were still strictly regulated and Sovet Union existed. We accoplished part of our studies in the USA and also had a banking seminar week in New York.

In addition to myself other  alumnis André Noël Chaker and Minna Kumpula shared their stories how the program has been transformational. The topic of mt speech was  The importance of corporate culture in my journey. Insightful speeches also from Dean Timo Korkeamaki and Ira Lange. It was a delight to see many

Three point on my insights on corporate and company culture on my leadership journey:

• Understanding the strengths of Nokia’s culture in the 1980’s was an experience – and a learning step.
• Changing the corporate culture and management team at Tecnomen was key in steering the company onto a path of growth and profit.
• Values and culture of a company are crucial for its success – both during up and downturns. This is important to understand already when founding a company.

I got nice aplodes with my last slide. My view on the Purpose of a company

The principal purpose of a company is not to make money to its shareholders.

The purpose of a company is to provide products and/or services to others in a responsible way in our society. By managing and realizing its strategy and operations in a successful way, the company will bring wealth to its shareholders.

”People working in a company must have a feeling that they are doing together something important”.