My first thoughts after 110 days at Nokia

When I was first contacted by Nokia and asked to take on the Chief People Officer role, I was intrigued. Nokia is an iconic brand, it would be crazy not to at least have a conversation. After a great discussion with our CEO Pekka, I was struck by his extraordinary vision for the business and his ambition to lead Nokia into the next stage of its evolution. It sounded like an interesting and fun challenge!

Then I discovered the Nokia essentials: open, fearless, and empowered. They mean so much to me and spurred me on to join the company. These are three words that I aspire to live by. I tend to be pretty fearless. I've made mistakes in my career, but then I have learned great lessons from them. I feel empowered in my role, but I also try to empower my team as much as possible and give them plenty of freedom and trust. I try to be transparent and open to new experiences and technologies and to feedback. This, in some ways, is the one I think we all struggle with most – being truly open to feedback and having the humility to listen and keep learning. Like all of us, I’m on a journey and these are my guiding lights.

So here I am today, 110 days into my time with #TeamNokia

I have enjoyed connecting with people from across the globe, hitting the road, and visiting as many of our offices as possible.

What fascinates me most about Nokia is that employees genuinely care about the company and its success. It’s deep and heartfelt. I also think that it’s admirable that people have such a dedication to our company given everything that is happening in the world. The geopolitical and economic situation, environmental concerns, the global pandemic, rising stress levels, and mental health challenges. Huge paradigm shifts. While so many passionate people here at Nokia are giving their best every day, I want to repay the favor and keep our focus on employee well-being. It’s important to remind ourselves to carve out time to unwind, relax and enjoy time with our families. Achieving work-life balance is close to my heart and a real mission for me here at Nokia.

Creating engaging and customized experiences for employees through technology

I’m gathering feedback from as many sources as possible and want to involve employees in coming up with brilliant solutions that can help us to further improve the employee experience and drive our company’s success. I am an avid contributor to industry discussions around HR 4.0 — the next evolution for the HR profession. I personally believe that our focus needs to be on engaging employees to create and deliver the solutions that they say they need. Less autocratic, more inclusive: it’s an approach that’s right for a world that has been shaken and shaped by so many big global events.

We also need to create employee digital experiences that engage Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zs. It’s no small feat and I intend to pull in as many employees as I can to help develop the solutions. Part of this involves exploring digital assistants, the Metaverse, and personalized applications to help create more customized and meaningful experiences for our people.

Relocating to Finland

My family and I relocated to Finland a few weeks ago. Finland is a breathtakingly beautiful place and the people are amazing. We are having such a great time!

Thanks for reading and I’ll keep you posted on my progress.?