Let’s create the new normal together!
Deprived of the chance to meet up this year, we held a virtual customer seminar last week - thank you to all those who tuned in, we do hope you found it interesting. There were insights and updates from Henrik Wettergren, Magnus Björkman, Henrik Brodin and Maria Baldin from Södra on the importance of partnership, innovation, sustainability and communication.
Just four days into the job, our new CEO Lotta Lyrå took to the stage, too, and there were on-location contributions from Värö Mill Manager Marcus Åsgärde and Head of New Business and Innovation, Catrin Gustavsson from Södra Innovation’s labs.
Our two guest speakers addressed the challenges and opportunities of both sustainability and the ‘new normal’. We can’t cover everything here, but some take-aways if you missed the event:
- Södra’s CEO, Lotta Lyrå: “I will continue to drive innovation and improving efficiency in the total value chain...there are fantastic possibilities within machine learning and artificial intelligence…Cooperating with customers is key.”
- Deputy Director Innovation & Consumer Insight at Kairos, Björn Persson: “The young will want to work for companies that are making a difference (environmentally). We are seeing a shift from USP to OSP (organizational selling point) and this will be important for recruiting in the future.”
- Södra’s Strategic Business Development Manager, Henrik Brodin: “It is important that Sweden takes a lead role in the transition to a bioeconomy…we have a three-pronged approach – demand, supply, policies…we must work together.”
- Maria Baldin, Södra’s Director of Communications & Sustainability: “We need to increase awareness of our industry in general to help people make sustainable choices…we are in the decade of delivery. Our customers need our help to tell the story of forestry and its sustainable products.”
- Keynote speaker, Stefan Hyttfors: “The future is not to be predicted but created. Google, Amazon and Tesla are not successful because they are good at guessing (the future) but because they understand what is needed now. Pay attention to the present…Great companies are defined by crisis.
- “We would act faster to combat climate change if it were killing us faster. Nature says we MUST change, the younger generations WANT change, and with technology we CAN change.”
- Magnus Björkman, President Södra Cell: “Relationship is a word that comes up regularly when we talk to customers. This is a people business, and we depend on each other…We are creating the new normal together.”
- Henrik Wettergren, Vice President Södra Cell International: “I am always optimistic for the future. It’s easy to think of disruptive change as negative, but 2021 will hopefully bring positive disruptive change. I feel 2021 will bring positive news and the possibility to meet each other again.”
