Nordea's CIO Kirsten Renner: Showing your vision is important for success

Creating a culture that both drives innovation while maintaining security was the discussion topic of the panel talk in which Kirsten Renner – Head of Technology and CIO at Nordea – participated on the first day of TechArena. Together with T. Alexander Lystad, CTO of Visma and Kristin Lindmark, CIO of Telenor Sweden, she discussed how to successfully build an organisation that not only responds to change, but leads it. 

Change must come from within

Kirsten Renner explains that, for a change to be sustainable, it must come from the inside out. For her, it is about engaging people through a shared vision and giving them the freedom to be innovative. Creating a common movement where everyone is on board.

“As a leader, it’s important to show the vision and build a movement – you need to have your team on board through the change,” said Kirsten.

Speed and security – a balancing act in the world of technology

The rapid evolution of technology – especially AI – places new demands on security. Crime has become more sophisticated with methods such as deep fake and other AI-powered threats. The panel discussed how companies need to act swiftly to counter these threats, while maintaining a high level of security.

Kirsten Renner emphasised the importance of striking a balance between speed and security, particularly in highly regulated sectors such as banking. “We need to succeed at both speed and security without compromise. At the same time, we must adapt our commercial priorities to security requirements,” she explained.

Cross-sectoral collaboration is key

One of the insights from the discussion was the need to collaborate across sectoral boundaries to improve cyber security. Renner emphasises that protecting your own customers is not enough – it is a matter of educating society as a whole. “We also need to collaborate with our competitors. It’s through shared knowledge and common resources that we can protect everyone,” she commented.