Delivering talks on his own journey
For 15 years, Pär has been delivering internal talks on how we can attain a positive state and work with clear goals in teams, have the courage to fail, and how we can work with improving diversity and inclusion.
When Nordea introduced its first common values in 2007, he underwent training in communication and change processes. He wove the lessons he learned from that with his own journey, turning it into a personal story that he shares at a theoretical and practical level. He delivers most of the talks in Nordea’s Advisory Academy, but also in various management groups, at contact centres and externally.
“Performing on stage is something that’s stayed with me from my days as an elite athlete, and I really enjoy it. Both give me an adrenaline rush, and giving talks is a way to get that rush, as you have to get out there, deliver and perform the whole time.”
The importance of having fun on the journey towards the goal
One Olympic gold medal, two silvers and one bronze. Four Olympic medals – not a piece of cake exactly. When Pär realised that he had an ability variation, he tried out different sports, joined a para-athletics club, and changed his dream to taking part in, and winning at, the Paralympics.
Elite athletics has taught Pär a lot, and this is the main topic of his talks. In order to reach the final goal of winning a race of 15.4 seconds, he needed to spend 4,860,000 seconds training.
“It’s been a fantastic journey. To reach such a goal, you have to invest vast amounts of time. That’s why it’s important to have fun on the journey towards the goal, and not always see the end goal as the most important factor. I’m now also proud of what I’ve achieved, but it took far too many years for me to feel that pride.”
Pär reflects on the fact that when you’re in the midst of something, it’s easy to become overly focused on the goal itself. It’s the same as when we deliver good quarterly results, quickly put it behind us and move on to the next set of results. To gain an outside-in perspective between the goals achieved, we need to sit down on the balcony sometimes and look out over what we’ve achieved. Take a moment to see what needs changing, reflect, celebrate and be proud.