With more than 30 years of experience in telecom and IT, Johnny Svedberg has built businesses from the ground up, entered new markets, completed major acquisitions and led organisations through extensive change. From his early years at Ericsson and the expansion of Comviq to international leadership roles and board positions, one principle has remained consistent: the market must lead, leadership must be clear, and organisations must be willing to make decisions. Here, he shares his experience of leadership, board work and why interim management can be critical when time is of the essence.

You began your career at Ericsson. What was it that led you towards international expansion and new markets?

“I started as a trainee engineer at Ericsson, and the idea was that I would work in engineering and manufacturing. I quickly found it a little too boring and instead moved towards the marketing department, where I worked with China, which had just opened up 12 special economic zones/regions.

I was given the opportunity to work with the Chinese market for Ericsson. It was a very special experience – pioneering work in a previously closed market and an encounter with a new culture. I particularly remember travelling to Shenzhen. The city had been established about a year earlier and was still a small rural village, largely surrounded by farmland and rice fields. We installed two AXE 10 exchanges there. It was a very different environment from Sweden, but also an incredibly educational and exciting experience for a twenty-year-old.

Later, I worked with Ericsson in England. In 1985, Ericsson signed a major agreement with BT to digitalise the entire country. At the time, England was very underdeveloped when it came to fixed-line telephony, with low telephone penetration. I moved to Brighton with my family for two years and then on to Saudi Arabia.

These international assignments taught me early on the importance of understanding the market, the customer and the local context.”

You then left Ericsson for Comviq, which had just been awarded a mobile licence. What attracted you to the company?

“Above all, it was the opportunity to build something from the ground up. If I remember correctly, I joined as the sixth employee at Comviq and stayed for 18 years.

When I started, Comviq had an analogue 450 MHz network that had never managed to make a profit due to anti-competitive measures by the Swedish Telecommunications Administration. When I left Tele2, the business had at its peak expanded into 24 countries, with more than 50 million customers and revenues of EUR 5.5 billion. I was involved in launching Comviq in Sweden, establishing NetCom in Norway and later responsible for Tele2’s expansion into countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Russia.

That is probably the experience that has shaped me most as a leader – getting involved early, building the organisation, establishing the market and then growing the business.”

What are the most important lessons you have learned from your years in operational leadership roles?

“The market must lead, and you have to keep a tight grip on operational costs.

You constantly have to adapt the company to the customer and the market and make sure that the market sets the requirements for the rest of the organisation. It is easy for internal processes and structures to start taking on a life of their own, but ultimately it is the customer and the market that determine whether you succeed. You have to be careful that plans and processes do not become self-fulfilling. Instead, you should strive for dynamism and flexibility and delegate responsibility as far down the organisation as possible, so that problems can be solved quickly and customer demands can be met.

Another important factor is focus. As a leader, you should not only be clear about what the organisation should do – you also need to be clear about what it should not do.

That is often where you lose focus and the organisation starts moving in the wrong direction. You try to do too much at the same time or focus only on new projects, making it difficult to create real impact and maintain focus.”

What does a leader need to do when an organisation is going through major change?

“Above all, clarity and communication.

There is almost always resistance when you change an organisation. As a leader, you need to understand where that resistance exists and address it clearly. Sometimes that means people have to leave the organisation. You must not underestimate the amount of damage a small group of strong individuals can cause in a large organisation.

At the same time, change management is not just about removing resistance. It is about getting the organisation to want to be part of the journey and to understand and buy into the purpose and the reasons for the change.

I believe strongly in having a clear vision, short-term objectives and continuous communication about status and progress. People need to understand where they are going and what is expected of them. And management must be fully committed. If you cannot get management 100 per cent behind the change, you have to be willing to act without delay.

Sometimes you also have to be willing to ‘kill your darlings’. These can be difficult decisions to make, but if something no longer works in the business, you need to be able to cut your losses and move on.”

You have extensive experience of board work, including in listed companies. What do you see as the board’s most important responsibility?

“For me, board work essentially comes down to one question: Do we have the right leadership?

Of course, the board must ensure that the company is ‘sound and compliant’, with the right policies, regulations and formal requirements in place and followed. But the most important responsibility is to ensure that the company has the right leadership.

Management is responsible for running the business and owning the execution of the strategy. The board can challenge and provide input, but it must not take over management’s responsibilities. That is an important balance.”

How should a board challenge the CEO and management without becoming involved in day-to-day management?

“It depends on the type of company, where it is on its development curve and what challenges it is facing.

In a company that is, for example, in a start-up phase involving significant financing, fundraising or major structural changes, the board can be absolutely critical to the company’s development.

In a larger and well-functioning company, the board may not be able to contribute as much to the day-to-day operations. However, it can be extremely important when it comes to major strategic issues, such as M&A, entering new markets, significant investments, divestments or closures.

The board should ask the difficult questions. Why haven’t we closed this factory? Why does this product still exist? Should we really enter this market? What do the new strategic decisions mean for our capital requirements and access to the right skills? And is the organisation, in its current form, equipped to address the new circumstances?

That is where the board can create real value – by challenging management and making sure that the important questions are properly examined and addressed. But the strategy must still be owned by the company and its management.”

You have also worked extensively with acquisitions. What are the most common mistakes companies make after an acquisition?

“One of the biggest challenges is corporate culture and integration into the existing structure.

It is easy to focus on figures, structure and synergies during an acquisition. But if you fail to make the organisations work effectively together, much of the anticipated value can be lost.

Sometimes it may also be necessary to change the leadership or remove people who do not fit into the new organisation. That is not always easy, but culture and leadership are crucial to a successful integration.”

You have first-hand experience of rapidly building businesses and leading change. How do you view interim management?

“I think interim management serves an important purpose when time is of the essence, and a company is missing a critical leadership role. Often, companies try to solve the situation internally by moving people around. But that does not always work well.

In those situations, you need to find a solution quickly. An interim manager can create stability and give the organisation breathing space while the company carries out a well-considered permanent recruitment process.

At the same time, the interim leader can start moving the business forward and ‘set the table’ for the next person. This allows a new permanent leader to come in through a structured transition without losing momentum.

Naturally, the assignment needs to be adapted to the situation and the company’s needs. In my experience, bringing in an interim manager has worked very well.”

What do you believe characterises a really good interim leader?

“Based on my experience, it is largely about the ability to quickly understand the situation, prioritise, build trust with employees and start delivering. From the client’s perspective, it is important to be clear about the objectives and expectations.

An interim manager comes in when there is a specific problem that needs to be solved. There is no time for a long learning curve. It requires clarity, decisiveness and the ability to quickly understand what actually needs to be done – and, equally importantly, what should not be done.

Ultimately, it is the same principle that has guided me throughout my career: understand the market, create focus and get the organisation to act.”

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