With more than two decades of experience in retail, both in operational leadership roles and at board level, Björn Abild has extensive experience leading companies through financial challenges, transformation and strategic decisions.

Björn has served as CEO within Axfood and the ICA Group and was a member of the ICA Group’s executive management team. As CEO of Hemtex, then part of the ICA Group, he played a key role in turning the company’s financial performance around, moving it from loss-making to profitable and ultimately enabling the sale of the business.

Following his operational career, Björn has chosen to focus on board assignments and on acting as a mentor and sounding board to several CEOs and Chairmen.

Today, he lives in France and works with board assignments and mentoring. For Björn, successful leadership is fundamentally about people: building trust, communicating clearly and creating a culture where people both enjoy their work and perform at their best.

You have experience both as a CEO and at board level, as both Chairman and board member. What has this combination taught you about the difference between leading a company operationally and leading through a board?

“One important common denominator is culture. There is a lot of discussion about culture in operational organisations, but much less about building a strong culture within a board. I believe it is equally important there.

A board needs to be able to enjoy working together, trust one another and create an environment where people feel comfortable being open and thinking differently. That makes board work both more creative and more effective.

Communication and information are also absolutely critical. There is almost always information available within an organisation, but when it is not shared in the right way, problems often arise. The board and the CEO need to work as a team, while keeping their respective roles clearly defined.

The board must never step into operational management. Its responsibility, however, is to make sure the right things get done and to maintain focus on the issues that are critical to the company’s development. As Chairman, much of the role is about supporting the CEO — sometimes on major strategic issues, sometimes on much smaller matters.

For me, three words are fundamental: trust, communication and confidence.”

What characterises truly effective board work, and what does it take for a board to become a strategic partner to the CEO rather than simply a control function?

“It is largely about competence and dynamics. A strong board needs a broad and relevant range of expertise, but it also needs an open dialogue.

A CEO is unlikely to be particularly creative if they feel they are constantly being monitored. The board’s role is to support and challenge the CEO, not to micromanage.

With the right competencies around the table, the board can ask relevant and sometimes difficult questions without those questions being perceived as control for the sake of control. That creates a completely different kind of dialogue.

I strongly believe that the board should be a constructive sparring partner. When it works at its best, the CEO receives both support and new perspectives, while the board can ensure that the company is moving in the right direction.”

You have led companies through different types of change. What is the most important leadership capability when fast and sometimes difficult decisions need to be made?

“I think we should be careful with the term ‘change leader’. It has almost become a buzzword. I would never start by saying that you need to find a change leader. I would say that you need to find a good leader.

A good leader needs to be able to identify what needs to change – and what doesn’t. That was true 30 or 40 years ago as well.

It requires curiosity and a willingness to continuously develop the business. Change is not something that only happens when there is a crisis. It is a natural part of leading a company.”

Executive interim management often becomes relevant when a company is facing change, a vacancy or a need for specific expertise. From a board perspective, when do you believe an interim solution is preferable to immediately recruiting a permanent executive?

“I think interim management is a very valuable instrument. An interim executive comes in with a different type of mandate and, above all, an independent perspective.

During my operational career, I chose internal solutions myself, but later I was offered assignments as an interim CEO. I find the role very interesting.

An interim CEO can ask difficult and sometimes uncomfortable questions in a different way from a permanent CEO. You enter without being part of the company’s history and without being tied to the structures and ways of working that are already in place.

An interim executive may also come from a completely different industry and therefore see the business with fresh eyes. That can be extremely valuable. An interim CEO is less likely to get stuck in established ways of thinking.

This can be particularly important in situations where the board needs to understand what is actually working, what is not, and what needs to change before making decisions about the long-term organisation.”

Looking ahead, how do you think the expectations placed on business leaders and boards will change — and what role can experienced interim executives play?

“I believe the need for new perspectives will increase. An interim manager often brings a different background and can contribute experience that the organisation itself may not have.

But fundamentally, I still believe that people and culture are the most important factors. People need to enjoy their work, feel engaged and want to contribute. When they do, you also create creativity and development.

My advice to both leaders and boards is actually very simple: don’t make things more complicated than they need to be. In many organisations, solutions become unnecessarily complex. Most things that are truly good are simple.”

Keep it simple

Throughout his career, Björn Abild has seen companies and organisations from both sides of the table – as an operational leader and as a board member and Chairman. His approach to leadership is ultimately grounded in a few simple principles: trust people, communicate clearly, maintain perspective and focus on what really matters.

And perhaps most importantly, don’t overcomplicate things.

“Most things that are truly good are simple.

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