Navigating a changing world: highlights from our 20‑year celebration

From uncertainty to renewal. As Hanken & SSE Executive Education marks 20 years, we gathered our community to reflect on leadership in a turbulent world. The message was clear: invest in people, cooperate boldly in Finland and beyond, and look outside your bubble for insight that turns into action.

Thank you to everyone who joined the 20‑year celebration of Hankendagen and Hanken & SSE under the theme Navigating a changing world. Hosted by Robert Ingman and Lotta Backlund, the evening was a joyful reminder of why we do what we do: to turn knowledge into insight, ignite action, and deliver renewal with measurable impact.

Community and impact

Rector Ingmar Björkman reminded us of the power of community — Hanken now counts over 16,500 registered alumni. And our CEO Marc Hinnenberg offered a challenge:

In difficult times, it is easy to make profits by cutting costs, but we should instead invest in leadership and people to ensure growth.

That belief has helped Hanken & SSE Executive Education touch 47,900 leaders and changemakers to date.

Cooperation as a competitive edge

In his opening speech, Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz spoke to the moment: with change comes uncertainty as well as opportunity for renewal —and in Finland, cooperation is our edge. It’s a fitting nod to our origin story, which brought Hanken and the Stockholm School of Economics together.

Looking ahead: relevance, strategic readiness and international growth

Why the future begins

Futurologist Magnus Lindkvist encouraged us to be more open the further we look ahead; prioritise what’s relevant over what’s perfect; and step outside our usual bubble to find fresh ideas.

New findings on strategic readiness

We unveiled results from a multi‑company case study on organisational strategic readiness, presented by Dr Mari Tasanto at Hanken & SSE Executive Education, and Assistant Professor Violetta Khoreva at Hanken School of Economics. The study is grounded in two complementary lenses — a future‑making perspective and effectuation theory — to examine how organisations move from reacting to tomorrow to actively creating the future.

It’s not about predicting the future; it’s about actively creating what could happen.

Lessons from international growth

Kai Gyllström, CEO of Atria Plc, believes in life-long learning, for himself as well as for his team. He shared reflections from two decades in consumer goods—and what it really takes to build sustainable international growth.

From stage to practice — panel highlights

Moderator Kamilla Sultanova led a fast‑paced conversation focused on what we want to accomplish in the next 20 years — and how leadership needs to shift to get us there. Here are the distilled takeaways, featuring Kai Gyllström, Magnus Lindkvist and Mari Tasanto.

Shift how we lead. Be brave enough to double your goals; break a few smart rules rather than only perfecting processes; and remember that even a failed bet is progress if you decided and acted. Sustainable leadership also means being yourself with your team.
Humble ≠ invisible. Finnish leadership’s strengths — self‑critique, humility, under‑promise/over‑deliver — are assets. Pair them with clearer storytelling so others can see the impact you’re already creating.
Grow cross‑cultural competence on purpose. Read widely, build real relationships, and be where things happen. Reframe from “Am I good enough for this job?” to “What can I learn from this job?”.
Let sisu fuel innovation. Adverse conditions and constraints can sharpen creativity — design for them rather than waiting for perfect conditions.
Build networks differently. Lead with curiosity and an open mind, embrace a “don’t‑know‑yet” stance, and combine it with quiet self‑confidence — never cockiness. That’s how you access non‑obvious opportunities.
Trust is a system. Make your organisation predictable in how it responds to events; practise balance as continuous micro‑adjustments rather than a static state; and share your values early and often.