Lessons from a 91-year-old man. (Episode 231)
Today I had a very unique speaking assignment. I had been invited to speak about my private island to an association on Lidingö.
The man who booked me for this is Göran Sjöberg and he joined the association in 1961 (!) 7 years before I was born… The group meets a couple of times a week to do gymnastics and listen to presentations on different topics. This time they wanted to learn more about the islands around Lidingö and invited me to speak about the island I own (Svanholmen).
Preparing for the presentation, I asked Göran for an insight from a man who worked more than 75 (!) years in business (mostly in PR) before he retired.
He said: “We neglect to notice and appreciate many of the big changes that happen in business and society because they take a long time to happen.”
He told me how, when he started working in the mid 20th century, a lot of people smoked in meetings, the environment was almost exclusively male, and work-life-balance was way off balance. And no, things are not all great now, but Sweden has come a long way in creating a better working environment.
It’s refreshing to listen to a 91-year-old man who’s long life has given him the ability to have perspective on things.
What improvements are we slowly implementing now that we will look back at when we are 91 and say, “Good thing we changed our mind about these things, even if it did take time”?
07
Oct