Lena Eriksson has been a corporate lawyer at Nordea almost 30 years. Early in her career, she began to head various legal teams at this Nordic bank and in 2003, she took on the role of Chief Legal Officer of the company. When Nordea moved its headquarters to Finland last year, she handed that position over to her Finnish successor.
Thirty years at the same company, why did you stay so long?
Lena looks at me and reformulates the question I just asked.
“What made me choose to press the same button in the elevator at Nordea for so many years?”
“Besides having a very supportive family and an extremely exciting job, it was energizing for me to be at work, to be trusted. Trust generates loyalty, you want to be there for your team, and I have also always had a strong sense of duty. I was also given a leadership role quite soon after having started at the bank. Because I want to be useful, have good instincts about people and therefore find it easy to put together teams comprising of good people with different skills, this suited me very well. With time, my team also became absolutely outstanding, and you simply don’t leave such an outstanding bunch of people.”
But the teams must have changed over the years?
“True, constantly optimizing the team was part of the job – ensuring that individuals develop and finding the right tasks for the right people. We were also able to attract talented new people when necessary. I have always surrounded myself with very clever people. Many have also had a strong drive and taken initiative, which I find inspiring.”
One of Lena’s final efforts at Nordea included heading the legal procedure to merge the four Nordic banks and move the headquarters to Finland. This entailed an extensive and highly complex legal process, with which she and her team worked several years. Lena views the successful outcome as proof that the team was truly able to collaborate and resolve difficult tasks applying its combined expertise.
“She explains that because few, if any, had previously achieved this, it was particularly gratifying that the legal team was able to deliver so well, and that she felt great confidence in the team’s expertise and its comprehension of the assignment.”
“We succeeded by gathering our forces and applying our combined knowledge and experience to new issues.”
Keys to successful leadership
Although mutual trust is particularly crucial, clear expectations are also key to successful work and leadership, according to Lena. She also believes in leadership that places communication high on the agenda, noting that the Leadership for Corporate Lawyers program takes common challenges in the daily life of a corporate lawyer as its point of departure, challenges that often involve how to communicate with other parts of the organization.
A lawyer who is able to communicate, adopt a position and draw the right conclusions, as well as prioritizing between what is important and what is not, will be of value to the operations. She also considers it essential to be able to communicate effectively, both understanding and making oneself understood, even among those with another educational background and speaking a different professional language.
“Law programs involve identifying legal problems and lawyers are trained to be skeptical, which often characterizes how they communicate and naturally this can be perceived negatively. Much can be won by overcoming this.”
Understanding that managers are nothing without their teams is another key. The head of a legal team is simultaneously a manager and an expert, which, combined with technological advances and the “explosion” in new and more detailed regulations, makes the role increasingly complex, meaning that keeping up-to-date is critical.
“While it is true that this can be demanding, it is also stimulating. It’s also a matter of shouldering the management role, leading and supporting others. Without a good team you are nothing, and I really mean that. Developing a strong team is probably the most important part of the management role, but also the most fun.”
“It is also important for corporate lawyers to be able to understand and manage the various roles that they are expected to fill. Today, being a skilled lawyer is not enough. You are expected to be a strategic, value-generating ‘business partner’ for the organization, which is what I will talk about in my guest lecture for Leadership for Corporate Lawyers. I will address questions including
- How to become a better corporate lawyer by keeping abreast of the company’s business targets and strategy and by really getting to grips with their significance for the operations.
- Being a member of the team, not just a spectator or ‘judge’ who perceives the problems but being someone who contributes and collaborates actively to finding solutions.
- How to communicate effectively so that recipients understand – a lawyer’s advice is quite useless if no one understands the why or the how.
- The importance of trying to be proactive, and how to make time for this when you barely have time to open the day’s mail
- Having the courage to take a stand and give clear advice, while not jeopardizing your integrity
- I will also talk about various dilemmas you can face and the corporate lawyer’s dos and don’ts”
“I don’t believe it is in corporate lawyers’ nature to spend much time on themselves and their own development, as their days are full, and they are kept busy advising and helping others. For that very reason, it can be good to escape from everyday life and to focus on yourself and how to bring out your best professional self. Put simply, that means getting better at what you do while also enjoying your role more – gaining inspiration from others, gaining new energy and finding new solutions.”
What are you taking into your consulting role from your previous responsibilities?
“Having worked with this for a long time, of course, I have made some observations and gained some experiences from which others may benefit. I would like to contribute by sharing what I have learned – I would like to help others develop as leaders. In various contexts, I will be lecturing on my main area of focus, legal leadership, and I will also be coaching leaders individually. My other areas are governance and corporate control, focusing on boards of directors and their work. These are areas that have always interested me in particular, and it will be exciting to continue with these issues in new contexts.”
Tips for those growing weary of the winter
I find that I have sat down for an interview with an inquisitive and interested leader. When we finish the interview, she knows at least as much about me as I do about her, she has “ten new ideas” that must be written down and a possible book project emerging. Lena Eriksson has proven that seemingly simple meetings can deliver well beyond expectations, as long as you are creative, open and listen to one another.
And she has one final tip for anyone at a low ebb in their energy at work – an obstacle that can hit the best of us.
“Do not remain in a situation where you feel uncomfortable – consider how you can change your situation to become your best self. Tell someone about what you do and would like to do and, when you find yourself smiling about the topic of conversation, and almost can’t stop talking about it, you will have found the glow, the energy and the germ of what it is you must do and the direction in which you must travel.”
How Lena defines good leadership
- Always seeking to set a good example. Not backing down but being there for the team and acting as a part of it. Working hard and being the one who switches the lights off when everyone else has gone home.
- Being able to find talented individuals, giving them stimulating tasks and developing them.
- Keeping an ear to the ground regarding the company’s strategy and adapting the team’s strategy accordingly, making the team an integrated and value-generating part of the company.
- Having the courage to put together a management team with the requisite skills, but also comprising strong individuals able to challenge you, as well as one another. Using the resulting dynamic as a strength. By encouraging them to argue their point with you and with one another, you will see if their ideas hold up.
- Humor! Everything is much easier if you can laugh together, particularly if you have a lot on your plate and things are stressful. Having fun at work is extremely important.
- Personally, I have always imposed very high demands in terms of engagement and commitment. I also rank quality very highly, as well as integrity and good judgment. This has yielded good results because colleagues have understood my expectations and have been able to live up to them.
- Finally, I am very much for diversity in all regards – from age, gender and personality to experience, skills and so forth. The resulting dynamic is hard to beat, and it is this that the leader is tasked with transforming into strength.
Written by Anita Emthén
Leadership for corporate lawyers
This program is created to give you better opportunities to develop successful leadership in relation to yourself and to others and thereby strengthen you in your role as a corporate lawyer.
The program is based on the usual challenges of a corporate lawyer's everyday life and focuses on personal leadership; how to communicate with and influence others with a coaching approach. With theoretical foundation, tools and integrated practical training in the various parts of leadership, the program helps you develop your own effective leadership that reinforces your role as a corporate lawyer
Do you want to know more?
Please contact Didrik Reuterswärd, +46 72 453 6271, didrik.reutersward@exedsse.se.
