Speaking

Can leaders achieve more by doing less? Yes, if they focus on offering a clear direction and firm boundaries, within which employees can proactively work towards the shared goal. Through the stories of successful vanguard CEOs from Finland, this talk explains how the shift toward service-oriented leadership has become a competitive advantage especially in industries requiring engaged and innovative employees. Finland, one of the least-hierarchical countries in the world, is at the forefront of the trend. This country is a laboratory for the low-status, humble approach I call Nordic minimalist leadership. Managers who practice it are less visible, try to avoid being the center of attention, and assert less control. They let employees shine, put the good of the company above their own egos, and ultimately build stronger and more-innovative businesses. Building on research on employee engagement, servant leadership, and interviews with key Finnish CEOs, this talks explains why minimalist leadership works and what are the four key steps to make it happen in your organization.

Engaged employees feel better and perform better. How energized and committed the employees feel is especially important in modern professional work that requires initiative, creativity, and critical thinking. When people have an inner drive to get things done, they are proactive and willing to put in the effort to achieve great results. Micro-management and too much control kills this inner motivation, resulting in compliant yet unenthusiastic and less creative workforce.

But how to best lead engagement? As a leading expert of human motivation, Frank Martela will explain to you what inner motivation is, why you should invest in it, and what are the four key factors that awaken employee engagement. Combining cutting edge research with real-life examples, the talk will walk you through the key practices through which to ensure that your employees find their inner fire to get things done.

Finland has been the happiest country in the world for seven years in a row and the Nordic countries are all in the top ten year after year. What explains their ability to produce citizens who are so satisfied with their lives? Going beyond surface-level explanations, this talk

explains what are the key research-supported explanations for national happiness. Having reviewed the evidence for World Happiness Report, Frank identifies the key institutional and cultural factors that have contributed to make the Nordic countries so happy.

Ultimately, the exceptionally high average life satisfaction in Finland is not explained by more extremely happy people. On the contrary, the Nordic secret is about having less miserable citizens than anywhere else in the world. Governments can’t make people happy. But governments can remove many sources of unhappiness – this talk explains how the Nordic countries have done that.