(Not only) Sweden then and now – and tomorrowAs viewed by Mårten Runow

Some may say that the Sweden of ten or twenty years ago is not the Sweden of today. Many changes have taken place, but this also applies to Western society as a whole. To be honest, I'm not very excited about these changes, but there is something positive about each that we can continue to work with as a society.

Risks of distancing

In recent years, I feel that there has been more regulation and more control, and this goes hand in hand with the restriction of freedoms. Of course, a lot of it is related to the covid pandemic, but it seems to me that covid restrictions in particular are a handy cover-up for some of these deeper regulations. Sweden was more tolerant in its covid policy, that’s fair enough, and this way it has avoided a lot of financial and economic fallout. However, on top of more regulation, the pandemic has also contributed to people becoming even more distanced from each other than before. The principle of social distancing was completely understandable during covid, but it seems that it has affected the whole society, as people still largely remain in this "distancing" mode. Or this is at least what I’m seeing in day-to-day business life in Sweden. It's not just about working from home and having online rather than personal meetings, it’s also small things like shaking hands.

But I must add that recently I have seen companies in Sweden and elsewhere moving back to hybrid or even full office-based ways of working. This definitely makes sense to me because by working remotely, companies lose group dynamics. In any industry, there is a lot of power from people coming together in the workplace and creating something as a team. In my view, it is essential to communicate in person and directly – both in work and private life.

In my view, it is essential to communicate in person and directly – both in work and private life.

The ongoing trend of digitization goes against this, though. Digitization as such is a great thing, but it also has negative effects on direct communication, for example. I know from personal experience that the young generation consider it aggressive when you call them on the phone instead of using email or messenger. To me, the idea that future generations will communicate with each other only via chat seems absurd.

High IQ is not enough

I’m not criticizing young people in any way - after all, they were growing up in the environment that we ourselves, our generation, created for them. Today's young generation is surely more educated and has higher IQ than ours. I’ve met a lot of smart young people who have a very high level of synthetic and analytical thinking in logical sequences, and therefore can connect tools and systems together. This kind of intelligence is fantastic for technical fields in particular, which is fine considering today’s global economy relies on tech companies and innovation.

On the other hand, our educational system and every single person in their ongoing lifelong education should not neglect the importance of EQ and people skills, as these are key ways to succeed in business and in life in general. An increased IQ does not necessarily mean that the person will succeed in their work and personal life. Logical intelligence implies an advanced ability to solve problems, but of course this alone is not enough. Sometimes it's more important to be able to keep things simple, to be able to communicate, make friends and work together effectively.

Sweden has always had a reputation as an innovative nation full of entrepreneurial spirit. I think that even this is changing a bit in recent years or even decades. A lot of manufacturing companies such as Ikea, Volvo or Skanska were founded in Sweden in the past - after all, the manufacturing focus of our economy is very similar to the Czech Republic. It is only good that there are many start-ups coming up particularly in digital services. Some took off and eventually became even bigger than the traditional manufacturing companies. The most famous example is probably Spotify, which has transformed the entire music industry.

Get everyone involved

It seems to me that Sweden may have let go of its generous welfare system a bit. But its negative consequences sometimes persist – people in Sweden have the sense of entitlement to state benefits and subsidies with no reason, they may feel that it is the state's duty to take care of them. That might be OK in times of crisis, but otherwise this approach can easily get the whole society into trouble. That's why for all my life, I’ve followed the principle of productivity - at the level of companies, individuals and the whole society.

In practice, this means that in order for any group to function - a family, a group of friends, a company or society as a whole - each of its members must be productive, i.e. contribute to this group, and must be aware of this role and responsibility and be properly appreciated or rewarded for it. If that’s the case, there are no members in your group who just drag along and rely on others. It's a give-and-take thing. Politicians should constantly repeat to people that every individual can contribute with their activity to a better society.

That's why I'm convinced that unemployment is one of the biggest threats to today's society. For me, unemployment rate is one of the most important indicators of how “healthy” a society is. Czechia and Sweden have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU. It shows that people in our countries have productivity in their lives, which enables them to improve their lives and the lives of people around them. But things can always be done better. For example, employees should be constantly reminded about their value and contribution.

Written by Marten Runow

Photo credits: Performia