CURIOSITY AND IMAGINATION
Many of our values are captured in the key words “Care”, “Performance” and “Innovation”. These concepts characterise how we relate to our business and how we conduct ourselves at Stena. For some years now we have also described our company with the words “Speed”, Simplicity” and “Courage”. They are goals many large companies strive to reach, but we believe that they describe the company we are. I hope it’s correct, because if it is true, we are looking at an extremely exciting time ahead.
We all know that new technologies are fundamentally changing our world. We have new ways to communicate, we make auto-matic decisions based on data, we consume completely different things and so on. Personally, I think it is an extremely positive development which will give mankind great opportunities for con-tinued prosperity and give companies opportunities to develop new business. I refuse to accept, however, that the knowledge, history, and market position we have at Stena would make us inferior at leading this evolution compared to start-ups that are often without capital, organisational depth or experience.
Many of the transformation initiatives we are undertaking in our companies are inspiring. Stena Line’s success with Trade Management is impressive and is already showing good results. Likewise, I believe Orbit in Stena Bulk can become a real compara-tive advantage that can potentially transform the entire tanker industry. We hope to see more such projects, which are both visionary and useful to our business, here and now.
However, we are not fast enough. We also need to rely on external expertise. Our stake in the forwarding company N-TEX has provided invaluable insights into how many of Stena Line’s customers are thinking. We also recently bought a software com-pany called Gravity, located in Hong Kong, who have the ambi-tion to make N-TEX redundant through digital technology. Even that company gives us interesting insights and perspectives. My ambition is that both companies will be successful in transform-ing our markets. I expect that we will continue to make acqui-sitions that will give us deeper and broader knowledge, so that Stena can become a more insightful and competent company.
An important insight for me in the past year is that great trans-formations and disruptions will not appear like a lightning bolt from the sky, but rather will be the product of a culture that grad-ually evolves, where we continuously collect data and incremen-tally experiment with new solutions, applications and solutions.
I have the privilege of working closely with our owner, Dan Sten Olsson. Much of the company’s and Dan’s personal success is due to constantly being curious. To constantly seek the truth and new truths. But what makes Dan unique is not only his curiosity, but also his imagination. It is when new knowledge is transformed into business value that we have moved the company forward.
It is possible to train both curiosity and imagination. I think for example that it’s important to have inspiring and intelligent friends. Develop your network, as it’s called in modern speak! I also think it’s important to not waste the limited time we have on earth, but to actively seek knowledge and insights all the time. I would urge all of you to be innovative, to be bold, to be fast and not least to develop your business imagination.
With our strong culture, the new technologies will play right into our hands.
Carl-Johan Hagman
Stena Rederi AB
