Patrick Lencioni and and Jos de Blok debating at NBF 2023.

I attended my first Nordic Business Forum on September 27 and 28, 2023, in Helsinki, Finland. The theme for the forum was “Be: Change,” focusing on Leadership, Innovation, Resilience, and AI. The conference exceeded my expectations because the venue and speakers were phenomenal.

The venue was Messukeskus: The Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre, where they transformed the facilities for the event. The seating capacity of the Main Stage to host the keynote speakers was over 6000. There were coffee stations, watering holes, and rows of tables for lunch and snack breaks. There were couches, tables, chairs, and private booths for calls and small meetings. There were even areas for “Introverts,” “Extreme Extroverts,” and 1:1 meetings with people you scheduled with on the Brella app. Nice!

There was a great line-up of speakers, from Nobel Laureates, futurists, and climate activists to CEOs, entrepreneurs, and prominent professors. These great and talented speakers were engaging, informative, and thought-provoking, bringing new perspectives to things some would take for granted. My favorite session was the passionate debate between Patrick Lencioni of the Table Group and Jos de Blok the Founder and CEO of Buurtzorg. Their discussion challenged the premise of management in hierarchical organizations versus flat peer-to-peer organizations.

My key takeaways from the event were the need to rethink management in hierarchical organizations and to consider having more fun at work. I expanded my LinkedIn network, connecting with people I would never meet outside the convention.

Needless to say, “I’ll be back!”

Here’s a link to the Nordic Business Forum 2024.