Malin Clarke Isaksson

Today I am CEO and co-owner of Digital Openers AB, where I work with business development, consultative B2B and B2G sales, organisational development, project management, partnerships and company building.

Much of my work is about understanding what an organisation actually needs before we start talking about which technology, skill or vendor should solve the problem. I run customer conversations, needs analyses and commercial processes, and I put together the right competencies for each assignment.

My role is often to move between several perspectives at once: the customer’s operational need, the technical possibility, the people who will carry out the change, and the commercial reality.

I am used to working in contexts that are not yet fully defined. I like creating structure, formulating the next step and moving work from idea and discussion to a decision and actual delivery.

As a leader I put great weight on clarity, trust and relationships. I want people to understand why we are doing something, what is expected of them and what the next step is. At the same time I believe in a high degree of personal responsibility and in creating conditions where people dare to use their competence fully.

My background in journalism and strategic communications has given me a particular strength in asking questions, getting up to speed quickly in complex fields, and translating between specialists, decision-makers and operations.

I like creating clarity where there is none yet.

It can be a customer who knows something needs to change but not quite what. A company that has several possible business ideas but needs to choose which is most important. A technical offering that has not yet been translated into clear customer value. Or a project where several competencies need to be coordinated to move forward.

I often start with questions.

• What are we actually trying to achieve?
• Which problem are we solving?
• For whom?
• What needs to happen first?
• Who needs to be involved?
• What can wait?

I am good at moving between the whole and delivery. I can discuss strategy and business model in one meeting and in the next make sure someone actually owns the next task and that the work continues.

I also believe ideas are cheap. The hard part is choosing which ideas are worth carrying out — and then actually carrying them out.