YouSaid · the spoken record

Henrik Ehrnrooth

lines on the record: 36
first: 2022-04-20
most recent: 2022-04-20
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It's constantly to understand what these businesses are. And I think in the end, the most important thing is to make sure your own business is healthy. Because then it enables you to do things. As leaders, we all the time have to do a lot of choices and pare down it to a small number of choices where we really focus. If your base business is not in good shape, then you cannot choose to do big defining acquisitions or similar transactions.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I must say that you can say it's a bit of a strange industry that a lot of people want to buy in this industry, but there hasn't been many people who have wanted to sell. So I'm not holding my breath, but clearly if something attractive is out there, we are going to be very interested, of course, at the right terms and all of that.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're welcome. Also, as a shareholder, I'm very happy about that. So that's enabled us to have a very generous and proactive dividend policy. But as I mentioned, it may seem that we are very consolidated in industry, but in fact we are not. There are a lot of mid-sized and even large players in this industry. And we think consolidation would make a ton of sense for innovation and scale. And therefore, if something is available, we are very interested in acquiring good businesses. So we have felt that having a strong balance sheet gives us that flexibility and also in turbulent times, it allows you to just stay 100% focused on executing on your strategy. And not worrying about your balance sheet. And I think we've seen in the past now 15 years, I think that's a real asset.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's, of course, totally a matter for our owners. When I see from the inside, I don't see that that would have hurt us. On the contrary, it's someone who has very much the long-term health of the company in their mind every day. And it's been... So I only seen as a leader of that company the benefits of it. And I think this is, of course, in the end very much a question for the owners.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think we are in a very lucky position at Corner to have a clear owner who clearly has a track record and a history within the family of really wanting to develop the company proactively all the time. So I said the way we run is very much like any public company. But at the same time, we have the clarity and long-term view of our owner to provide help and support to leadership. I would say turbulent times, it is really an asset because you always have someone who you can talk to, you can spar with. You can exchange ideas. And I think that would be very valuable.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's clear that this environment that we operate right now is a totally new environment. I mean, most of people who work for Cone have never seen inflation like this. We come from a 15-year period, or we can call it extreme price stability. So clearly it takes new capabilities of how do we live in an inflationary world? What are the expectations? And that was a little bit about what I said at how do you create that urgency of change and operating in a different way on a broad scale in a very decentralized environment how we operate the company.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Much micromanagement and directive leadership. And it's something that's very easy to fall into when times are tough. So many times are tough, you need to focus even more on setting the context, setting the direction, motivating people, and really helping them go places where they wouldn't go otherwise.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It must be, you know, when you try to run the business, when you try to go in and direct people how to do things, you can get results for some period of time, but you're not creating anything that is long-lasting and you're not creating through the motivation and initiative of people. So that's something you learn very quickly. And that is something.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If we think about today's environment and how do you motivate, how do you get the best out of everyone in today's environment, clearly it is a lot about how do you empower people, how do you make sure that everyone can contribute their best so you can talk about inclusion. Very important. At the same time at Cone, we have a very decentralized way of running our business. So we give a lot of local accountability, empowerment. Which is great when you want to respond quickly to customer needs. You become very fast on that side. But when you have huge changes tectonic plates moving like we can feel right now, then how do you get the same direction for everyone in that environment? So how do we create speed on big changes is something that we're working on. And of course, that's all the time about direction and better leadership.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Our corporate culture is strong, is in our own feeling, and it's not only actual feeling. We've researched it a lot, we've studied it many years in a row. And what do CONES employees say about our culture? They talk a lot about innovation, they talk a lot about clarity of direction. And then what is really important, they say that CONES values are compatible with their own values. So I think we have a good starting point and all these studies we do come up very highly compared to benchmarks in how developed culture. But what does it mean in practice? It's clear that people like to work there, people enjoy working. And culture is, of course, something you need to constantly work on, constantly develop and evolve. There's no question about that.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is a very good reflection because if you want to be successful, as we all know, we all say that people are our biggest asset. That's what every company says, and it is very true. And of course, the people in HR are critical in how we develop, how we drive that talent. I would say that we have people at Corne who have gone from the HR side to take business responsibilities, P&L responsibilities. However, not to that level yet. When I think about the most successful HR leaders that I work with, those are clearly people who, you know, I wouldn't hesitate for a second giving them a very large commercial responsibility.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think there was a lot that one could learn from Goldman Sachs. Those were 11 fantastic years of my career when I think I learned a lot. I think what I learned early on is the importance of teamwork, the importance of culture, how that really breeds success, and the importance of being totally uncompromising when it comes to hiring and developing people. So I think those basic things that I would say are behind every successful company was something that is such a strong part of the ethos of Goldman Sachs. So that was, of course, very ingrained. And the other thing you learn when you are in an environment like this that you learn how to learn fast very well.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Course, it's all about respect, and there shouldn't be any expectations. I don't think there was any expectation of what I should do. There was encouragement. But never, you have to do this, you should do that. And I think we are four siblings.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I do. I'm in a lucky position that when you are a leader, very often you have problems that you just need to be able to talk to someone about, but it's difficult to talk to your direct team. And he is one of these people I can talk to and explain my problem. And he asks me three or four questions and immediately the things are much more clear in my mind.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that's how clear the path was from the beginning. But in the end, I got in this path and found my way and have enjoyed it tremendously.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As you said, you have met him. He is a very human person, has done an amazing career, but also always someone who has shown great respect for everyone around him, including, of course, his family. Of course, I always looked as a child that he wasn't at home a lot, but luckily I have a mother who had a huge influence on all of us children in our youth. And that kind of sparked an interest for this. But I must say that, you know, when I was younger, my mother always thought that I was going to be a farmer.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, a Finn who has lived much of his life in Finland, but a good part also abroad with a very international family.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're living in an experienced world, making the journey very simple. You know, you don't need to touch anything. You just walk in and it knows where you're going and it can be about directing or guiding people. Then another innovation that is very key to us right now is that how do we help our customers on construction sites be much more efficient? We know that construction sites, there's a huge problem with productivity. We have a lot of innovations there, how we can make builders build buildings faster when we put in the elevator earlier. And that way save time, save money, and help making apartments more affordable.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There are a lot of very exciting things happening in innovation, as everyone knows today, and everything from new materials to digital services. And of course, what is innovation? It's about finding something that adds value to your customers or the end users of your equipment. So where are we focusing? Of course, as you said, energy efficiency, a huge thing nowadays. But at the same time, it's the user experience that has to do with design, how do you play to all of people's senses.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, the one where you play to all of your senses and is just a phenomenal ride, you can hardly feel you're moving even though it's a very fast elevator is in our test shaft goes down underground. But if I think about one that is open for users every day, I would say it's the Bloomberg building in London. Here the architect Lord Foster wanted to be like a feeling of floating in the air. And you come up in the elevator and you can see St. Paul's coming up behind you or in front of you. That is just a fantastically designed overall experience.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As a little bit of an elevator nerd, what I do is I stand in the back corner and lean into the corner because then you can feel the vibrations more and see how well it's been serviced and installed the elevator. But of course that's not what everyone would do.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, you first see what are the waiting times to get into the elevator. That means that is the building properly planned and designed. And then when you get into it, of course, good design is really important. Is it clear to you where you're going? So also that aspect. And then, of course, it's how smooth the ride is. And everyone can have their own feeling. And we've done a lot of research some years ago on what people expect elevators. And then you need to meet those expectations. So in the end, what do you want? We want people to come out of the elevator with a smile on their face.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We do make money in all of our businesses, so we have three different businesses. It's about selling new elevators and escalators. It is about maintaining them, and it's about modernizing them. So it is a true life cycle business, and we are profitable in each of those parts.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We have been really pioneering this in our industry, how you bring digital connectivity and therefore can do your service in much better ways. There's still a lot of regulation that you need to visit them physically. But when we connect them, we get a much better outcome for our customers. It's just remarkable how much better it gets. And at our customers' appreciating and at this driving a lot of our growth also in our top line, these new services that our customers are buying.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a very stable business because clear you need to service elevators. And there's also good growth in it. So we've been growing it constantly over the years. And it's a low capital intensity business. So it's very people heavy. However, not a lot of capital in it. But I think the stability combined with the growth is, of course, a great business to be in.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not at all. If you look at the service business in Europe, European service market is still the biggest market for services in the world. There, these top four players we represent about 55% of the market. So there's a huge amount of mid-sized and smaller players. Then you have a bunch of Japanese players. So there's still plenty of room for consolidation in this industry. And in services and also for new elevators and escalators, China is still quite fragmented.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Clearly, the Chinese market has been a bit more uncertain now for the past year. At the same time, China will continue to be the biggest market in the world. It is going to decline this year, but we still think it will be a huge market. And China is also going through a transition like most other growing markets, that first it was about installing a lot of new elevators. And now we started to see the service business grow very fast. And we have a very strong position there as well. And we can see that the modernization of elevators that were installed about 15 years ago is now a very fast growing business. So we are in a transition. New equipment will continue to be a huge market there, no question. But we have a big part of growth will come from services, and that's what we're transitioning to now.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that was one of the clear ways in the beginning that we have the Cone brand. But at the same time, there's always been a strong market for local Chinese brands. And we wanted to have a local Chinese brands that can compete against the local ones. So then first we bought the Minority Steak back in 2005 in something called Giant Con, and then successively we bought more and now we own 100%. So we have two brands. operate in different segments and cater for different needs.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When Kone really started to grow in China, there was a time when most companies still brought, I would call yesterday's technology and products to China. But Cone at that time was very bold and said, no, actually, latest innovation we're going to bring them first to China. And the Chinese customers, they really appreciated it. We brought the same energy efficiency, the same quality, the same design, actually then, of course, applied to Chinese needs. So very early, we were in China for China. But it's really this philosophy that we wanted to go China first with innovation really paid off big time.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was again a long-term vision and clarity of what we wanted to achieve. You know, the leaders of CONE at that time really saw that, hey, this urbanization is going to be a really long-term megatrend. And that's what we always focus on. What are the big trends and then investing heavily into it? Putting the focus there, getting a very strong local leadership. And being bold about how one goes into the country on a very broad basis. So today we have 600 offices around the country in China, and that's been really part of the success that really decided we're not only going to stay in the big cities, we're going to go throughout the country. And that has been a huge success. And then innovation played a huge role here.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, we know that the world has constantly been urbanizing. The urbanization happened in China starting about 2000 really peaked, maybe 2015. I mean, it was the biggest migration of people this world has seen so far. And let's see if anything can challenge that. But at the same time, in every other country, people are moving into cities for better life, better job opportunities, better health care, better education. So cities are something that draws talent and therefore there continues to be good growth there. You know, when we look at this business, the likelihood that people are going to start moving less is quite low. So I think the need for it will continue to be there just because the way we live and the way people prefer to live.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think it's a hugely fascinating business, very global business that operates very, very broad geographic basis. So there are just so many interesting things. And if you think that we move a billion people every day, so you can just think about all the things that happen in the elevators and escalators that we service and install every day.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's actually a really fun business. If you think about all the encounters and all the things that happen in an elevator every day, you know, we don't need to get in there, but I think everyone has their own stories. At the same time, you can actually say that particularly our service business is pretty boring because it's so stable, predictable. But I think the boring is good.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think, you know, if you look at many Nordic companies, it's the same thing. We don't have very big home markets. And when we get into something, you have to get into a niche and you have to make sure you become very good at it. And have a very long term mindset. We are a family owned company, started off as a Finnish company, but then the family realized that that's not the future. You cannot survive in international competition and start a very proactively, aggressively expand abroad. But I think the really key thing has been a very strong culture of innovation. Because when you come from a small country, unless you are really good at what you do, you're not going to survive. Actually, if you look at many Nordic companies, it's pretty much the same things that have been behind many of their success.”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, if you think about it, we are a 112-year-old company. You know, in the elevator escalator, and it was like one Asian customer said to me that, Henrik, how did this happen? That, you know, you come from a country with hardly any elevators and not tall buildings, and yet you sell more elevators than anyone else in the world. How did this happen?”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To be a Finn, you know, what we are proud of is what we call our sizzle. That's the grit perseverance. You know, that's something you need to have when you come from a small country. You know, so we're small and proud country. And that's something to be very happy of”
2022-04-20 · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Henrik Ehrnrooth CEO of Kone · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source