The document summarizes key lessons and realizations from the speaker's leadership journey. It describes failures in acting against values, lack of presence with remote teams, excluding a skilled colleague due to personal dislike, focusing too much on pleasing bosses over followers, and having an inflated ego. The speaker emphasizes values, presence, diversity, empowering followers over bosses, fighting ego, and constant empowerment as important leadership priorities. Leadership is described as passionate focus on a shared purpose that inspires followers. The most meaningful moment is realizing one's leadership is no longer needed because the job is done.

1. ©2012TietoCorporation

2. ©2012TietoCorporation
Presentation for Tieto Young Professionals community. I shared selected moments from
my own leadership journey to reflect the themes I consider to be most important for me
as a leader. Most of them are small daily moments and some more dramatic. All of them
are very emotional experiences having a lifetime impact on me. I think hearing and
sharing stories is important for our growth. Storytelling, anyway, is one of the most
ancient learning methods.
The stories I decided to share are my biggest failures as a leader. I tried to describe
what I learned by doing those mistakes and how they worked as roadsigns for me while I
have navigated my leadership journey.

3. © 2011 Tieto Corporation3 2011-12-28
Profession and position
given by other managers
No leader without
followers
I started with this: this is how I see the difference between a Manager and a Leader.
Manager is a profession and position. When you work as a manager you learn and
apply a certain toolbox and skillset to administrate and manage things. Methology and
processes.
Leader, instead, is a person who is followed. Leader also creates more leaders. The
leader as a person is rarely followed because of his or her personality. Usually it is the
purpose and passion that the leader carries in his heart that is followed and that also
acts as a starting point for new leaders.

4. © 2011 Tieto Corporation4 2011-12-28
Organizing people’s skills to
enable a sequence of activities
in order to meet the targets.
Amplifying peoples emotions to
start action in order to make a
dream come true.
Management is a job. It is quite much fact based decision making. It includes
methodologies and processes to organize and administrate things to get the results.
Management focuses on people’s skills and productivity.
Leadership is a way of being that creates passion and purpose to be followed. It focuses
on people’s emotions and passion and aims at making dreams come true.
There are 1M definitions for management and leadership if you search Google. These are
my own.

5. © 2011 Tieto Corporation5 2011-12-28
First stories I shared were about making a decision
or acting in a way that is against your own values.
I’ve done this twice, big time, as a manager and in
my private life. It hurted me and other people
especially. Result was a lifetime nightmare for me
and theser people. Failing like this I learned that:
1) never make a decision against your own values
even if you need to violate the rules
2) if you need to break the rules constantly it
shows an evidence that company values are not
aligned with yours
3) ”Values” are #1 on leader’s priority list

6. © 2011 Tieto Corporation6 2011-12-28
Then I shared another mistake I’ve done several times: not
being (emotionally) present in people’s daily life. Sometimes
I’ve failed to be there, as a leader, for people working in
another location. Back then, it really felt bad for those people.
Luckily they shared their thoughts and feelings with me after a
while. So I learned
1) Keep your focus on the people who are not physically
close to you, communicate, be with them every day
2) Further they were, more you need to focus on them
3) ”Presence” is #2 on leader’s priority list

7. © 2011 Tieto Corporation7 2011-12-28
Another failure. I once led a team where I thought one person
didn’t fit into our team. As a manager I did something really
stupid. I started to exclude the person from everything we did.
Worst thing is that that person was obviously very skilled,
more skilled in that environment than me or other people in
the team. I just didn’t like the person and I thought others felt
the same on their behalf. I acted ugly. That person never
shared his thoughts or feelings but that didn’t prevent me from
re-learning what Jack Welch has said:
1) ”Diversity is the source of all success”
2) ”Equality” AND ”Diversity” are #3 on the priority list

8. © 2011 Tieto Corporation8 2011-12-28
Once, in a development discussion, I got a feedback from one
of my people: ”Matti, your job is to be here with us and for us
– your team – not for your boss and other managers!” Yes. I
had failed to focus on my team and had started to use my
time and energy to please my boss. That feedback was an
eyeopener and I learned
1) Give 99.9 % from your energy to your followers and use
0.1 % to educate your boss (educate not please)
2) Pleasing your boss might boost your career short term but
one day you realize that you are in an executive position
but you do not have any real followers
3) #4 in priority list is to use your energy for the benefit of
your followers

9. © 2011 Tieto Corporation9 2011-12-28
It took me years to accept that I’m not the brightest guy in the room. It took me even
longer to realize that I don’t have to be. When I got a management position I
immediately started to act as if I automatically was the alpha of any group. I sought
role models from the managers who were acting like alpha males and I tried
desperately to copy their style. I disliked the ”shy” leaders who did not rule their
empires in a fashionable manner. This is my most long lasting failure as a leader. Only
recently, supported by my coach and other people I have discovered that
1) Leadership doesn’t require that you are the alpha male in the room, sometimes
you are sometimes you’re not
2) Great leaders are followed and they can lead even if someone else is acting as an
alpha in the group
3) Priority #5 is to fight your own ego to give room for true empathy

10. © 2011 Tieto Corporation10 2011-12-28
I couldn’t find any particular story about this. It is more like a
phenomenon I have learned to fight against: culture that is
based on asking permission. Letting that flourish is a real
innovation and motivation killer in any company.
1) Leadership (right there, on the spot) doesn’t require that
you go and ask for a permission to act
2) Followership (right there, on the spot) doesn’t require that
you go and ask for a permission to act
3) #6 in the priority list is constant empowerment and
delegation of power

11. © 2011 Tieto Corporation11 2011-12-28
Love... is fiery passion, intimate mental and physical proximity
embracing the two without any kind of obstacles in between. It is about
ultimate joy of taking care of someone, giving protection and shelter
as well as encouragement and endless inspiration. It is about respecting
and forgiving. Love... is the ultimate force that no other force,
not even death, can subdue.
At this point of my leadership journey I
have discovered these 3 cornerstones
that lay the foundations of my
leadership.

12. © 2011 Tieto Corporation12 2011-12-28
Leadership... is fiery passion, intimate mental, emotional
and physical proximity embracing us without any kind of obstacles in between.
It is about ultimate joy of taking care of people, giving protection
and support as well as encouragement and endless mutual inspiration.
It is about dreaming of and acting towards a shared purpose.
Leadership... is the ultimate way of focusing our energy to a purpose
with such an intensity that no other force can stop us.

13. The most precious but also the most heart-breaking moment in my life as a leader
is when I sense that my leadership is no longer needed.
My job is done. For now.
Source www.tumblr.com

14. © 2011 Tieto Corporation14 2011-12-28
Matti Vesala
matti.vesala@tieto.com
Twitter: @mkvesala