Episode 23: Episode #23: Steffen Syversen, CEO of Agder Enegry, building a company based on renew...

Computers now have primary control of critical vehicle functions. Welcome to the IBM Keep It Simple Technology Podcast, where each episode we discuss technology, but in a simple way. We keep the explanations simple, but what we spend our time on is emphasizing what this technology means to you and how you can best utilize this technology for you and your business. Welcome. Welcome to the IBM Keep It Simple Technology Podcast. I'm your host, Thomas Anglero. Another great episode and another great, well, CEO. This is going to be another special episode, but this is a little different. This is a little special because today we have— he's Norway famous, and I'm making a prediction right now. I'm going to roll my money in Vegas and I'm going to say he's going to be world famous real soon. We have the CEO of Økta Energy, Steffen Stephan, I have to just leak some information out there for all of you. He's a real person, by the way, as most of these great CEOs we have on this podcast. He's a papa of 3 teenagers. Good luck, Stephan, with that. And he has a dog. And like every other Norwegian, he skis. I wonder if he started skiing at 2 and 3 like everybody else. Stephan, how are you? And good morning.

Thank you so much for that introduction, Thomas. I am, I would say, very good. Yeah, look out the window here in the south of Norway and it's a bit cloudy today, but I feel good even if we are in a very special situation. I'm happy with life, I have to say that.

And that's where we're going to start. You know, so many people out there maybe don't know what Økta Energy is. So if you could just give them a very high level of what is Ørda Energy, and then most importantly, the reflection is this: why is the CEO of Ørda Energy so happy during these tough times? But please tell them, who is Ørda Energy?

Yeah, for those not so familiar with Ørda Energy, we are, we are leading Norwegian energy group only within renewables. We produce, distribute, and have energy sales among the biggest in the Nordic market.. And we have business in the Nordic region as well as Germany. And hydropower is kind of the main core where we are one of the largest producers of clean, renewable power here in Norway. So that's, that's us.

And now you have to do some bragging. Look, I'm American and you're Norwegian. I have to teach you how to brag. You, you made an incredible decision to invest in a Gigafactory here in Norway. Why don't you express and brag about that?

Well, I think what we saw was that we are in a very special situation here in Norway. We are among the only countries in the world where we have more renewable energy than what we can use. At the same time, we have been the pilot area for Teslas and infrastructure for EVs and stuff like that. So we thought that this would be the perfect perfect place to set up a gigafactory for producing batteries. And that's why we actually launched that initiative. And we are very happy that we also got one of the Norwegian capitalists, Bjørn Rune Jellstern, into that company. And we are now trying to find the best location here in the south of Norway to build a gigafactory for batteries in Norway.

And, and so the picture I hope everybody has with Steffen's introduction is that, uh, Økta Energy, as he said, has excess amount of energy. Their future, they're not worrying about it. Uh, Steffen is in a good mood and he's a visionary in making a decision about building a Gigafactory in Norway. Steffen, here we go. How today with COVID with all of the disruption happening. We just finished massive elections in the U.S., which wasn't very good for anybody. We won't touch that on this discussion. But there's confusion everywhere. But you have this extremely positive outlook. So, what I want to do and I want you to share with other leaders around the world is when you look at your own people, how do you motivate your own people? What are the messages you give to your management team to your janitor. How do you keep Ørsted Energy focused and so positive going forward and keep it as a visionary company?

I have to say that it's, it's a, it's a challenge because at the same time as we are a fully renewable group, we are also hit with what I call kind of the perfect storm. Because we, as everyone else, we, we met the COVID and together with that we've actually had the lowest power prices ever in the Nordic market for the last 6 months. But on top of that, with climate change as the key driver for new business development, the fact that renewable energy is our business, that is a source of motivation. It's a source of motivation just not just for me, but for the entire staff and for everyone working here that we have a possibility to, to provide clean energy and, and do that to a society that depend on us, and therefore utilizing and developing new technology, new business opportunities on top of the competencies that we have. We see that as really future-proof. I think the business that we have is future-proof, so it's now it's up to us to to look for the development areas where we can use the competencies and the technology and everything that we have, but at the same time have the other foot on the brakes to make sure that we are efficient also in all our operations. That's a tough, actually, management task, but I feel very motivated about that, and I think that that Duality also creates energy, even if it's of course tough for both some of our employees and also of course in this situation for the society. We need to play that part, but being the ones who distribute energy, giving energy to all the home offices and the hospitals and the important infrastructure, that motivates us.

What percentage— most energy companies pollute the planet because they use coal or oil. What percentage of your power is produced through renewable?

100%.

And specific, what, which renewable, how do you produce your power?

We produce mainly, uh, in our, in our group, we produce mainly hydropower, but we are also having district heating in our portfolio, and we are helping others, uh, both in the Nordics and in Germany to produce wind and solar, but we, we are not a big asset player in that area. But we, we manage very big volumes, wind and solar as well.

I want to make sure, because I think— I don't think people understand that, but now I think they understand that. And I think most people, their brains are spinning right now saying, this is an interesting company. You know, as I listen to you, you are— you have the possibility to create a massive ecosystem around you. You have unlimited power being produced by God, the planet, right? Going forward, you'll have revenue and generating revenue, and therefore you're at the center of the hub where other companies can approach you. And before we went live on the air, you were mentioning how you're partnering with several big companies around the world. And the other day I was in IKEA, so when you said the name you're partnering with IKEA, it It stuck on me. How can— why did other companies come to you and how can other companies come to you? I mean, again, I see you, you, Stefan, as the individual of and heading up Agda as an important person to help show people this is how you go forward in these troubled times. So how do you— how does Agda Energy position itself? What are you doing with IKEA? How do you help in these companies to do to, to build this renewable future that's being overhyped, but you're actually making a reality. Can you explain that?

Yes, I can. I think that what we have seen the last years in the energy market is that a lot of the competencies that we actually have had in our group for a number of years— how to manage the grid, how to manage renewable energy, how to help customers being sustainable that has now really been demanded also from the business side. So what we try to do is being a customer-centric company close to the big corporates, especially mainly in the Nordics but also in, in Europe, trying to help them to, to build sustainable solutions. And, and in the Nordics, we are working together and having deliveries to Tesla, to IKEA, to DNB, to Carlsberg through our brand Entelios, which is wholly owned by, by Agda Nagy. And we are also partnering with a lot of tech companies. One example is Microsoft, your competitor, who we have now developed a new marketplace to regulate the grid., and we are now piloting that in, in a lot of countries in Europe, in, for example, Sweden and the UK. So, so we think that what we have learned through our business the last 100 years is now demanded from a lot of new players, and that's why we can play a role. So it's of course a lot of innovation, but it also to, to understand that we now have competencies that are more relevant for, for, uh, for other companies as well.

You, you, you, um, made a statement before that, and you said it again now, that confidence of what your employees have built in the past is more relevant now. A lot of companies are saying, how do we retool? How do we reskill people for the future? And you've already— you're already doing it, but, but you're not reskilling. You just see that your people who have all this expertise from before can easily transition it to the future. How do you manage a culture like that? How did you develop a culture like that?

I— that it's a tough management task because I think you have to do both. We also have to develop new talents within artificial intelligence, in data analytics, and a lot of the areas that other companies work with as well. But what I see as our maybe main competitive advantage is a lot of the competence that we already have built. And I think that then it's very important to also talk about that because it's, it's easy in a company culture that if the CEO only talks about all these new competencies that need to bring in, that can also lead to, to other employees feeling that they don't have the same worth.

Absolutely, insecurity and all that.

Yeah, that's true. To talk about the domain competencies that we have and the importance of that. And of course, helping them also to use and develop themselves in new areas. That's an important part of it. And this is a culture challenge that I would say never is solved. So you just have to work with it all the time.

How old or how young is Økta Energy as a corporation?

We built our first power station more than 100 years ago. Okay. And but of course we have done mergers and acquisitions and a lot of things during those years. But we have long traditions in producing renewable energy and managing energy.

Yeah. And where I'm going with that is, and that's great that you gave me that answer, is that I'm trying to debunk this whole methodology that people have. That is that a company that is 100 years old is like trying to turn the Titanic, very hard to shift and turn around. But you're over 100 years old and you're centered. You're at the center of the target when it comes to renewable. When it comes to climate change. Um, I'm just massively impressed, and I think that has to be driven by the culture of the company. Has the culture of your company always been that way? Do you have a culture program? How do you— how does management see culture at Octa Energy?

I think we have worked, and, and my predecessor as well, we worked a lot to to work with the manager to kind of transform management capabilities and see all their employees and being what we call transformational leaders, having a value-based focus on our employees. But of course, as in every organization, we have differences in our group. No, you don't. So this is constant work to make that happen. But I really feel that also this COVID crisis has shown that we can change the way we work. We did it in one afternoon, the 12th of March. Everybody was at home and everything worked as it should. And we are still making new customers, new products, working with new business developments.

And I think maybe because of that How do you do, how do you do the innovation? How do you keep things going? Do you have coffee breaks? Do you do things over Zoom or Webex? I don't know. How do you keep it going to keep the employees feeling close to one another and keeping the company innovative during the time of COVID That's a good question.

I, I also think here there are differences in the, in, in the different parts of the group. I think that in our the customer-centric part of our business. They are working closely with the customers. I have myself, and that has actually been an interesting learning from this process. I have had digital coffee cups with the more than 70 employees in Agronagy. And, you know, does your wife know? She knows because she constantly asks me why I have these short, uh, all the time. You have so many excuses, huh? Oh, that's true.

Write a book. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. But what you learn from that, then I think that has also taken me closer to the employees. Communication happens more often from the CEO now than it did before. I send out the video around every second week, maybe even more often to all the employees in the group where I sit in my chair. I did that from home. They see that I'm just a normal person like them, being a father, having children running around asking me questions when I have meetings. I think that's a good thing. And that takes down the hierarchies that we— I don't think we've had them so strong, but I think people in the organization are feeling them still. So, uh, I would—

there are learnings from this process that we, we really need to take with us when we, we come on the other side of the COVID I think it's fantastic you're saying that because there are so many companies out there that the CEOs, or at least the executives, they emphasize the fact that they're an executive and they have to be seen that way. And, you know, here you are saying it's your, your You're dating 70 virtual people at a time. And you're seeing, you're letting people see you for who you are. And your company's growing. And you're being as innovative as ever. I think that's a great lesson for a lot of leaders out there. Let's talk about innovation. How do you remain innovative? Do you have innovative— do you have an innovative group? In ArcEnergy?

We, I would say we, we, uh, we do both. We, we have, I think most focus on innovation should be very close to the business, so we are doing that. We're using, uh, new programs for AI in our grid company in order to detect disturbances. We have more than 22,000 kilometers of grid and inspect them via drone or a helicopter and then send sending the pictures, having artificial intelligence, machine learning to find the deficiencies in the grid. At the same time, we have also a corporate venture team. They are in a function centrally where we also have change agents working with the incubators and early phase investments. Like the Gigafactory started there. And also the cooperation we had with Microsoft is there. So a combination of both investing, starting new companies, having change agents, but also a strong focus that I think that a lot of the innovation should happen very, very close to the business. And that's—

so let's make it very clear for everybody, because one of the things is that everybody's asking, How do I put innovation in my company? Should I have an innovation group or should I try to make innovation part of the culture overall? And what you're saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you have innovation built into your culture overall, but you have certain innovation, innovative people, or what was the words you call it? I'm sorry, you called it—

we call them change agents.

Change agents. Exactly.

Both from the group, but also in the different parts of the businesses that we have.

And are they designated change agents or did they just mature into it or that's just the way they were born or how, what is a change agent in your innovation?

Normally, they would, if they're in our business, they would have a task there to, and an employee working with an area in that business. But together with that, we have trained them to be able to facilitate the management team, to facilitate groups, to work with different tools, both from lean and agile working, so that they can take that into the groups that they are part of and constantly developing new products in our different parts, the different units.

Is it the change agent that brings the new idea to say, hey, I've identified a new idea, or can anybody come up with a great new idea?

I hope that anybody can come up with a new great idea, but probably, to be honest, there are also differences, of course, in cultures. But that's my hope, and that's what I work hard with, to make our employees understand that we want all the good ideas that we think also often are most valuable when they come from people who are part of the business.

Yeah. What, um, how many employees are in NOC.Energy?

Around 1,000.

100,000. Yeah, it's, it's very impressive what you've done. Um, I just want to ask you some questions now. I want you to just talk from you as a leader, you as a CEO, to other CEOs out there as well, because, um, as, as we were talking before we went live You know, these are difficult times and a lot of leaders are struggling. What advice do you have for them? And again, I'm not painting you as a perfect person, Stephen, though I'm sure your kids think you are. At least they're young enough to still think you are. Mine are old enough to know I'm not. But what advice do you have for leaders who aren't at the center of the target, the hub? Right? Their business is not there, um, they're struggling, uh, they want to make it through these times. Do you have a powerful motivational statement for them? Because right now they're listening to your podcast, they're listening to you, and I believe that they would really appreciate something from you. Do you have something for them?

Maybe. I don't know if it's that motivating, but my, my advice, and I hope that the employees in Agda Nagy feel just that, is that they should be very honest about the situation that they're in, be transparent about the struggles that they have inside themselves, probably, to find the right solutions for the future. And then invite in different parts of the organization to give them advice so that they also feel that they are involved in finding the solutions for the future.

So you're saying in your company you don't fake it till you make it? You actually have— when there are issues, you want people to openly talk about it?

That's what I'm working on, yes, to, to try to create that culture about, uh, around openness and transparency. And, and we're working with a new group strategy now, and we've tried also there to set up different groups with both youngsters, very senior people the unions, and they have given advice into the board and the executive team what they see as the most important for the future. And that has been very, very valuable for us.

And how is it working with the millennials? I love asking that. They are some different group of people. How is that within the Arcdead Energy with these very different young people who are Yeah, their mind's someplace else.

Yeah, I like it a lot because they are bringing in new perspectives, you know. So they are not— I think it's important to acknowledge that we need, when you try to find new solutions, you need kind of solutions from different places to find the right balance. And the young people, of course, they are very, very motivated around our sustainable future, how we can build a sustainable company. And I think that to invite them in increases our possibilities to be what I called in the start a future-proof company, because they are the future. But then at the same time, we need to do— and they need to understand that what we do is a complex business, and we need the experienced people, and we need the engineers that has been here for 30, 40 years because they are the ones really understanding the energy system.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, but it's a lot of fun as well. And they're giving me a lot of clear, clear advices, you know, from their, from their perspectives.

I'm gonna challenge you on that one. Has any millennial come up to you directly and says, hey, Mr. CEO, you, you should do this. Things this way, this way, this way. Has anybody done that to you?

Uh, today it's, uh, today is Tuesday. It was on Friday. One, one of our, uh, one of our younger— actually, he's already made it to a manager. He came into my office, closed the door, and gave me some very, very clear messages around, uh, a decision that I was, uh, or had taken that he didn't agree with at all. And we, we had a very good and positive conversation around that.

Okay. I, I gotta ask more. Did he have an appointment with you?

He did. He did ask, not, not scheduled from my side. No. He, he asked my, uh, personal assistant when I had 10 minutes and he came.

Yeah. And, and this is, this is, this is fantastic, Stefan. This is great. What everybody out there should be understanding is this. Octa Energy is like a rocket ship taking off into this future of renewable energies, positioning itself for growth and everything. The CEO, Stefan, has a true open door policy such that these young, fantastic millennials can come in and tell them exactly what they think about strategic decisions that Stefan's made. And Stefan is open to it. Do you want to be and get to that future that you dream your company to be? During this podcast, I truly have heard, and I think you've heard, that Steffen is giving you a roadmap as a leader how to do that and also has provided a lot of great details about Agda, what they do, how they do it, their culture, technology. Steffen, I'm trying to wrap things up, but again, I am really impressed. I think you're a great role model for everybody out there. Is there any last words or messages you would like to give everybody, especially when I say everybody, other leaders, other people out there who are saying, you know, maybe how can we work with Ogded? How could— can we contact you, Steffen, and have a discussion? Or I don't know, the floor is yours, Steffen.

Of course, we are always open to discuss how we can work together in partnership. I think the future will be a lot about making new alliances in, not inside the business areas that you're in today, but outside, to work together with new partners in other industries to create new sustainable solutions for the future. And I think also we have to, we have of course to have a realistic view about the situation today, but to stay safe do take the decisions that are needed, of course, but also to stay positive and have a belief that the future will be a better place and do whatever we can to create that better place for my teenagers and your teenagers. That is a very good motivation for me.

I think you said Very well. Steffen Severson, CEO of Økta Energy, thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, um, I, I think, you know, Steffen is, uh, I'll talk for being an American living here in Norway. Norwegians are very open, and Steffen is a very wonderful example of how to be a leader and how fantastic Norwegian leaders lead their companies to success. And I'm sure Stefan would appreciate it if any of you wanted to reach out to him and his people. Please do so. That's the way they, as we say in the United States, that's how they roll in Norway. Stefan, thank you so much. Really appreciated it, have you coming onto the podcast.

Thank you so much for inviting me.

Everyone take care. We are on the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, is everywhere. And please reach out to Stefan and Ørge Energy. And if you're ever in southern Norway, or specifically in Grimstad, is where Stefan lives. Go visit him at his house. You see, he's Norwegian. Just come on, coffee's always on pot waiting for you. Take care, everybody. Till the next time, next episode. This is Thomas Anglero. Be safe, take care, bye-bye.