Rapid Strokes - Slow Games: Leading in Extraordinary Times

In this webinar recording, Dr. Pekka Mattila talks about leadership and the ambidextrous manners that organizations are obliged to act in, during these extraordinary times – one hand runs the everyday business and the other one is coping with the future.

19.05.2020

All organizations need to harness themselves for the future while simultaneously having to make painful and dramatic decisions related to daily operations. This requires exceptional leadership of today with a focused vision of tomorrow.

He talks about concrete solutions to the emerging organizational challenges by focusing on 5 key areas, requiring effective leadership:

  • Balancing between the short game and the long play  
  • Deconstructing the iron cage of strategy  
  • Rereading organizational ambidexterity 
  • Connecting and influencing from a distance 
  • Instilling energy and a sense of community while being apart 

The ethos is not only to survive until tomorrow but to thrive and maintain the longer-term course and dream. After all, the pandemic will have an expiration date, followed by a new dawn.

The webinar will provide you with a glimpse of a toolkit that you can apply to make the best of the exceptional situation, supporting your people and business to survive, strive, and thrive.

  • Dr. Pekka Mattila serves as a Professor of Practice at the Aalto University School of Business. He works frequently with European, Asian, African, and North-American executive audiences on themes of strategic management and agility, strategy co-creation, business model innovation, executive leadership, top team dynamics, change management, organizational culture and strategic marketing. Since spring 2011 he has served as the Group Managing Director and Associate Dean of Aalto University Executive Education.
    In addition to his academic activities, Dr. Mattila has conducted an active business career. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board or as a Member of the Board at a number of innovative companies. Previously he served in executive, management, and senior staff positions in the Nordic financial services industry. Currently, he serves as a Member of the Board of The Finnish National Gallery. From 2009 till 2017 he served as the Chairman of the Board of the Helsinki Festival. He is a Founding Member of Nordic Institute of Business and Society.
    Dr. Mattila holds a doctorate and masters in sociology at the University of Helsinki and an Executive MBA at London Business School. Over the years, he has frequently visited a number of prestigious European and Asian universities teaching management, organizational behavior, marketing, and sociology. Dr. Mattila has authored a number of managerial books on leadership, change management, and strategic marketing and sales.
    Dr. Mattila's consulting and coaching career started in 2003, and his corporate clients comprise over 280 Nordic and international companies, entrepreneurial ventures as well as prominent public sector institutions and NGOs.

This webinar is a part of Leading in Extraordinary Times Webinar Series.

Extraordinary times call for visionary leadership. Aalto EE is committed to supporting your way through these demanding times and helping you to become even stronger and more resilient in the process.  

We are offering you a free webinar series where experts from Aalto University and Aalto EE address the challenges and opportunities that now arise within organizations. 

The webinar series is part of Aalto Leaders' Insight content that you can subscribe to your email

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