EP14: Marie Lindqvist - From Tourists To Concert-Goers & Hotels To Arenas, It's A Dream Life

How does someone transition from managing hotels and holiday-makers to overseeing major entertainment venues across Europe? Well, quite easily, if you happen to be our high achieving guest, Marie Lindqvist.

Join us as we sit down with Marie, the Senior Vice President of Operations for ASM Global in Europe, to uncover her unique career path. From her early days in the tourism industry to her pivotal role in the post-pandemic resurgence of live events, Marie shares the invaluable lessons she's learned along the way.

Marie’s career is a fascinating journey through different cultures and industries. She opens up about her time at TUI, where she sharpened her leadership skills, and the dynamic shift to AEG, managing the iconic Globe in Stockholm. Discover how Marie balances a demanding career with personal life and the importance of family support. Her story is a powerful testament to the impact of strong leadership and the importance of building a diverse, inclusive team.

Get a behind-the-scenes look into the future of live entertainment, as Marie discusses ASM Global's ambitious redevelopment projects across Europe. Hear about the strategic planning that took place during the pandemic and the strengthened industry networks that emerged from it.

Marie's leadership philosophy underscores the importance of trust, communication, and being a role model, especially for women in leadership positions. Don’t miss her insights on organizing major events and the joy of shaping the future of live entertainment.

We recorded this conversation at the Södra Teatern in Stockholm on 7th August, 2024.

More about our guest:

Stockholm Live
ASM Global

More about the SuperSwell

The SuperSwell

The SuperSwell Newsletter

Contact: podcast@thesuperswell.com

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Okay, just a question to clarify You're not the Marie Lindqvist who is the retired Swedish ballet dancer.

Speaker 2 0:07

I actually get that question every now and then. No, unfortunately, ballet was never my thing.

Speaker 1 0:14

Okay, but it means I'm in the right place? Absolutely. I'm in Stockholm and I'm talking today with ASM Global's Senior Vice President of Operations in Europe, marie Lindquist. Hello.

Speaker 2 0:26

Marie Hi Paul.

Speaker 1 0:28

We're meeting in the beautiful Södra Teatr here in the city.

Speaker 2 0:33

It's nice, isn't it?

Speaker 1 0:34

I love it. Last time I was here I think it was the soundtrack of our lives Could be Weeping Willows, amazing. Yeah. Seen Anna Turnheim, stephen Stevens, I think, ryan Adams way back. So I absolutely love the place.

Speaker 2 0:48

Nice.

Speaker 1 0:49

I remember being here in this room, I think we had a party, a Mattel style Christmas party, and it got a bit out of hand. Someone tried to steal the Christmas tree and take it back to their office. I won't say who it was, but the Luka guys. Are you from Stockholm? I am. How is it being from a city like this in a country like Sweden?

Speaker 2 1:10

Well, I feel very proud of the city. It's a great city to live in Closest to the water that you can see outside here and closest to nature.

Speaker 1 1:20

Yeah, the connection with nature is very strong in Scandinavia and in the Nordics actually actually isn't it?

Speaker 2 1:25

Yeah, especially at this time of year. Yeah, it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 1:29

Exactly, and always a lovely vibe, and you feel that as a visitor, so I wondered if it was the same all year round when you're from here.

Speaker 2 1:35

Well, I think the older I get and the more I travel and see the rest of the world, I appreciate Stockholm. It's my hometown. Every time I come back, I just feel such great love for this city.

Speaker 1 1:48

We'll talk a bit about what you've done work-wise, but you've worked extensively in the tourism business, which probably is how you've managed to travel so much. Is that something you've always liked to do, then?

Speaker 2 2:00

Absolutely. I did travel a lot with my family when I grew up and when I was in high school. My only sort of idea about what I wanted to do after graduation was to travel. I was an exchange student in the US for a year, I went to a hotel management school in the UK and France, and then I started in the travel industry and I lived and worked in France and Spain, turkey, for four or five years. So that was my key motivation and driver. I wanted to meet people, learn languages, travel and see the world. So that's how I ended up.

Speaker 1 2:41

Was there a moment where you realized that you could get a job traveling and seeing those things, rather than just have it as something you did with your family?

Speaker 2 2:49

Oh yeah, when I did my training for hotel management, I did my internship in France, in the Alps, in Chamonix, at a hotel. I was in my 20s then and that's when I realized that I want more of this. So that's when I started my career working for TUI, a big global travel company, and I managed to get a job where I could spend the winters skiing in the Alps and the summer I was in the South of Europe. At that time in my life it was fantastic. But it also gave me a great start of my work life because I got the experience to be a manager and lead teams at a young age. I was given lots of responsibilities, but also to work with people and service and problem solving and building teams. So I think that shaped me in an early stage of my career and gave me quite a good direction of what I wanted to do, and I grew a lot during those years. I'm really grateful for that and I think that's probably the best start I could have had.

Speaker 1 4:04

Is that something that you think came naturally to you? Being able to deal with people and problem solve and think on your feet? Did you enjoy dealing with people?

Speaker 2 4:12

Yes, yes, I did. It has definitely given me lots of insights on how to operate in an international environment, dealing with people in different cultures. Operate in an international environment, dealing with people in different cultures, but also to, as I said, to build teams, to work as a team.

Speaker 1 4:32

And, yeah, it's been the best school for me. Yeah, and learning the meaning of customer service, which then transfers to many different industries, as we'll get to.

Speaker 2 4:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1 4:44

So you already had a very strong ambition. You were ambitious to do well in this particular industry. You'd chosen and you enjoyed all the aspects of leadership and management, even when you were still in your business studies. So how easy was it for you then to find the role that you wanted.

Speaker 2 5:02

So when I decided to move back to Stockholm after those four or five years abroad, I took on a role in sales and marketing and I found that that was the path I wanted to pursue, and that's when I took my diploma in marketing. I was still with TUI at that time. That was a great company to grow in and I was given opportunities to take on new responsibilities and had great managers that believed in me as a young person in the beginning of my career. But my driver has always been to be part of a good team, to have fun, to experience new things, to take on new projects and responsibilities. I didn't have a clear career path. I went where my passion was and where I could see that I could add value to the team I was working with.

Speaker 1 6:03

And you chose marketing as your focus, any particular reason.

Speaker 2 6:09

Well, I've always been interested in communication, so I think that became quite natural to work in that field to develop communication strategies and marketing strategies and work with many stakeholders. I could have ended up in other fields, I think, and now I'm more of a generalist, but at that point in time I felt very compelled to go into that field of communication and marketing and sales also because I want to work with people. I've always worked in roles with many stakeholders. I think that's what I like about all the different roles I've had that you're managing many different stakeholders on many different levels. And as I started the journey into marketing and more senior roles, I also learned more how to navigate in big companies with all the different stakeholders also, and then I like that.

Speaker 1 7:12

I talk a lot with people on this podcast who would say they work in the music industry or creative industries. And you do, because you're now running several venues that are used for concerts and music events as well as other things. But you don't necessarily need to be a music fan, or do you? Do you think?

Speaker 2 7:31

Well, it is not negative if you like music or sports because we do a lot of sports also or events in general in general. But at the end of the day, it's very much about providing good service and understand your guests and clients and what they need the fans, supporters, promoters and event organizers. So I think the most important thing is that you understand that you are in a service business and also the owners of the venues and the cities that we operate in. You have to understand all the different perspectives for all the different stakeholders and balance that to be successful were you a music fan anyway?

Speaker 1 8:15

when you were growing up, what was the kind of music that you like to listen to?

Speaker 2 8:19

yeah, I've always listened to lots of music and my mother always had music in our home. I'm quite wide in my preference. I really enjoy music and I enjoy going to gigs.

Speaker 1 8:33

Have you always enjoyed going to concerts? Yes, have you always liked certain venues? Is this something that you were aware of before you were in the venue operations business that venues had very different styles and attracted different kinds of people, and things like that?

Speaker 2 8:50

as a young girl I probably wasn't that aware of different venues. It was more like this band is playing or this artist and you were sort of going as a group of friends. I do remember one of my first concerts was actually at Hoved and it was Rick Astley, brilliant At.

Speaker 1 9:10

Hoved.

Speaker 2 9:12

This was many years ago. This was before Avicii Arena was built, and the first like major big concert I went to was Michael Jackson in Gothenburg in 1986 or 7, which was great experience. Yeah, so as I've become more into venues, I have a better understanding of the differences, and what I'm so happy about is that I have the privilege to work with everything from small, grassroots venues really like the one that we are currently doing this interview now all the way up to the major stadiums, and I can see the value in both the small, intimate ones and the bombastic, massive ones. It's just a great experience, very different, but I like and enjoy both of them.

Speaker 1 10:03

Yeah, it is important to have this complete range of venues available across the board for people who you're providing concerts for. But by now in your career then, or by the time we're talking about, you joined, I think, in 2006. I think you joined AEG, yeah, a venue operations company that I think had just started in Sweden.

Speaker 2 10:24

Well, I joined 2006, as you said, avicii Arena, which was then known as the Globe. So, after my long period of time working for TUI, I was then offered the role as the marketing director for the Globe, but at that point it was operated by the city of Stockholm, and in 2009, aeg took over the operation.

Speaker 1 10:48

I see. So what were the immediate differences in joining a venue and a company that put on events as opposed to a tourism company?

Speaker 2 10:58

Well, it's more similar than you might think actually, because you are providing experiences, you sell and market tickets and you handle large volumes of people and to ensure security and smooth experience, I think the key difference is probably that, as a venue operator, you're not in total control of the content as such, because that's the promoter or the artist or the football club, whilst in the travel industry, you often produce the whole experience. But I didn't think it was a huge transfer. Actually, I think there's a lot of transferable skills between those two industries. There's a lot of transferable skills between those two industries?

Speaker 1 11:45

Yeah, was there any other things you noticed about, like a working culture or anything that might have been specific to the companies at the time, like AEG and TUI, how they might have differed in expectation levels, or anything that might have been new to you?

Speaker 2 12:00

Well, I think the major difference was probably when AEG took over the operations and we went from being a city council operated venue to a private international venue operator. That was quite a big shift and working more in an international environment. So those years were quite transformational. I enjoy working in an international environment and enjoy having the opportunity to connect with peers in other markets and exchange knowledge, and I'm really interested in cultural behaviors. As such, I thought it was great. I really enjoyed that. There were definitely challenges and we had to understand the US or the UK way of doing things and they had to understand the Swedish way of doing things. So there were some interesting conversations at times, but I found that it's a very interesting period and I learned a lot.

Speaker 1 13:07

At some point along the line you went back to working in a travel company, I think.

Speaker 2 13:13

Yeah, I did so. After six years as the marketing director working for AEG, I was actually offered a job back to the travel industry again and I decided to go for that. And then, two years later, I got a call from AEG asking if I was interested to come back.

Speaker 1 13:33

But that was in a very different role.

Speaker 2 13:35

Yeah, so that was in the role as the managing director for our Swedish business and I didn't need a lot of time to think about that. That was a great opportunity and I felt really grateful to be given that kind of opportunity to step into a broader role. So that was the first role. That was not the marketing and communication side of things, but I had to take on programming and sponsorship and operations and all of that in a business that I knew really well and in a market that I knew well. So I felt comfortable at that side. But I also felt intrigued to take on a broader role, more responsibility and to learn more. So I came back in 2014.

Speaker 1 14:29

Yeah, that was the managing director of Stockholm Live. Exactly. Which incorporates all the venues that were in the roster at the time, which was Glauburn, which is now Vici Arena. What other venues were there at the time?

Speaker 2 14:44

So it was Vici Arena, horvath, annexet, teletubbies Arena, and then, a few years later, we also took over the operation of the National Arena for football, the 50,000 cap stadium that is now called Strawberry Arena.

Speaker 1 15:00

Yeah, I mean, that's an offer you can't refuse. As you've said, it's the first time you're taking on a role that's wider than what you've done so far. You said that you're now more of a generalist. So this is the first step into that, isn't it? You've been a generalist and having wider responsibilities. It sounds like you were very sure that you'd be good in that role. How much thought did you put into it? What process did you go through? Did you have any doubts?

Speaker 2 15:27

Of course, I had doubts. It was a big role and you're giving such a big responsibility. You want to do a good job right. But I also had really good support around me from my managers from the team in the US and in the UK, and I also had a really good management team here in Stockholm. So I wasn't alone in this. As I said previously, I'm a team person and I like to build and develop teams, so I saw a good opportunity to be the leader of a strong management team here in Stockholm, but also having the support from my peers from the other teams in other markets and also from the corporate team in peers from the other teams in other markets and also from the corporate team in the UK and the US.

Speaker 1 16:23

What about on the family side? By now you had a family, perhaps, right?

Speaker 2 16:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, at this point I had teenagers.

Speaker 1 16:31

Oh, okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 16:32

So my husband and I have always had a shared responsibility for bringing up our family, so that's never been an issue for me. We've found a way of sharing that responsibility and we also have a very good network of our family and extended family around us. So I think it was probably more tricky when my children were really young but at this time in my career they were in their early teens. I think they thought it was quite nice that mom was in the music and sports industry.

Speaker 1 17:14

But a few years earlier might you have turned that role down, because your kids might have needed a bit more attention from you?

Speaker 2 17:21

I don't think so.

Speaker 2 17:22

I don't think that my family situation would have caused any sort of doubts in my mind, maybe more about if I felt ready and if I've had the right experience and felt confident.

Speaker 2 17:39

To me this is a non-issue, and I think that also comes with the fact that I'm Swedish and we have a system, a social security system in our country that allows women and men to combine work and family life. I was off for two years when I had my two children because it's only one year in between them and then my husband was off for half a year when they were really young, and then after that we have had a shared responsibility and childcare that is more or less for free. It's very low cost. So there is a system here that allows both men and women to combine work and family life, but nevertheless you also have to have a workplace that supports families, that can provide some kind of flexibility in working hours, and now, when you can work digital and remote, that has certainly helped a lot to do both, but to me it's just natural and it's never been an issue for me.

Speaker 1 18:55

So at some point during your time in this position at Stockholm Live, there was a merger between AEG and SMG, so some of the venues were split away.

Speaker 2 19:07

Yeah, the merger was between AEG facilities that was headed up by Bob Newman that I've been working for for many years, and SMG. So that took place in 2019, which was a big thing, and the new company, asm Global, was formed, and I think that was finalized the autumn of 2019, just a few months before we locked down the whole thing. But that gave me an opportunity to take on more of an international role. I'd been six years as the marketing director and six years as the managing director here in Stockholm, and when this opportunity came up, I was ready for it. So I took on a role as the senior vice president for operations in Europe for the European portfolio of venues, which at that time was around 15 arenas, stadiums, theatres and I moved to the UK, to Manchester, where the head office for ASM Global is located.

Speaker 2 20:10

I was held up, though, because of the pandemic, so I took on the role in 2020, but the move didn't take place until 21, when I was able to travel. So I packed on the role in 2020, but the move didn't take place until 21, when I was able to travel. So I packed my bags and my husband the kids were going off to university at this point of time. So from a family situation, it was quite good timing. So, yeah, so my husband Martin and I, we moved into a flat in Manchester.

Speaker 1 20:38

Wow, that's quite a difference. It's a great city, though. Did you like it there? I did. It's not as nice as Liverpool down the road, but I'm a bit biased.

Speaker 2 20:47

Yeah right, I did go to Liverpool a few times too. It's also a great city. I wasn't aware, actually, how close it is between Manchester and Liverpool.

Speaker 1 20:56

Yeah, it's quite a rivalry.

Speaker 2 20:57

Yeah, it was a fantastic opportunity. Really enjoyed Manchester, really enjoyed the north of England and, like, I think, many foreigners or Swedes going to the UK, you usually end up in London. So this was a great opportunity to get to know this part of England and because of my work I also traveled a lot across the UK to Aberdeen where we have a venue, leeds and Newcastle and all over the place.

Speaker 1 21:29

I'm from the north of England so I was delighted to see traveling around, like Pennines and the Lake District and all the places you visited, there's some beautiful small villages out in the hills.

Speaker 2 21:39

Oh yes, we said to ourselves when we came over that this is an opportunity for us to get to know a new country. We should take every opportunity to just explore. So we made that as our thing, that in the weekends we would just hop on a train and go somewhere. And I was astonished by all the beautiful countryside and nature in that part of the country and how close it is. So, yeah, we have probably seen more villages than an average Mancunian, I would say.

Speaker 1 22:16

I guess I think that's true. I was really pleased to see that. It's great that you took on this new role in a new place Very exciting, but in one of the most dramatic periods of our lifetime really, when we're in a pandemic and nothing is open, very, very different than what it should have been for you how did you incorporate that into how you operated, how you worked?

Speaker 2 22:38

when I came over in 21, most people were still working remote. We had slowly started to reopen our venues. So it was quite a different type of situation, to you know, coming to something new, and it was also sort of the startup for ASM Global because we were still a new company at that time. But it turned out to be almost like working for a startup. It was this smaller team. We were navigating in a new landscape and rebuilding our business after the pandemic, but also shaping and building a new company in ASM Global and that's one of my key drivers to be shaping and building, developing a team, developing culture and connecting people. So I really enjoy that.

Speaker 2 23:40

It was difficult at times because of all the circumstances, but I look back at those years with a warm heart and I found people so happy to be back in business, so grateful of being able to go back to work and to go to a gig, to go to a meeting in person. So it was different, but it was a good start in a new role and in a new company and was so welcomed by my colleagues as the only non-English in the senior leadership team, as the only non-English in the senior leadership team, introducing me to Manchester and the area and the culture and things to do. I learned that the lunch habits, for example, here in Stockholm or in Finland you go out for lunch. You don't do that in the UK. So, yeah, there's like these small cultural differences that I sort of had to learn. But I also introduced some of our culture, like Afika, for example.

Speaker 2 24:43

But the most challenging part for me in my professional role was that I came from a context where I had a massive network In this industry in Sweden. I know most of my clients and stakeholders. I understand the market, the legislations, everything that makes your life easier. I came to the UK in a senior role with lots of responsibility and I knew very few people with lots of responsibility and I knew very few people. I basically knew my colleagues and my ex-colleagues at AEG. But apart from that, I had to just throw myself out there and start building relationships, connecting with people and wrapping my head around how things work in the UK and in Germany, where that was also part of my responsibility. So it was quite challenging in that perspective but I had great support from my colleagues and my boss, chris Bray, and all my peers, so they made it easier, but it was definitely a new situation for me.

Speaker 1 25:58

But also part of probably what attracted you to the job was that new challenge. 100% I get the feeling, then, that this lockdown period you used very positively from a business point of view. You knew there was exciting things ahead once you could get back to it. So did you feel like you had a bit more time and room because of the lockdown to develop your ideas better or spend more time thinking about what you can do once you can get at it? Did that help?

Speaker 2 26:27

I think so, and I think we all had time for reflection and there are many things that are horrendous about this period of time that are horrendous about this period of time, but I don't want to glorify it because there were so many challenges for everyone across the globe, but we are one of the industries that were very hurt by this.

Speaker 2 26:48

The pandemic showed the impact when people are not able to go to show, go to game and share that passion with other people. From a mental health perspective, that makes a difference and I think that really gave us all an understanding that what we do is not just something superficial. It's actually fundamentally really important for people, fundamentally really important for people. It also gave us an opportunity to work closer with our competitors and our clients and partners in the industry, to work together to reopen in a safe way and do all the necessary preparations for that, and I think the network and the dialogues that started during the pandemic is something that we have built on and has created a stronger voice when it comes to how we talk about our industry, how we talk about the importance, when it comes to how many people that are employed and how much we contribute in tax revenues and tourism revenues and all of that. So that's something that came out as a really good consequence of those miserable years.

Speaker 1 28:07

Yeah, I agree, and that obviously was much needed.

Speaker 2 28:10

I can only speak for the work we did here in Sweden. We had probably not been good enough when it comes to really providing facts and figures around our industry and talk about what we do as a company. So that was an eye-opener that people in general and politicians might not be aware of. The ecosystem that creates this big industry. There's a lot of small companies that is part of delivering live entertainment.

Speaker 1 28:44

Yeah, exactly, coming out of the pandemic period, then gradually there's a resurgence again in live music, especially major events, and ASM Global seems to have hit the ground running a little bit, and you obviously were working on this plan prior to the pandemic. You thought about it through the pandemic and worked on perfecting your idea, but there's been a period now of expansion and redevelopment in some of the older venues. There are some new players in certain markets and new venues opening up, so did you feel like it was a good time anyway to be having a look at the older venues, like Wembley Arena for example? What was the kind of overall plan that you came out of the pandemic with regarding the venues?

Speaker 2 29:24

As you said, we hit the ground running after the pandemic and we were in this sort of startup mode as a company, sometimes referred to like a global startup, but very entrepreneurial, very growth focused. And if I look back in these two, three years, there's so much that has happened and we're fortunate to have owners that are willing to invest. So, as you said, there's been a number of big redevelopment projects going on, like AO Arena in Manchester. Ovo, wembley Arena in London is now going to undertake major renovations, vici Arena here in Stockholm that is currently closed where we're doing lots of investments together with the owner, the city of Stockholm, together with the owner, the city of Stockholm.

Speaker 2 30:18

So, yeah, lots of really great projects. But we also brought on new venues into our portfolio, either new built or that we took over operations. So we have expanded our footprint in Europe and that's also one of the reasons why I relocated back to Stockholm, because here in Stockholm, we took over Södertöten and the venue adjacent to Södertöten called Kegelbanan. We also put down our first flag in Finland, a market that I know you are well aware of.

Speaker 1 30:51

You operate the House of Culture.

Speaker 2 30:53

The House of Culture, which is an amazing venue designed by Alvar Aalto. It's iconic. We're also now expanding into Italy and open up our office in Milan, and we just recently announced that we're going in Lisbon, where we are taking over operations of the LX factory. So all of this and other strategies that we have implemented has provided us with a tremendous growth. So, all in all, that led to a change in my role, so I moved back to Stockholm last year and I'm now overlooking our portfolio in Sweden, finland, italy, portugal and Germany, and my colleague, gary Simpson, is looking over our portfolio venues in the UK. So that has been a big change for us.

Speaker 1 31:46

Yeah, good, Are you happy with that being back?

Speaker 2 31:49

I am. I really liked the opportunity to live in a different country for a couple of years and the UK is such an amazing music and live entertainment market. It's so much more than any other country in Europe when it comes to both artists and bands and talent, but also lots of great venues across the whole country. So to be able to get to understand and learn about that market has been really an eye-opener. But my job contains a lot of traveling so I could be based anywhere really, so for me it's convenient to be based in Stockholm. It's a huge market for us. We have seven venues that we operate, but also the closeness to Helsinki is helpful and the connections from Stockholm are quite good to the rest of Europe also. So I'm happy to be back in Stockholm, but I'm in Manchester maybe once a month.

Speaker 1 32:56

Right. What's interesting in the venues that you're talking about there is the range of capacity. They're not just all big arena-sized venues. So is that part of the plan is to have venues from grassroots all the way up to stadium?

Speaker 2 33:10

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that is what I really like about the ASM Global portfolio that it's so versatile. It contains theatres, concert halls like the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester for classical music venues, to race courses, to arenas up to stadiums and convention centres so the whole range, and Stockholm is a good example where you can build that type of hub where we can work together with our partners, promoters, sponsors, in a wide variety of events and shows. So that's what we're looking at doing expanding our portfolio and footprint in all these different type of categories where it makes sense.

Speaker 1 34:02

Stepping away from just ASM Global business to the event business in general. How are you feeling about it? Do you think that we're back to pre-pandemic levels? Do you think there's a lot of hope for more events coming in future, all these big arenas that are being built? Do you think there's going to be big business in the next decade or two decades? How do you see the long term?

Speaker 2 34:24

I think it's difficult to speculate in the next decade or so, given what has happened in the past decade, but what we can see is that we've bounced back really strong after the pandemic. As I said previously, it has shown that this means a lot to people to be able to go and experience your favorite artist or favorite sports team or whatever, and we've also seen that people tend to prioritize to do that and to bring your children or your family and friends to do this together. We have strong business. We have good ticket sales in most of our markets and we can see the content is constantly being developed with new type of shows and events. So I think we have a positive future. There are challenges, obviously, with the situation of cost of living for ticket buyers, but also cost of touring, energy and security and all of that, but I'm positive. I think this is a strong industry and when I look at the future, I think it looks bright.

Speaker 1 35:35

One thing I noticed that seems to have developed the Music and Festival event tourism, I think it's called where people travel from different countries. The Taylor Swift tour seemed to really highlight this. There were so many Americans coming over to Europe for concerts in Liverpool or in Germany, mainly because it was cheaper for them to come over here than buy the tickets in America. We don't need to get into the aspects of dynamic ticketing and all those things, but do you think that will develop further where people want to travel to other countries to see their favorite artists rather than their hometown? Is that something that's happening?

Speaker 2 36:13

well, I think it's a mix of how the artists are touring and and how many locations they decide to go to, but I think that going to gigs or to sports events has become part of your travel plans. I can just talk for myself. If I go somewhere, I usually tend to see is there a show or live music or something that we can go to as a family to experience while we're in this city. So I think that has become more natural, that either it's the reason to go to a city or when you go to a destination, you check out what's going on in that city. You mentioned Taylor Swift. That was crazy. We sold approximately 180,000 tickets and almost half of that were ticket buyers from outside Sweden. That's a lot more than we usually have, but this was also the only shows in the Nordics, so we had lots of people traveling in from our neighboring countries.

Speaker 2 37:17

As you said, there were lots of Americans coming to Sweden and the whole tourism boost from those concerts were unheard of. Once again, I think that was a good example to show how this industry is impacting people's life in a city, but also the tourism economy, everything that goes on in the city during a weekend like that and we have actually done a study together with the Visit Stockholm Tourism Association and the Stockholm University where we have calculated on the financial impact but also the happiness impact, and it turns out that during these Taylor Swift weeks the Stockholmers felt happier. When all these fans, all these Swifties, came from all over the world into Stockholm, I think Stockholm came out in the best possible way and all of that makes people proud to show your city in this way. So it's the financial impact, but also the impact on people that live in the city is positive.

Speaker 1 38:25

Yeah, I saw a similar thing in Liverpool when they hosted the Eurovision. When they stepped in to take over from Kiev, the whole city embraced it and joined in and they still talk about it now what a wonderful experience it was.

Speaker 1 38:38

It can really have a major impact on people's mood. You're quite right. I wanted to ask you a little bit about your management style if you have one, or if you think about it, or if you've thoughtfully developed a particular style in how you want to be perceived by people who work with you. Is that something you've worked on, or does everything just come naturally to you?

Speaker 2 38:57

It's still work in progress. I would say you live and you learn, and I think, with experience and making mistakes and learning from that, that helps you to shape your way of leading and communicating as a manager. My background is marketing and communication. I think communication is a very, very strong and powerful tool in your leadership.

Speaker 2 39:24

I also believe in trust. I trust the people I work with. I also believe in trust. I trust the people I work with. But to be able to have that trust, it's also important to have a clear direction and clear vision of where are we heading, what is important, what is not important, but also rules of engagement, how do we collaborate, how do we make decisions, things like that and you can agree on that if you communicate, but also if you build strong relationships with the people that you're working with. So I think if I'm going to summarize my leadership style, it's I believe in creating strong relationships, getting to know the people that I work with. I want to know how my team are doing. I want to understand their drivers and where they are in their life, if they are going through struggles or whatever, because that helps me to understand. So relationship, trust and clear objectives and vision I think those are the key pillars in my leadership.

Speaker 1 40:28

And very important for you to be seen as a role model.

Speaker 2 40:31

Well, I have had many good role models that I've learned from and been inspired by. I understand that, as a senior person in a company, everything I do, everything I say, is impacting the team around me. If I'm grumpy and stressed, that will have a negative impact. So I'm conscious about how I am acting and communicating and responding to problems or challenges. Everyone in a leadership role has to be mindful of how we act and how we communicate, because we are setting the culture and you have to walk the talk.

Speaker 1 41:16

It's so important, otherwise it's not going to lead anywhere and we talked a little bit about equality in scandinavia is generally better than in other places, but how about elevating other women, being a role model to other women and showing that a woman can hold very powerful positions, very strong leadership positions, high executive positions? How seriously do you take that, or do you not need to think about that as much?

Speaker 2 41:41

No, I take that very seriously and when I started in this industry almost 20 years ago, there were very few women in leading positions. There were times where I was the only one in the room. I think that has improved over the years and I'm very conscious, when I put together a team, that I wanted to be diversified, and that's not only because it's an important statement, it's also from a business perspective. I believe that we will make better decisions, more informed decisions, when we have different perspectives, and there's a lot of studies around that, and I'm proud that in our European senior leadership team team, we have a healthy mix of men and women in different ages, and also in the leadership team here in Stockholm is a very good mix.

Speaker 1 42:37

Very good. Looking back at everything you've done so far and you've still a lot to do and a long way to go what would you say have been your most memorable experiences then?

Speaker 2 42:48

We're so fortunate to have a lot of great experience just in our workplace, with all the shows and big championships and things like that. We talked about Taylor Swift. That was a great experience, with these fantastic fans coming from all over the world and just spreading joy across the city. You mentioned Eurovision in Liverpool. We did Eurovision in 2016. That was also a great experience, very challenging, but something that I definitely look back at. The whole experience to go over and live in Manchester has been a highlight in my career. I really enjoy that and everything that came along with that coming into new environments and contexts and learning a lot. Now I'm really excited about what's going on here in Stockholm with the redevelopment of Avicii Arena. Our project in Lisbon is really exciting and the projects that we're involved in in Italy is exciting and, for me, going back to where we started, having as a key driver to interact with different cultures and meeting people and learning. I'm in a dream role right now and I really thrive in that environment perfect.

Speaker 1 44:06

it sounds like a dream role, but you're obviously in the role that you deserve to be in and it's great that the business has intelligent, very competent people like you running it. I want to thank you for talking to us. It's been really interesting hearing about your career so far.

Speaker 2 44:22

Thank you for having me.