Garaget - Volvo Cars Podcast

Philip Nordahl – An unique Volvo career Philip Nordahl was only 22 years old when he decided to pack the bag and go to China to sign up for Greely’s team who was set to acquire Volvo Cars. The year was 2009 and Ford had just went official that Volvo Cars was for sale. His exciting journey started in a Geely plant as a spot welder to test him and find out if he was a spy or not. Today he is making a successful career at Volvo Cars and his message is clear: - If you get a chance – jump on it! Welcome to the conversation.

Smart cities – a treat or an opportunity In this episode we discuss ”smart cities” with Karolina Bjurhed and Martin Ivarson. Smart cities that is liveable, workable and can provide good quality of life for their citizens. In a smart crowded city a traditional car is questioned. But was does that mean for us as a car company today and in the future? How can we be part of this development and use it as an tool to grow and build new business opportunities? Karolina and Martin is working on a strategy on this subject and they invite you all to participate in the discussion.

Dennis Nobelius – an autonomus CEO Many of you know Dennis from his long and successful career at Volvo Cars in a lot of different positions. His career peaked at Volvo Cars as program manager for the XC90 that was launched some years ago and was a mega success. But since nearly a year ago he has been leading the process to develop a brand new company; “Zenuity”. I visited him at his and Zenuity’s brand new office in Lindholmen and got the chance to talk about this new company, a joint venture between Volvo Cars and Autoliv. It was thrilling and exiting and the ambition is to be one of the leaders in the world when it comes to software engineering for autonomus vehicles. A field that will revolutionize the entire automotive landscape in the coming decade. But we talked also about leadership, a flat organisation and what motivates the people in this very exciting and rapidly growing company. Welcome to the conversation.

Garaget 71. Sofia Granath Sofia is director for digitalization at Autoliv since February 2017 and have an impressive CV with experience from a variety of different areas. She look at herself as being a little bit crazy. She believe in the potential in the human being and have hope and faith that everything is possible. She’s loves problem solving and values open organizations, where not only leaders should initiate products and changes. We talk a lot of different possibilities with new technology to solve the daily challenges in everyday life including needs for more efficient mobility services. Welcome to the conversation.

 Per Gyllenspetz – an outsiders reflection on Volvo cars Per is a designer, innovator, mobility expert, teacher, researcher with a past as designer at Volvo cars mainly in the eighties and the nineties. I asked him to challenge Volvo Cars of today and give his thoughts of what to prioritize for the future. He talks about the “big curve” meaning that we have to deviate from a linear development and to embrace change and new radical thinking to be able to be a true sustainable company. Welcome to the conversation!

RCC – How good is Volvos internal consultants? Some of the internal consultants at RCC (Resorce & Competence Centre) meet in a round table talk about what it is to work as an internal consultant at Volvo Cars. What are the pros and cons in being an internal resource and what are the reactions from customers and colleagues. Can you do a career within RCC? Will RCC continue to grow and what does it take to be an RCC-consultant. Meet Johanna Wennberg, Reiner Gustavsson, Charlotte Hammarström, Jesper Nerhed and Britta Berg in this episode of the Garage.  

Johan Nyhus – "infarstrukturministern” i Göteborg Johan är kommunalråd i Göteborg och ansvarig för trafik och infrastrukturen i vår stad. Många av oss på Volvo har ibland uppfattat våra politiker som bilfientlig men den bilden vill Johan ändra på. Han kör själv gärna bil och har i år varit på husvagnssemester med sin familj. Han öppnar öppet spjället fullt för samarbetsidéer mellan fordonsindustrin och staden och vill gärna se vår stad som en ledande testa arena för framtida mobilitet. Han lovar att driva dessa frågor hårt politiskt så att Göteborg kan bli den mest framstående staden i Europa och gärna i världen i detta avseende. Välkommen med i samtalet där Johan också får dela sin bild av Västlänken och Göteborgspaketet.

Henrik Green - Strategist and coffee connoisseur Henrik is Vice president for Product & Quality since December 2016 but has a long history at Volvo Cars in severely different positions since more than 20 years. Henrik is eager to communicate with all his co-workers and write a letter every week in a lot of interesting subjects. We discuss the latest announcement that all new Volvo Cars will be electrified in 2019, how we as a company can work in the same direction in order to take on all new challenges and what new business models can mean if the cars are shared instead of personal owned in a near future. We also talk about our company culture and what coffee you should enjoy during your holiday to get the best experience. Please welcome to the conversation.

Lex Kerssemakers – stay razor sharp Lex is Senior Vice president for Volvo Cars in the Americas since 2015 and he has lead the organization during a crucial transformation and manged to start the turn around of our US-market. Last year we increased the sales with nearly 20% and the question for 2017 is if can keep the pace and the increasing trend. We discuss obstacles and opportunities on this challenging market and what the US premium customers search for when the look for a new car. How important is electrification and is the US-customer ready for car sharing? He urges us all to stay razor sharp in a competitive business where there no time to lean back if you want to stay in the business. Welcome to the conversation!

Jan Ivarsson – How will Volvos safety vision 2020 become a reality Jan is Senior Technical Advisor Safety at Volvo Car Group and has been working with safety issues within Volvo for decades. He was part of the team that formulated the challenging vision 2020 as early as 2006 that “no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car by 2020”. We discuss the background of this bold promise and how it should be interpreted in if it’s really an realistic goal. We also discuss the hot electric bicycle trend and how that influence transportation safety in the cities. Should Volvo Cars start to produce safe electric bicycles? Please join us in our conversation.

Karin Thorn Karin has been in Volvo Cars quite a while and started her career in Power train development and has been working in different areas but with focus on Advanced Engineering and concept development. Last year she where appointed VP for Complete Vehicle but after the latest reorganisation she is back in the Powertrain area but now as VP for what is now called Vehicle Propulsion, where the former powertrain unit of course is the core of the new organisation. We are in a shift when it comes to powertrains and electrification is becoming a more and more important part in our coming cars. Karin share her view on this major challenge and we talk about the transformation in knowledge and competence in this respect and how it could be handled. Please join us in our conversation.

Ödgärd Andersson – a SW-guru that sings better then lady Gaga… Ödgärd Andersson is new in the Volvo Family. She was appointed VP for vehicle software and electronics last October and came from a successful career in different senior positions at Ericsson. It’s interesting to listen to Ödgärd and her fresh view on the Volvo organisation, our people and our culture. It’s also interesting to understand what experience and skills she can bring to Volvo when it comes to SW-development. She has been thru a transformation at Ericsson when it comes to SW development and we are in the beginning of a similar transformation at Volvo. SW becomes a more and more essential part of our cars and it has to work smooth for our customers. And she is a very talented cover band singer…! Please join us in this interesting dialog.

Magnus Hellsten – the incarnation of the Volvo spirit? Magnus has a long career in Volvo Cars and joined the company 1980 and started as a worker on the assembly plant and have made an tremendous career all the way to the top. Today he has an special assignment to support Volvos new Manufacturing manager Javier Varela and to support our work to become “the employer of choice” Quite interesting! We talk about our new activity based offices and what we can do to minimize the “cons” and maximize the “pros” and truly make them "designed around you". He also shares very generous of his experience and his passion for our company and our culture. Please join us!

Håkan is the CEO of Volvo cars since 4 and a half year. We talk about his idea of Volvo Cars the coming years, and the importance of a human centric approach for a successful leadership. He call it “Management by purpose”. We also discuss if Volvo is prepared for a “post Håkan” era and if we have the right person already on board. We discuss his “bucket list” or “To do list” as he like to call it. Please join us!

Björn Annwall – wants to be more visible Björn is manager for Global Consumer Experience and member of Volvo Cars Executive management team and he elaborate together with me on all exciting challenges in the industry and in Volvo Cars. We also talk about the fact that some people think that he is quite invisible as manager and how he want to address this and is view on when we need external management consultants and that he thinks that we “overuse” agency’s to make beautiful PowerPoints. He also share his view on how to make a career in his organisation and if money is an important motivator for him. Welcome to the conversation.

Mats Moberg – new manager at Complete Vehicle Engineering Mats is a Volvo Cars veteran who worked nearly 30 years at the firm. He generously shares his experiences through the years and especially the last six years under our new owner. We also discuss his leadership style and how he looks on integrity and his advice to those who want to make a career at Volvo Cars. Finally, we talk about the future and the major challenges we and the entire automotive industry is facing and all opportunities and challenges all new technology enable. Welcome to the conversation.

Cecilia Larsson - responsible for the Attribute Centre Cecilia is one of Volvo Cars youngest Vice Presidents and has made a rocket career in Product Development. An outstanding achievement that meant that she changed jobs relatively frequently throughout her career. Cecilia has just changed jobs again and will leave the job as head of Body & Trim Engineering and preparing to face new challenges as responsible for develop and balance the properties in our future cars. We talk a lot about leadership and what has been her keys to a successful career but also what she sees as the major challenges and opportunities of the future automotive development. Welcome to an exciting conversation.

Garaget ”julspecial” med Magnus Sundemo I detta avsnitt byter Magnus stol med Maria Guttman som tar på sig rollen som den som leder samtalet. Magnus berättar om sina 37 år på Volvo och vad som har motiverat och inspirerat honom i sitt uppdrag som både medarbetare och fackordförande. Välkommen med i ett samtal med ombytta roller.

Volvo Cars nya personalchef Hanna Fager (Sr.Vice President) gästar Garaget denna vecka. I en öppenhjärtig intervju delar hon frikostigt med sig av sina drömmar och sina planer om framtiden i sin nya roll som HR:s främsta företrädare i vår företagsledning. Hon ser ljust på framtiden men ser också stora behov att utveckla vår organisation vidare för att trovärdigt kunna kalla oss ”The employer of choice” . Missa inte detta spännande och intressant samtal!

Här kommer ett nyinspelat avsnitt av Garaget med Ida Ståhl. Ida är nyanställd sedan i höstas och del i ett av våra Graduate-program och en av våra yngsta medlemmar och medarbetare. Det var jättespännande att höra hur en ung nyanställd medlem ser på Volvo Cars och vilka förväntningar hon har på företaget och vad hon vill bidra med. Varför valde hon Volvo som arbetsgivare och vad är viktigt som ung när man väljer sin första arbetsgivaren efter examen? Det och mycket mer talade vi om. Välkommen till ett intressant samtal mellan en som varit anställd +37 år och en som varit anställd 3 månader.