Read the article in Børsen top three news paper in Denmark (danish) via this link:
By Patrick Sackner Christensen, Executive Coach and Culture Builder
2025 is a year of uncertainty. The war in Ukraine continues, the conflict in the Middle East escalates, and Donald Trump’s return has stirred unease across markets and diplomacy. This instability trickles all the way down to people’s everyday lives — more stress, more worry, less psychological safety.
In times like these, many companies instinctively tighten budgets, cut costs, and focus on the next quarterly report.
But right now, more than ever, we need the opposite.
In elite sports, athletes don’t train for next week — they train for the next Olympics.
Four years, sometimes eight. Along the way, they accept setbacks, but their focus remains long-term.
In business, however, we often do the reverse.
Quarterly expectations dominate. Investors demand quick wins. Boards fall for short-term logic born in the 1980s.
The result? Lower innovation, weaker resilience, and disengaged employees.
I often meet leaders caught in that tension. They want to build culture, but are forced to chase numbers.
They want to create trust, but rarely find the time to listen.
Yet that’s where leadership truly begins — in the courage to resist short-termism and lead with a longer horizon.
Real leadership is about taking the long view. It’s about giving people ownership instead of control.
The first creates energy, commitment, and growth.
The latter creates compliance, overmanagement, and lost potential.
It must be lived — in decisions, communication, and priorities.
As LEGO’s Chief People Officer Loren I. Shuster puts it:
“In the complex world in which we operate, you need people making decisions who are closest to the customer, the consumer, or supply chain partners.”
Or as Corporate Rebels state even more simply:
“Hire good people, then trust them with the freedom to get on with their job.”
And research supports it:
Happy employees are on average 12% more productive (University of Warwick).
Higher engagement drives 21% better profitability and lower turnover (Gallup).
Hope, optimism, and resilience strongly correlate with both performance and wellbeing (PsyCap meta-analyses).
Business needs more leaders who dare to play the long game — who think in four- or eight-year development cycles, set clear milestones, and build a culture that stands firm through turbulence.
The message is simple:
Quarterly capitalism suffocates potential. If we want stronger cultures, happier employees, and better results — we must start leading like Olympic athletes.
