CEO Today Management Consulting Awards 2021

SWEDEN

CEO TODAY MANAGEMENT CONSULTING AWARDS 2021

Henrik Ekelund President & CEO of BTS Group AB

www.grow.za.com

ABOUT HENRIK EKELUND

Stockholm, Sweden in 1986. At the time, its founders could only have imagined the reach this small firm would eventually have. Thirty years later, the firm has grown into a global organization serving 30 of the worldʼs 100 largest companies and 60 of the Fortune 100. What does BTS stand for? Serious sounding English company names were all the rage in Sweden in 1986. BTS originally stood for Business Training Systems. Over the years, weʼve kept our initials but moved far beyond training. Our Purpose We inspire and equip people to do the best work of their lives, creating better businesses and a better world. Our Values We seek to uphold six Core Values which make up our P.E.O.P.L.E. acronym. Our people live and embrace: P-Positive Spirit and Fun We believe that a “can do” attitude and humor enhance a successful business. We believe in looking at problems openly, and view them as opportunities. We strive to maintain a good spirit. E-Honesty and Integrity. We believe in being loyal to those who are not present. We believe in giving and receiving feedback constructively. We believe in treating people as equals and in respecting othersʼ differences. Our Vision Our vision is to be the global leader in turning strategy into action.

HenrikEkelund is the founder ofBTSandhas been itsCEOsince its inception in 1986. Henrik Ekelund has comprehensive experience as a boardmember and owner of high-growth enterprises, including Jobline AB, Image Publications AB and Universum AB. Henrik Ekelund graduated in business administration at the Stockholm School of Economics. FIRMPROFILE BTS is a global professional services firm headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with some 600 professionals in 32 offices located on six continents. We focus on the people side of strategy working with leaders at all levels to help them make better decisions, convert those decisions to actions and deliver results. At our core, we believe people learn best by doing. For over 30 years, weʼve been designing fun, powerful experiences that have profound and lasting impact on people and their careers. We inspire new ways of thinking, build critical capabilities and unleash business success. Itʼs strategy made personal. In the early 1980s, Henrik Ekelund and three investors from one of Scandinaviaʼs most prominent strategic consulting firms grew frustrated developing strategies for clients only to see them struggle with execution. The team sought tools to support the strategy implementation process and found an innovative new approach: business simulations. Their first implementation employed an off-the-shelf business simulation. They found that the client had good results and an enjoyable experience. Then, one of the clientʼs division leaders requested a customized simulation to deal with a specific challenge facing the business.

What they discovered was . . .

The alignment and results from the customized simulation far exceeded the off-the-shelf experience.

This breakthrough led to the founding of BTS Group AB in

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