PERSON OF INTEREST
Sodertalje, Sweden, 15 June 2014: The Scania AB headquarters office building located at the production site in Sodertalje. Scania develops and manufactures trucks and buses worldwide.
SOUNDS LIKE LEADERSHIP He arrived three years ago from Scania’s HQ in Södertälje, Sweden, on the tail end of a flurry of restructuring for the brand’s representation here. Then in August this year, former Scania New Zealand managing director Mattias Lundholm was on his way home again. We sat down with him just before he boarded the big silver bird and had a chat. “
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e’re all genuinely sad to see him go,” says Scania New Zealand marketing and communications manager Laura Blackburn. “He’s a great boss; you couldn’t ask for better.” You can tell when someone’s fair dinkum, and this was no PR line – the body language told it all. Look around Scania’s Auckland HQ, and there are signs everywhere that humanity has its place in achieving serious business KPIs. There’s the soundproof cell for personal calls – or venting in the event the day’s not going according
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to plan. The common room has a guitar on the wall, available for all and never left hanging for long when a social occasion is underway. And this is no trite, symbolic effort; Lundholm is more than handy on the end of a six-stringer, having played in bands back home. The music thing is real. “Aggh!” he says with an air of frustration. “I’ve had assignments overseas before, and when they’ve ended, I’ve been ready to leave. There’s been a sense of completion, that the job is done. Not here, though. I’m going home for family reasons. When this Covid thing is done with, November 2021
I would really like to come back. “It’s such a great place to do business. It’s my kind of place. People here know how to get the job done but enjoy work and have a bit of fun at the same time. You’re not always dealing with a procurement department where business is transactional. Here it’s personal; real people with amazing IP in the industry and their business. They are the ones buying the trucks. You must know your stuff if you’re going to sell trucks here.” Fifty-year-old Lundholm is a big Scandinavian fella with a deep voice. He’s welcoming,
“The music thing is real people! We were Mattias’ kind of market, and he was our kind of guy.”
