31. An Offer and a Reply
PART III: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
32. Life as a Chief Executive
33. New Plans
34. Values Underlie Everything
35. A Black Hole
36. The Future and the Past
37. Markets in the West
38. Sums on Scrap Paper
39. Turning Off the Televisions
40. The Five – A Different Way to Lead
41. The Nokia Miracle?
42. An Unforgettable Year
43. Toward Baden-Baden
44. A Year of Hell
45. Who Is to Blame?
46. Turning Weakness into Strength
47. The World Becomes a Web
48. Discussions of Public Policy
49. What Do People Want?
50. How to Lead a Global Nokia?
51. Meeting the Media
52. The Biggest
53. Nokia in Finland, Finland in Nokia
54. Toward the New Millennium
PART IV: GROWTH AND AN END TO GROWTH
55. Profit Warning
56. Timing is Everything
57. Is Everyone Safe?
58. Nokia Needs Renewal
59. Bill Gates Picks Up the Phone
60. Back to Reality
61. Reorganization Once More
62. The Customers Strike Back
63. Clams are Predators
64. Three Crises
65. The Right Ideas, Some Wrong Assumptions, and Prisoners of Success
66. Could Nokia Have Been a Software Company?
PART V: WHAT’S A CHIEF EXECUTIVE FOR?
67. The January Decision
68. Twenty-One Years and a Few Months More
69. What Did I Learn at School? Fourteen Years as Nokia’s Chief Executive
70. China is Different
71. Agonies of a Chief Executive
72. The Game Changes
73. Difficulties in Germany
74. A Tough Decision
75. A New Leader
Epilogue
Appendix
People Index
Subject Index
About the Authors
By Jorma Ollila
THE OUTLOOK FOR BOOKS BY CHIEF EXECUTIVES, and especially for the memoirs they write, is poor. Their recollections rarely enthrall readers. The company grows, its revenue and profits rise, it gets into difficulties, and a crisis ensues. Days are full of meetings, discussions, strategy groups, and travelling. Looking back, it’s easy to gloss over the mistakes, while success is always the fruit of good planning and brilliant leadership. I don’t believe in hindsight, or in rationalizations after the event.
Nevertheless, one can always learn something from history, though the most important lesson is probably that events do not repeat themselves when one is running a company.
All these reservations and doubts churned about in my mind when, at the request of my Finnish publisher Otava, I began, at the beginning of the 2000s, to think about writing a book. I decided that the book would describe my own role in and perspective on the story of Nokia, which is unique in Finland, Europe, and indeed the world. I decided I would also write about other people who had a part in this story. I would describe how things felt as they happened. This is what I have tried to do throughout. Only the end of the book was written in the last year; the rest was written as things happened. The book was written over the course of more than ten years, and I hope that its long period of gestation will only add to the reader’s pleasure.
The reader should bear in mind that I am not a historical researcher, and my book is not intended as an objective company history. Martti Häikiö has written an excellent history of Nokia from 1865 to 2000. Its abridged English translation is a worthy background for any reader. My book is intended to portray only my own perspective, observations, and experiences of Nokia at different stages in its development. I have selected the events that left the strongest impression on me, or struck me as interesting and important.
The book goes up to 2010, when Stephen Elop took over as chief executive. This was a conscious choice. It is still far too early to evaluate recent events at Nokia. Also, I stepped down as chairman of the board of directors in spring 2012, so I really don’t have much first-hand knowledge of what has happened at Nokia recently. The epilogue, however, goes up to the beginning of September 2013, after the decision to sell Nokia’s mobile phone business to Microsoft.
Harder than knowing what to write about Nokia was deciding what to say about myself. My media image has only a distant relation to reality. It’s not easy to write about private matters, and I haven’t given a full account of them. I particularly wanted to illuminate how I became chief executive. I didn’t plan my career at all, but many factors came together to make it what it was. I have also described my childhood and my roots in Ostrobothnia, because I believe they are significant. But above all I believe that in Finland it’s possible for people to get on in life irrespective of their background, if the will and the effort are there.
I was a young adult in the 1970s. I wanted to give my own account of that time both in Finland and in the wider world. It’s only one viewpoint, but I have tried to be honest about it. I didn’t really thrive in the Finland of the seventies. This led me to make fundamental decisions that changed the direction of my life.
I have also said a little about my family, but only reluctantly. I have tried to protect my privacy as far as possible. My family has nevertheless paid a price for my work and the media exposure it has brought. Without the support and understanding of Liisa and our children I wouldn’t have achieved anything it would have been worth writing a book about.
I have put my thoughts into words in part orally and in part in writing. Harri Saukkomaa, the other creator of this book, has produced most of the text. I thank everyone who, over the years, has helped make this book possible: the interviewees, the people in the background, and our publishers Otava.
— Jorma Ollila
By Harri Saukkomaa
WHEN I STARTED WORK ON THE BOOK of Jorma Ollila’s life, I literally didn’t know what I had taken on. I imagined that the book would be ready in two or three years. Ultimately the book became an adventure that lasted over a decade, during which time I talked to Jorma Ollila about life, leadership, and the future of the world in different surroundings on land, in the air, and at sea. These interviews and conversations spread over hundreds of hours. I also interviewed more than fifty people who knew Jorma Ollila in one way or another. Several of my interviewees sadly died before they could see the book in print.
The book is a life story, in which Jorma Ollila tells