Leadership that starts on the inside. I work with managers and leaders who want to stand steady when demands increase, through mental training, coaching and conversations that go a little deeper.
Photo: Patrick Trägårdh
Based in Umeå, Sweden. Working across the Nordic countries and online.
Most leaders do not need more pressure. They need a way to stay clear when the pressure is already there. Mental grounding is the practice of noticing what is happening in you before you act on it.
That is where decisions become cleaner, conversations become honest and teams become easier to trust. It is trained, not inherited, and it holds up best when it is practised in the situations that actually matter.
There is nothing brave about pretending to be unaffected.
Every assignment starts in your reality: the decisions, meetings and relationships you are already in. Formats range from a single keynote to a longer leadership programme.
Leadership development and team processes that build psychological safety, shared responsibility and direction through change.
Training in focus, confidence and mental resilience, adapted to your everyday work and your own conditions.
Difficult conversations, clear messages and listening that creates trust rather than defence.
Individual coaching when you need to think clearly about direction, responsibility and the next step. Certified according to the ICC method, recognised by ICF and EMCC.
Sustainable habits, boundaries and recovery. The foundation for leading others over time.
Preparation for interviews, stage and camera. Finding your voice and keeping it under pressure.
MEA is a mental training programme in twelve sessions for you who want more energy, clearer priorities and to enjoy your work again.
The same services are described in Swedish. Go to the Swedish site.
Lectures, podcast conversations and media training. I help you stand in the spotlight with the same calm you want in the boardroom.
There is nothing brave about pretending to be unaffected.
Book a talk
I am a leader, author, mental adviser and speaker. With more than 30 years of leadership experience at local, regional, national and international level, I work in the space between politics, public administration, business, academia and civil society.
Today I am Head of External Relations and Strategic Place Development at Region Västerbotten. Alongside that I coach managers and leadership teams, lecture on communication and mental training, and support those who carry large responsibility.
I am an internationally certified coach according to the ICC method, which is in turn recognised by ICF and EMCC, and I have worked with mental training for more than ten years. I am a co-author of two books and live in Umeå, where the photographs on this site were taken.
Five main areas in the regional assignment
Infrastructure for strategic influence
North Sweden European Office, North Sweden Stockholm Office, the Norrbotniabanan railway and the Bothnian Corridor.
Arenas for collaboration
Västerbotten at Grand Hôtel, Västerbotten in Almedalen and Mötesplats Lycksele.
National and international positioning
Northern Sweden as a front-runner region in the transition, including through Swedish Battery Regions.
Strategic communication
Public opinion work, environmental scanning and advocacy to strengthen the region’s impact and credibility.
Place promotion
Developing Västerbotten hospitality and the capacity for working together.
Psychological capital is about hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, four parts that can be trained.
Photo: Patrick Trägårdh
Mentally Anchored Leadership® rests on a simple chain of questions. They can be asked in a boardroom, in a performance review and on a Tuesday morning when nothing goes to plan.
Vision
Where am I going, and why does it matter?
Responsibility
What is mine to carry, and what is not?
Standard
What does it look like when I do this for real?
Discipline
What do I do today, even when it does not feel like it?
Receipt
How do I know it turned out the way I intended?
The questions are easy to say and hard to answer honestly. That is where the work begins.
The method trains seven capabilities that together make it easier to stand steady when the pressure rises.
The person behind the leader
Who you are when the title is removed
Meaning
What makes the effort worth it
Destination
A picture of where you are going, clear enough to steer by
Mindset
How you interpret what happens
Courage
Doing the uncomfortable thing when it is needed
Mindful presence
Being where you actually are
Mental recovery
Lasting a long time, not just moving fast
How each M is trained is described in the book Fast förankrad, in the workbook, in MEA and in coaching.
We start with the present: what works, what chafes and what you actually want.
We define what matters and set goals you can recognise in everyday work.
Mental training happens in meetings, decisions and conversations, not only in my room.
We build routines that hold when the pace increases, and follow up what changes.
Weekend reflections on Thursdays, Sunday reflections and shorter mental insights in between. I share them on LinkedIn, on my personal Facebook page and in the group Mentally Anchored Leadership®.
Anchoring happens in the small things. One breath before you answer is leadership too.
We practise performing. Rarely recovering. Yet it is the second half that carries the first.
A conversation where someone feels heard does not need to be long. It needs to be honest.
Tell me briefly what you or your organisation are facing, and I will get back to you personally with a suggestion for how we can work together.
Short answers about me, the work and what Mentally Anchored Leadership® means in practice. Get in touch if your question is not here.
I live with my partner and am the father of five children, one of whom is no longer with us. I value presence, calm and simple moments in everyday life. I am happy where we live, and the nature photographs on this site are my own.
Mental and physical training, close relationships, reflection, music, good food and conversations that go a little deeper.
Because it has helped me stand steady through both setbacks and opportunities. It is not just something I teach, but a natural part of my everyday life.
Relationships, responsibility, trust and trying to leave things a little better than I found them.
Strategic influence work, regional development, leadership, communication and mental training.
That sustainable leadership starts on the inside, with responsibility, self-leadership and the ability to stand steady even when conditions change. Since everything ultimately comes down to people and relationships, leadership is always shaped in the meeting between individuals.
I write Thursday reflections every Thursday, Sunday reflections every Sunday and shorter mental insights on other days of the week. You will find them in the Facebook group Mentally Anchored Leadership®, or by following me there and on LinkedIn.
I am a certified board member and chair-trained through the Swedish Academy of Board Directors, have attended the Swedish Defence University’s programmes in developmental and indirect leadership, and am coach-trained according to the ICC method, recognised by ICF and EMCC. I have also trained in mental training with Lars-Eric Uneståhl and completed an Executive Master of Leadership and Management.
Stig Wiklund has been my mentor and collaborator in mental training for more than ten years. Some of the exercises and questions I use have their foundation in his work with athletes and leaders, and I am happy to make that clear. Mentally Anchored Leadership® is my method. I have built it for leaders, based on my own experience of leading in politics, public administration and organisations.
Lectures and workshops on mental training, communication and leadership, individual coaching and work with leadership teams. In my work with managers I use tools from Mike Gillette’s mentorship to train decisions under pressure. Get in touch and we will talk about what suits your context.
How to stand steady when it blows, without losing yourself
I am working on a book about Mentally Anchored Leadership. It builds on more than ten years of mental training and over thirty years as a leader. Twelve chapters, four parts, from the person behind the leader to leading others from the same foundation.
Two tools belong with the book:
You will get an email when the book and the tools are available. Nothing else.
Mentally Anchored Leadership®
Fast
förankrad
Twelve chapters. Four parts.
A foundation to stand on.
One is about Sweden and those who have ended up outside. The other is about the meeting as a form, and why it so often loses its purpose.
2010 · Hjalmarson & Högberg
A debate and reportage book written together with Anna Sjödin. It examines Sweden beyond the polished surface, makes visible people who have ended up outside, and gives voice to those fighting in the shadow of the welfare state.
Personal stories combined with social critique.
2019 · Blue Publishing
An anthology with twelve voices on the meeting as a form of work, an arena of power and a human context. The book explains why so many meetings feel draining, and how they can become a tool for direction, responsibility and dialogue.
My contribution starts from the same foundation as Mentally Anchored Leadership®: that quality begins on the inside.
Seven insights on self-leadership, open to everyone. The exercises, six short everyday practices and eighteen in the 7M model, open when you register. At no cost.
Open insights & exercises