21 years in Nokia: HEL-TPE-LIS-ULM-HEL, now in sustainability research
In 2005, I took a deep leap of faith, I moved from the Nokia Research Center in Helsinki to Nokia Taiwan in Taipei, from being an expert in wireless standards to analyzing them in live customer networks. I learned so much professionally, culturally, and about myself.
In 2010, I coordinated and led a virtual team of teams with 300 RAN experts across the globe providing the highest level of technical remote support. This taught me a lot about what you can and cannot do within virtual teams and remote communications.
In 2011, my RAN expert team in Nokia Portugal went from 20 experts to 100 engineers within 6 months. I was then a line manager for 30 of them. I learned a lot about the strategic steps of hiring, training & coaching, and fostering the best team momentum and spirit.
In 2020, facing the disruption of Covid, my Nokia sports team in Ulm Germany supported me to start experimenting with virtual sports events within Nokia, these ended up with two editions of the global Nokia Sports Festival (2021 & 2022), the 2nd edition having more than 10000 Nokia employees registered, and changing many lives for the better. I learned that you can also contribute with your heart in a company like Nokia.
In this current decade, I wanted to better align my most important interests and my work, so between 2022 & 2023, my family & I moved back to Finland and I started the journey to become one of the Nokia sustainability architects.
Striving to research & standardize true sustainability
Sustainability is quite a wide concept as it covers Economics, Environmental, Social, and Governance domains ( the so-called ESG abbreviation).
Sustainability focuses on the protection of the three key diversities of our planet: the air, the bio-diversity of all living forms, and the geo-diversity of the many materials of the Earth. Our human activities have had a massive impact on these three inter-connected diversities, this is what is called our environmental footprint. Within Nokia Standards, my team focuses on sustainability research & standardization, which covers environmental sustainability and AI governance. My current focus has been on energy topics, and especially on the methodologies to measure & assess energy consumption and efficiency. My standardization engagements are mainly on the global standardization within ITU-T (the International Telecommunication Union) as well as ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) for Europe.
I am passionate about both the strategic and systematic assessment of sustainability. So I try to follow the changing (geo)political and regulation landscape.
Working towards a less unsustainable future for my children
When we contemplate the magnitude and the consequences of the need for environmental sustainability, we cannot but conclude that urgent and fundamental actions are required. As technologists, it is somewhat automatic for us to think that technology can come to the rescue. Regrettably, that is not the case (and unmanaged use of technology can work against environmental sustainability) but we can still see that technology does have many positive contributions to offer. However, these contributions can only be realized if significant actions are already being executed at the highest level.
Specifically, Environmental sustainability is a global, all-encompassing responsibility, involving governments, businesses, and all of us as individuals. It demands an urgent, wholesale move to renewable energy sources; the adoption of sustainable business practices & environmentally responsible social lifestyles. And that means it is only achievable through globally concerted governmental action, collaboration, and regulation, driven with the highest urgency.
Live at least a few years in another country, another culture
I learned with my own personal experience, that we only know better our own culture, education, bias, and our own self, when we have lived at least few years in a different country and different culture (especially amongst locals).
These (many years living in different countries and cultures) have expanded my horizon and my own identity, both professionally and especially personally. There is an emotional cost of "expatriating" oneself, but it is also truly a gift.
There are many things that we cannot fully comprehend with only short visit, books or else, they have to be experienced over and over.
Nokia Health & Safety award for the 2022 Nokia Sports Festival
Over nine weeks, more than 10,000 #TeamNokia employees from more than 80 countries and 190 different sites took part in the 2022 #NokiaSportsFestival. The festival's main goal has been to encourage healthy behaviors and habits, laying the foundations for a healthier way of working.
Regular exercise helped our participants to earn Healthy Stars. Nokia supported the festival by committing to plant 5000 trees for the teams' efforts, and they did a great job achieving 14,004 Healthy Stars together. 🌳⭐
I'm excited to share more about this initiative:
-> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nokia_teamnokia-nokiasportsfestival-activity-7006875095163924481-dGKW
