Trond Moe On Leadership

By Michael Willard

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "We are part of everyone we meet." If that's the case, most of us should have a little Trond Moe in us. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

The Norwegian-born CEO of Telenor Ukraine has run the corporate gauntlet, from bitter wars with corporate raiders to serving stints in the rough and tumble communications turfs of Russia and Bangladesh. For the last decade, he has been in Ukraine.
It is difficult to say whether Ukraine is his home now. It certainly sounds like it is.

Even with Ukraine's dodgy record on transparency, Trond waxes poetic about it. He is married to Ilona, a Ukrainian, and they have a son. The family loves to spend weekends in the Ukrainian countryside where they have a house in a village near Kyiv.

We sat down recently at the Teatro restaurant in the Opera Hotel to talk about his experiences in Ukraine and about his special blend of leadership qualities, including his philosophy that "leadership is getting things done through others."

That doesn't mean Trond, who is president of the European Business Association, with a membership of around 700 companies, sits back in an easy chair each day and merely reads from his newly acquired iPad. He is very much hands-on.

However, he says that "a leader has to set directions, a strategic view. He or she has to work closely with the team to make sure goals are met.

However, a leader should not do things. A leader has to pick great people or train them to do things."

Sounds simple enough, but it takes a certain type of personality. Trond describes himself as "fairly laid back, but very focused on long-term goals. I encourage an open dialogue among employees, and I share my thoughts."
However, as Trond puts it, "decision-making is not a democracy. You listen to everyone, but in the end, the leader has to decide, alone."

One aspect of a leader is being able to allocate one's time. In a wired world, and especially in the mobile communications business, one is expected to be online, plugged-in and in-tune - all the time. However, Trond has a system.

Though he seems to have all the latest gadgets for keeping in touch and for information downloads, he categorizes all of his e-mails into four categories, which he calls the "four Ds": delete, do (immediately),  delegate (to subordinates), and defer.  "Every day should end with an empty inbox," he says. Trond is also relatively careful about who gets his e-mail address and mobile number.

"We spend entirely too much time on e-mail," he says. "It can kill creativity. We spend too much time being reactive. You should only be available for the right information, not all information."

Gadgets (our word, not his) "are not important to me as a leader, but they are important to me as a person," he says. "A leader has to have a simple system to stay on top of things, and a phone call, if away, is often enough."

Trond is bullish on the future of mobile communication. "It definitely has not reached its peak. The future will not be about getting more information - we already have too much, but information focused more on what our needs are," he says.

As for his important role with EBA, he said that most of the time it has not been  difficult to balance his role as president of a large organization and his executive duties with Telenor.

"The two are linked: EBA is all about business and we're running a business," he says. "The things we discuss at EBA are very important to my company. There is a synergy. I gain a lot of information and insights that are useful in my position with Telenor, and I always try to bring something from our business to the EBA. I'm a strong believer in collective advocacy.  In Ukraine, this is very important.   It's a real win-win."

However, the EBA is not Trond's only extra-curricular activity related to Ukraine. He's also vice-chairman of the East Europe Foundation, a Kyiv-based NGO that focuses on bottom-up development and local initiatives, something that contrasts with the top-down government investment groups in which Trond also participates. "We probably need both, but the bottom-up approach is certainly the more enjoyable to work with," says Trond.

Prior to being named country manager, Trond spent six years as CFO and deputy CEO of Kyivstar. Before joining Kyivstar, he was CEO of the largest GSM operator in Bangladesh, GrameenPhone, the majority of which is owned by Telenor. He also served as CFO and deputy CEO of North-West GSM, a Russian mobile telecommunications operator in which Telenor was a shareholder.

Trond has served as country manager of Telenor in Ukraine during some difficult times, during the protracted legal battles with the Alfa Group over companies in which Alfa-related companies and Telenor both had interests.

Now that is over, and it appears that Telenor will be reducing its corporate profile in Ukraine, but it is clear that Trond would prefer staying in the country where he has lived for a decade and guided Telenor as country manager since 2006.

Given his high profile in the business community, his leadership of EBA and the job he has done for Telenor in Ukraine, our bet is that his two feet will stay firmly planted on Ukrainian terra firma.