![]() ![]() I am very proud of the team and what we have created in the last few years, but now we are on the cusp of something much bigger. What’s next for ABBYY, what does the future hold? We also try to make use of the multitude of things that London has to offer. We have three daughters, and the whole family enjoys good food, togetherness, and discussions around the dinner table. During the lockdown, I was working inside too much, as most of us were, and began walking a lot with my wife and our dog, sometimes ten kilometers or more. Nowadays, to keep in shape and clear my brain, I go for a run. I can relate both those roles to my role as CEO at ABBYY – I’m there to direct the game and help others, not necessarily scoring the goals myself (I’ll score some J), and to make sure we are solid at the back. My position on the football pitch was central midfield, and I was a goal-keeper when playing hockey. However, I’m still an avid football fan, supporting Arsenal in the English Premier League and Richmond Park FC, where my daughter plays. I played ice hockey and football but soon realized I wasn’t good enough. When I was a boy, I wanted to be a professional athlete. Better to make a call and then correct if it was wrong. Most of the time, we base decisions on imperfect information. While listening to other opinions before moving forward with a decision is important for the quality and subsequent acceptance, speed is also of the essence. To do this, you first must understand your own strengths and weaknesses. People who are much better at their roles than I could ever be and then trust these people to do their job while making sure we all pull in the same direction. I always aim to have the best possible people around me. To me, it’s all about trust and people focus. It’s hard to give one single piece of advice. Your top advice to someone working in your field? I need to make sure that as a company we don’t stand still and are constantly improving all aspects of our business – to make our customers, partners, and people successful. Coaching, leading, and problem-solving are all part of my day-to-day job and something I really enjoy. Equally important is my responsibility to foster the right environment for our people to thrive and help us achieve our ambitions. One part of my role is to help ABBYY set ambitious goals and stake out a route to reach those goals. Where are you based? Describe your role and what inspires you most about it? I wanted to be a part of that and was intrigued to see how far we could go. While it wasn’t entirely obvious in early 2017 that there would be a market called Intelligent Automation, it was clear that ABBYY had the right technology ingredients to become a leading player in this field. A decision guided by two main factors: our amazing people and the tremendous growth opportunity. In my view, ABBYY has always stood out as a unique company, so when I was asked to take on the CEO role, it was an easy decision. It’s an odd route to take (mostly it’s the other way around) but one that has allowed me to gain a different perspective which has helped drive change and development for the company. After that, I went from being a board member to chairman of the board to CEO. My first interaction with ABBYY was as an investor back in 2002. Ulf took some time out of his schedule to tell us about his path to becoming the CEO of ABBYY and his passion for business – well, during his career, he has invested in more than 20 different growth companies, so he knows a thing or two! We’ve been introducing you to many of our employees through our ongoing Meet the ABBYY Team series, so now the captain of our team is opening up to reveal how he got to where he is today and where he’s taking ABBYY in the future.Īfter leaving behind the countryside of southern Sweden, he has traveled, studied, worked, and lived across many parts of the world – and even picked up the Russian language, thanks to 15 months he spent at the Defense Language Institute during his military service in Sweden. It’s International leadership week, and who better to focus our attention on than #ABBYY’s CEO Ulf Persson.
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