What do Finnish leaders think about thought leadership?

What does it take to build thought leadership in a large Finnish enterprise? This question took center stage during the book launch panel for Ida Hakola’s and Jasmiina Parta’s Thought Leadership – towards corporate influence with a human touch (Ajatusjohtajuus – kohti yrityksen kasvollista vaikutusvaltaa).

Sharing their frontline experiences were three leaders who have championed thought leadership long and hard: Leena Lie (SVP, Communications and Sustainability, Telia Finland), Nina Hirvensalo (Communications Director, OP Häme, and architect of the "Orange Wave" ambassador program), and Ilona Ylinampa (Deputy MD, Fujitsu Finland and Estonia). The conversation tackled the Finnish mindset, the lack of courage, securing commitment, and measuring impact.

Internal buy-in is the first step

The panelists unanimously identified executive support as the foundational prerequisite for any thought leadership initiative. When Nina Hirvensalo began scaling OP’s "Orange Wave" (Oranssi Aalto) employee ambassadorship program in 2022, the initial phase was as much about internal sales as it was about concept creation.

"Nothing like this gets done without executive support. I spent a year touring management teams. A major part of my job was explaining to different business unit leaders why this is worth their time," Hirvensalo explains.

"I had to justify why they should allocate employee working hours to something that isn't direct sales, how the organization benefits, what's in it for the individuals, and how it drives engagement and motivation."

By autumn 2026, the Orange Wave will launch its seventh cohort. Enthusiasm for the program has grown year over year, with applications far exceeding available spots. According to Hirvensalo, this energy is palpable, especially during the kickoff camp where participants bond, learn, and draw courage from their peers. Year after year, the program has steadily increased the company's activity on LinkedIn.

"You really notice it during the camp days—the feed always turns quite orange. The progress has been intense, and perhaps the best part is seeing how the staff just keeps getting more and more excited about it," Hirvensalo notes.

The biggest obstacle isn't competence—it's courage

All three panelists recognized the same phenomenon: the primary roadblock to thought leadership isn't a lack of skill, but a lack of courage. Hirvensalo describes how experts fear ending up in the center of a social media storm, or worry about what others will think if they step into the spotlight.

"Everyone thinks I'm full of myself if I start talking about myself."

According to Hirvensalo, the solution isn't a carrot or a stick—neither leads to genuine motivation. Instead, it’s about helping participants see what they personally gain: a growing professional reputation and new opportunities.

Leena Lie points out that ambassador programs do come with risks.

"We take a conscious risk that our people might get recruited away—and that has happened. But if we don't try anything, we won't gain anything either," Lie summarizes.

Ilona Ylinampa emphasizes that striving for perfection is a trap.

"If you stress too much over strict rules—'remember to post on Tuesday mornings at 8:10 AM, don't use these hashtags'—the authenticity disappears."

Instead, it’s far more important for experts to identify their own themes and target audiences, and to publish consistently, for example, a few times a week.

The numbers speak for themselves (and they are measured)

All three leaders have concrete results to show. Telia's ambassador pilot exceeded expectations, proving that experts will activate when given the right support.

"We achieved a massive amount of activity, specifically on LinkedIn, and saw incredible success stories of people finding their own voice—and it has generated solid commercial leads as well," Lie shares.

According to Ylinampa, Fujitsu’s brand awareness grew by 38 percent across Europe when the company began recruiting people into its thought leadership program. She also shared an anecdote from a tense, multi-million-euro contract negotiation: the tough counterpart congratulated her on the company's new security certificate because they had seen it on Ylinampa's personal Instagram story.

"You reach casual followers so much better when you show up with your own face," Ylinampa states.

Peer support overcomes the Finnish mentality

The panel also addressed the Finnish mentality as a potential barrier: national modesty and a deep appreciation for privacy can make it difficult to showcase one's own expertise. All three panelists pointed to peer support as the antidote.

"It all starts with the fact that the people joining the program actually want to be there themselves," says Lie.

A community encourages its members to perform better and act braver. When posts start generating feedback, the enthusiasm grows—much like seeing results at the gym. Hirvensalo calls for replacing the classic "neighbor envy" with a culture that celebrates others' efforts, even if the end result isn't perfect yet. She also extends the concept of peer support to the audience.

"It's not just about those of us who are putting ourselves out there; peer support is also about being the person who likes and encourages that post," Hirvensalo adds.

Ylinampa shares how Fujitsu turned this very idea into a goal this year: to be a courageous changemaker.

"We want to shift the mindset so that this is viewed simply as sharing your expertise, and showing how we can help and serve our clients."

Is individual activity enough when audiences fragment further?

According to Hirvensalo, the marketing communications field is at the epicenter of the massive shift currently facing society as a whole. Marketing communications acts as a laboratory for this need to change, and as a lighthouse pointing the way forward. This reality lands very concretely on the modern marketer's desk.

"If one press release used to be enough to handle a launch, now we need leaders talking about it on their own channels, influencers discussing it, and all internal comms channels involved—it puts immense pressure on the brand to stay cohesive," Hirvensalo summarizes.

Ylinampa expands the view into a future where we will increasingly manage AI agents alongside people.

"There are already forums where AI agents converse with each other without a single human involved. In that reality, we need to stay awake, but without forgetting our roots—the core values we want to stand for," Ylinampa crystallizes.

The examples from Telia, OP, and Fujitsu prove that thought leadership doesn't require a rigid, ready-made recipe. It requires executive presence, persistent measurement, and a psychologically safe space where people dare to find their own voice. When this succeeds, the results are visible both in follower counts and on the bottom line.

Lie offers a final thought on why all this effort is worth it:

"When someone approaches this from a personal perspective and puts their personality on the line, it is a hell of a lot more interesting than a boring corporate post."