Before this experience, I saw leadership as something of authority. Now, I know this is not true for every workplace in America, but for a lot of the jobs I have experienced, leadership consisted of a manager telling the lower employees how to act. This is prosperous in some ways, as it gives direction to a workplace and allows other workers to complete their tasks in the correct way. However, after going to Sweden and working there for a bit, I realized how important leadership is as a direction of guidance, not just authority.

My boss explained on the first day how leadership is not a pyramid hierarchy with one boss on top, and the rest of the employees under him. He explained how he was there to guide me in some of my work and give me direction in my tasks, but not have authority over everything I did. 

In America, it is often the standard to blindly follow everything your boss tells you to do. A lot of times the goal of working is to work up the ladder of success in an office. The higher you climb, the more you get paid. In Sweden, the employees underneath the boss are just as valued as the boss themselves. This made leadership more of a fluid idea and concept. Leadership could stem from the interns or the bosses. Since I was one of the only communications workers, a lot of times my boss did not understand something that I did. In this case, I would take a leadership role and explain it to the group. In the same way, I do not know much about AI technology, so, the AI intern would then explain and take leadership in a conversation just how I do with the communications work.

This style created a very inclusive workspace and allowed ideas to flow from the bottom employees up to the top and vice versa. When leadership can come from anyone in a workplace, you feel much more value as an employee. I felt much less intimidated as an intern in this type of office, knowing that my ideas were just as valued as the CEO’s.

Leadership is also knowing how to include other employees. If I were feeling lost at work or confused about something, the other employees would often ask me about it and try to help me get in touch with my boss if needed. When we got our newest intern from America after I had already been there for a month, I took leadership as someone who had already experienced what he was now experiencing, and made sure to reach out and let him know that I could help him or explain something about the company if he wasn’t sure.

The new intern coming definitely helped me become a better leader. Until he had arrived, I was still the newest intern and the only one who had not lived in Sweden before. So when he came, I took it upon myself to make sure he had a smooth process shifting into this work environment. I gave him tips and tricks that I had learned in the month that I was already there as to when he should be at work, when he should leave, when he should ask our boss for help, when he should try to figure something out himself, and what the company beliefs and values were. It is much more useful to have insights from another employee than doing your own research on the company. 

So becoming a leader to our new intern was definitely something that helped me become a better leader in general. I also got to practice my leadership skills during our weekly demo. Every Friday at 2 PM, we would all gather and present a slide deck of what we each have accomplished that week. This was also a time to demonstrate any visuals we had or ask any questions to other employees. Surprisingly, the leadership practice stemmed from presenting your own slide. You acted as a leader in your own specified field, even if you were an intern. As I have mentioned in previous articles, working for a startup often means that interns take on a heavier role than they often are anticipating. In America, interns are stereotyped with getting coffee for others, but in startups abroad, interns are doing real work in their designated fields. This kind of responsibility was great leadership practice, and an excellent way for me to learn more about my job as a whole.

While leadership came from multiple places in our office, it is a skill that I have definitely perfected while abroad. Because even if I was not leading in an office, there were always opportunities to lead outside of the office as well. Whether that is in your own friend group, your apartment, or even being a leader in public places, such as public transportation. Helping someone with a disability or stroller onto a public bus is just as much of a leadership role as leading a team meeting in an office.

Until next time.