The thing that took me longest to understand about professional success in Sweden is not what people are trying to achieve. Its what they are trying to avoid looking at. At home, the ways to be successful employees are mostly additive, meaning you work more, you’re visible, you make sure the right people know what you did. Here, several of those same behaviors read as warning signs rather than strengths. It took me a little to stop performing them because I was so used to it. The clearest example is hours. Leaving at five is normal, and it isn’t treated as a lack of commitment. If anything, consistency staying late suggests something has gone wrong or that you planned your time bad. Coming from a country where visible effort is a way to stand out and move up the ranks, I had to unlearn the instinct that being seen doing the work is part of doing the work. Success here is measured by whether things got done well or not.
The second difference is around standing out. There is an unwritten rule in Swedish culture against self promotion and against positioning yourself above the group. Talking about your own achievements does not read as confidence, but more of a misjudgement of the room. That does not mean good work goes unrecognized, but it is expected to come from other people or from the work itself. In the US, an employee who never advocates for their own contributions would be seen as passive. Here, an employee who does advocate loudly is seen as slightly embarrassing. What makes it confusing is that quietness isn’t rewarded either. Swedish workplaces are flat and decisions get made by consensus, which means you’re expected to have opinions and voice them, including to people more senior than you. The standard is speak up about the work, but don’t speak up about yourself. I found it hard to figure out the sweet spot between those two ideas, but I learned to manage it.
A successful employee in my small startup company is one that contributes to the team with meaningful ideas. They each have there own specific role in the company and they do an amazing job with it. Everyone comes together to try and improve and grow the company as much as possible, because they gain when the company does well. So I would say success comes from doing their role and getting an outcome that improves the company. A successful employee in the US can sometimes be cocky and feel like everything revolves around them. This is a huge difference between the two. Every person on the team likes to see the other perform well, because it creates a winning environment for the company.
People in Sweden are not going for the highest paying job or the most superior position in a company. They are there to enjoy the work, get it done, and go home for the day. They do not need to be the top person or make the most money. I like that about them because it is definitely different from here. US is very competitive, which I like because it pushes me to improve, but it can also lead to a lot of stress. That is why a mix of the two would be a perfect situation.