My friends at Provins Fem in Stockholm asked me to participate in a leadership development program they are conducting for the Statesecretaries of the Swedish Government. I applaud this program and was honored to be invited to participate. The challenge for this audience is to represent the four political parties in the Swedish government and integrate all of their platforms into one common agenda that advances all four parties. To that end, we explored integrative power, collaborative leadership, and synergy. I was chagrined to tell them that my nation's government works a bit differently and that I've never been asked to teach Responsible Leadership to Secretaries in the US Government!
But let's not go down that rabbit trail…
What I want to share with you is about the venue in which we met earlier this week in Stockholm. It was a government owned villa in the Diplomatic Quarter of Stockholm nestled between the American Embassy and the Korean Embassy. The villa is called Villa Bonnier after the name of the family that built it in 1924 and later donated it to the Swedish Government for just such purposes. This is the only picture I was able to find on the internet. I wish I could show you pictures of the opulent interior.
The door was locked, and I was met by a butler in a white tuxedo uniform. I'm glad he was there to remind me to take my suitcase when I left. How handy is that? The interior of the villa is decorated with World War I era rugs, antiques, tapestries, and murals. The room in which I presented had oil canvas murals covering all four walls. They actually had to tell me not to hang flip charts on them with masking tape. Normally I would consider violating such a request…
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