Hi!

I’m glad you found your way here!

I’m Elisabet Lagerstedt, the founder and director of Future Navigators and the author of two books. I am based in Höllviken by the sea in southern Sweden.

My work focuses on transformative business strategy and leadership for Better Business and a better future – Beyond Business as Usual.

In parallel to my work, I’m currently on a path to a PhD in Transformative Business Leadership, where I continue my journey Beyond Business as Usual. Bridging practice and research, I explore how inner development and leadership maturity enable transformative change across individuals, organizations, and systems.

Here, I want to give you some insights into what I do, and about my professional background and path.

Guiding business leaders

I have 30+ years of experience in the corporate world of business, whereof 20 years in large companies, and 10+ years running my boutique consultancy with a focus on strategy and leadership development.

For over a decade, I have guided business leaders into the future. Everything focused on the business leader as an essential force for positive change and transformation towards Better Business and a Better Future.

Career

After university and an international internship at Hilti Group in the early 1990s, I started my career with Unilever as a Market Research Officer.

I then moved on to a joint venture between IRI/GfK (at the time the largest global actors within market research) as a Client Service Manager with several Unilever companies as clients, and was from there hired by another of my corporate clients – Cederroth International (At the time a subsidiary of a stock-listed US company that was later purchased by Unilever. Today the part I was responsible for is owned by Orkla Group).

At Cederroth I became responsible for one of Sweden’s first and leading sustainability brands (Grumme), which opened my eyes to an avenue beyond business as usual already in the late 1990s. There, I went from being a Product Group Manager to a Marketing Manager and to a Business Area Manager and Director. I built an important network and a good reputation over the years. I even got a question from the Group CEO if I could see myself becoming his long-term successor. Something that (in my early 30s) for some reason didn’t feel attractive. Instead, I decided to move, build a family, and switch jobs.

After a short detour as a Director of Marketing & Sales in an SME family company, I was offered to come back to Hilti Group in a role as Director of Marketing, including also Channels and Field Engineering, in one of the group’s 10 largest markets at the time. A role that offered a lot of international exposure and experience, especially as I stepped up as a Global Trainer. I truly enjoyed my work and contributions at the time – and of course, also learned a lot about myself and others on the way. This was however also a challenging journey. Especially since it was rather lonely as a female leader in the then extremely male-dominated construction industry.

As I was pregnant with my second child (in 2010), I found myself questioned and stretched in several avenues of life. I even got the question “Will you really continue working after your second child?” from a global senior executive – which as a Swedish woman made me both stunned and surprised: I was going to continue my career! This was not something I took lightly as it slowly dawned on me that they saw me having a second child as a real problem. Instead, I decided to take on a new professional challenge.

Switching to another corporate job after my second child was born – as Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Thule Group – slowly led me to reevaluate my life balance, career and how I could make a more meaningful difference. Circumstances also unfolded in a way that it became clear that I needed to find a way to better contribute to co-creating the future that I – already back then – believed we all want for our children and the coming generations. And, ultimately to inspire and empower other business leaders to step up, too.

After a 20-year corporate career, and a lot of contemplation, I finally decided to start my boutique consultancy in 2013. Why I didn’t take another corporate and executive job? Because I identified a deep need for freedom, meaning, and continuous personal development – and realized that being an entrepreneur would enable me to explore that as an integrated part of my business. I could now create value and help clients from the outside-in, rather than holding an “important” role within a large organization, which had been part of the identity I had built for so long. It was, in fact, a hugely inspirational move that released a lot of creative energy and potential.

This major shift allowed me to have a valuable business impact while balancing life. It also allowed me time to focus on co-creating better futures for coming generations.

Since then, I have spent 60% of my work time on strategic, innovative, and transformational client projects and 40% of my time on future exploration, learning, teaching, and writing, as well as supporting young entrepreneurs and change-makers at Lund University’s Master’s Program of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Education and personal development

Academically, I hold a Master of Social Sciences from Lund University School of Economics and Management. I’m also on a path to a PhD in Transformative Business Leadership.

Why? I’m a strong believer in lifelong learning – and in continuous creative renewal. Hence, I have invested considerable time and resources into executive education at some of the world’s top business schools. From Harvard Business School, IMD Business School, Oxford Saïd Business School, MIT Sloan, INSEAD, to Singularity University, and others. I have also invested considerable time and effort in supporting others on their paths.

Even more so, I’m a firm believer that business – and business leaders – can be a force for good in our society. That’s why I am today an Inner Development Goals Ambassador, Nordic B Leader and a Climate Reality Leader, trained by Nobel laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore. I also guide, teach, and coach business leaders to help accelerate this critical paradigm shift.

Since personal development is close to my heart, I have also deep-dived into the wisdom traditions, adult development, and Vertical Leadership Development. I have explored TheoryU, Integral Theory, systems thinking, complexity theory, and other transformational theories and practices.

I also hold an InnerMBA from New York University’s MindfulNYU and SoundsTrue. I’m also a certified StageSHIFT Coach and a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching.

Not surprisingly, my toolbox and thinking have come to integrate several fields today and go far beyond business as usual. It has also helped me navigate the immense complexities of today’s business landscape. Valuable knowledge that I – on top of my long business and leadership experience – put to good use in client projects.

Writing

In all of this, writing has become a way of creating clarity, structuring, and sharing my thoughts.

My blog (in Swedish) saw its first light in 2010 and has been followed by two books, Navigera in i Framtiden (2018, in Swedish) and Better Business Better Future (2022). A few ideas for the next books are already cooking, but that will have to wait till after my PhD dissertation.

Trusted advisor, consultant and coach

Today, I’m a trusted advisor, consultant, and executive coach. I help business leaders navigate uncertainty, build Better Business, and co-create a better future through insight, foresight, strategy, innovation, and transformation.

Get in touch

Why not reach out to set up a free discovery call via elisabet.lagerstedt@future-navigators.com! I would love to hear from you.

You can explore more about my background on LinkedIn and connect there.