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DANIR 2021 | Our sub-groups

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A man who knows what he
wants and how he wants it.

Carl Vikingsson, Sigma Technology.

If there’s anyone who can tell you about how to get       as a leader, you should always hire people who
  from a job on the factory floor to being responsible    are ‘bigger’ than you are yourself, says Carl about
 for over 3,000 employees, it’s Carl Vikingsson, CEO      his leadership.
 of Sigma Technology. He can also expound upon the
 benefits of “playing the long game” and what these          And at Sigma Technology they are doing some-
 experiences, together with a certain amount of           thing very right; not only are they already halfway to
 chance, have done for both him and the company he        their goal of going from 1 to 2 billion in turnover by
 has worked for since 1986.                               the year 2024, but they have also been named one
                                                          of Sweden’s best employers. This distinction is based
    Carl was born and raised in Bohuslän on Sweden’s      on what a company’s own employees say about their
 west coast, a stone’s throw from the Sote Canal,         employer. Students have also given Sigma Technology
 just south of Hunnebostrand. With a high school          their seal of approval, ranking it as Sweden’s most
 engineering degree in hand, he applied for and got a     attractive employer in the IT consulting industry.
 job at Volvo. He started on the factory floor, where he  – I don’t think that it has so much to do with my
 assembled Volvo cars and learned the industry from       leadership, but it’s great that we get such good
 the inside out. After his time at Volvo, he became       reviews both internally and externally. It makes it
 a consultant at Projektgruppen and then at Sapia         easier to maintain our credibility and to attract new
 Teknik, which later became Sigma after Dan Olofsson      talent and expertise to the company, says Carl about
 bought that part of the company. After a few years       last year’s accolades.
 in various roles, he became CEO of Sigma Technology
 in 1997.                                                    When he’s not busy running the group, Carl enjoys
 – When I was working with technical documentation        cooking for family and friends – preferably something
 at Sigma, we benefitted from my background and           Italian. He also has a passion for interior design,
 knowledge of car production when we competed             design and architecture, and he knows exactly what
 for and won the Volvo account, says Carl about the       he likes and why.
 advantages of experience from the factory floor.         – If I had to choose a favourite piece, it would probably
                                                          be our National Geographic bookcase, designed by
    Carl has led the company for over 25 years, and       Mats Theselius. I really like it, says Carl when asked
 when asked about his leadership style, he is initially   to choose a favourite piece of furniture.
 reluctant to describe it himself. But he can still sum
 himself up as clear, intuitive and someone who likes        Having been with the company since the start,
 to gather as many facts as possible before making        Carl possesses a wealth of experience and knowl-
 a decision.                                              edge about Sigma. What’s more, he is the interior
 – Things have gone well for us, and apart from the       design-loving CEO who knows what he wants and
 fact that it has also involved a certain amount of luck  how he wants it, so that it will be really good for
 and chance, I also think it’s due to my conviction that  everyone within the group.
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