We have a new CEO
We changed our CEO a few months ago in October and decided that now’s the right time to go public with it!
In short, Sauli Böhm has been the new CEO from October onwards, and I will continue at ResQ as a Senior Analyst while also spending a big chunk of my time on learning Data Science and Machine Learning. So why the change?
There are two drivers: 1. What ResQ needs, and 2. What I need.
1. What ResQ needs: In order to grow to a global success story, the company needs to reform into something different than what we have been in the past. The game will be won with rigorous execution of growth, and the whole company has to be built around that.
2. What I need: I’ve realized that I’m most productive when I can do hands-on things, experimenting with a very short feedback loop and quickly seeing the results of my work. I have encountered the best moments of flow when writing code, building an Excel model, crafting beautiful presentations and such. From this kind of work I get the same feeling of timelessness that I get when I’m involved with my dearest hobbies: piano, skiing and good computer/board/whatnot games. On the other hand, I’ve never achieved that feeling when managing the work of other people, building organizational structures or envisioning where the company should be in the future.
Already when I started to contemplate leaving McKinsey, I had recognized this and had a clear plan to step away from generalism by taking some time off to start learning software development, and building my future work around that. Then I was asked to join ResQ, and decided to postpone the plan. Later I was asked to become the CEO, and the plan drifted even further away.
Last fall I realized that the things ResQ needs from the CEO are really taking me to an opposite direction of where I want to go, and that would be a sure road towards a personal burnout and a failure for the company.
Luckily we already had brought the insanely talented duo of Sauli and Aku-Jaakko in the company, and these guys were already at full speed rethinking how ResQ should be and how to take the company to a next level. Therefore the choice to step down as the CEO was easy for me, as I knew that instead of trouble for the company, it enables us to go where we want to: making zero-food-waste communities a business-driven reality all over the world. As Sauli puts it:
“We saw last year that, in order to be true to our mission and create a global success story out of ResQ, we need to put more emphasis on setting up ambitious yet clearly defined strategy and align all parts of our company around that .
The work began last year and we’re definitely on the right track with these topics. CEO change was one of the primers for this transformation, validating that the role change makes sense — for ResQ, Oula and myself.
Furthermore, it’s great to have Oula onboard after this change and of course I’m excited to follow his journey of becoming the next data superstar!”
— Sauli Böhm, the new ResQ Club CEO
Iwill continue working at ResQ with various topics related to fundraising, finance, accounting and data insights. In addition, I’ll finally spend a big part of of my time writing code. I’ve now started delving myself into the hugely challenging, cross-disciplinary topics of Data Science and Machine Learning, and the enthusiasm I’ve felt when reviving my engineering mathematics and Python basics is something I’ve not experienced in a long time, and I love it. The road is long and it will take some time before I achieve the level of being able to really create something that makes a difference, but I’m going to the right direction.
At the same time we at ResQ have achieved impressive growth, have secured our near-term financial future and are shifting to a new gear by bringing in lots of new talent. Exciting times!
