Growing up in Norway, celebrated entrepreneur Ole Jacob Sunde ’80 MBA wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a businessman. But as a young lad, he discovered a 200-year-old family letter that changed the way he thought about careers. In the letter, Sunde’s great-great-grandfather — who had sailed to South America circa 1821 and started his own business in Valparaíso, Chile — wrote to his brother, “Wouldn’t it be good to know when you drew your final breath that you’ve had a positive influence on society?” That’s exactly what Sunde’s ancestor aimed to do upon returning to Norway to invest his newfound earnings just five years later. And two centuries later, Sunde took that sentiment to heart.
Originally planning to make a living as a hotelier, Sunde relocated early in his career to Venezuela, where he promptly discovered the work wasn’t his calling. He eventually wound up working in brand management for Procter & Gamble in Caracas before applying to business school in America, where he landed at Kellogg. “I had two fantastic years there,” he fondly recalls.
At Kellogg, Sunde matured and learned foundational aspects of finance, marketing and strategy. More important, he discovered a guiding principle that would stick with him throughout his long and illustrious career. “I took a course taught by Professor Emeritus Lawrence ‘Gene’ Lavengood, who told us, ‘You always have to internalize the externalities of what you’re doing in business,’” he says. In other words, as a corporate leader, it’s important to consider the role your work plays in society and the responsibility that comes with that.
Sunde notes that the sentiment mirrors that of his ancestor’s letter. “It’s an ageless principle — even if you go back 200 years, the same basic motivation is there to do business because you want to change society for the better.” It’s a guiding light that stays with people, regardless of whether you’re talking about professionals in 1820, 1920 or 2020.
After graduating, Sunde spent three years working for McKinsey & Company in Copenhagen, London and Paris. He then returned to Norway to start his first company, a venture capital fund. It eventually blossomed into a popular asset management firm that was publicly listed on the local stock exchange before being acquired by ABN AMRO, a Dutch bank.
He later founded Formue, a leading private Nordic bank, and became chair of the board for digital media conglomerate Schibsted, one of the region’s most prominent online companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. He currently serves as executive chair of the Tinius Trust, Schibsted’s majority shareholder. He is also the chair of the Scott Trust, which secures the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian. In addition, the tireless corporate leader actively invests in startups and supports initiatives related to sustainable development goals.
The work is driven more by vision than by the possibility of profits, he says. “Being an entrepreneur is more a state of mind than about filling a void in the market,” Sunde posits. “To me, it’s closely linked with curiosity and a willingness to test yourself and stretch beyond your safety zone.”
He chalks up his success in so many different arenas to serendipity. “There’s an old fairy tale where there are three brothers traveling and they keep discovering things that aren’t really useful for the journey,” he says. “But they say ‘Oh, that was interesting,’ and take wisdom away from every exchange. As the journey goes on, they discover that actually, each experience was useful. They just didn’t realize it at the time.”
Sunde’s forays into the media business serve as a perfect example. Early on in his asset management career, the owner of the largest media company in Norway approached him seeking financial advice. That kicked off a long relationship between the two — and an invitation to join the board of the organization. “I told him I didn’t know much about media,” Sunde chuckles. “He said, ‘To some extent, that’s actually an advantage.’” Over the next 20 years, the business grew into one of the largest classified ad companies in the world.
Sunde’s relationship with The Guardian came about in a similar way. He happened to chat with the paper’s editor-in-chief at a reception at the University of Oslo. A week later, he received an invitation to join the board, where he remains today.
Thinking about the future of journalism, Sunde acknowledges that the industry is deeply in transition — but maintains that newspapers and other publications still have a prominent role to play as providers of trusted content. “There’s a future for you if you are able to maintain your editorial and financial independence based on quality of journalism, a good brand name, and direct contact with your users.”
As for the future of finance, his North Star remains the same. “To go back to Professor Lavengood’s teachings, you have to understand how you impact society around you, and what the appropriate way of handling your business is. Today, technology and customer behavior change so fast that regulators can’t keep up anymore. If you want to be a successful leader, it’s important to understand that you have a responsibility to think in terms of the bigger picture and steer work in the right direction.”