Kitchen Table Strategy Sessions

"At home at the kitchen table, we agreed to try to fly significantly higher. I wanted a publicly traded company as a base for an investment operation in industrial companies. My role would be an active owner, not voting with my feet but taking responsibility for governance and control with a strong confidence in my own ability."

"What I took with me when I left the partnership in 1983 was a rather small property in Frihamnen in Stockholm, Haifa 1, worth around 30 million SEK. There was a film laboratory for Sveriges Television there. It was the foundation of Förvaltnings AB Wasatornet, which from the start had us four as owners with forty-two percent for me, ten percent for Elisabeth, and twenty-four percent each for our two children, Carl and Eric. From the very beginning, we discussed all our business at the kitchen table and always pursued joint decisions. And that's how it still is."

"However, there are tradable survival values for long-term ownership in the form of feeling and traditions. One such value, which I sometimes describe as "hanging in there," is passion. Our entire family is passionate owners. We live with the companies' fates and adventures through frequent discussions at the kitchen table as part of the family community. And I have not avoided talking about my failures. Better advice, children cannot receive. My wife has been involved from the start, and my sons have known the companies since childhood and are well-prepared to continue the ownership task. We have discussed this a lot in the family. My children naturally sometimes feel a certain trepidation before the task. There is an enormous respect and willingness to do right by the companies, and the concern for not being able to stand up and take ownership responsibility is much greater than the fear of losing the money."