Michael Lemner

"As the country manager for France, Stefan Persson has chosen his friend from Djursholm, Michael Lemner. Michael Lemner has made exactly the kind of rapid career within the company that characterizes Stefan Persson's leadership style, where those who are ambitious and show the right spirit are quickly promoted. And the turns can be sharp. At the beginning of the 90s, Stefan Persson had announced that Michael Lemner would be placed in Brussels to establish H&M in Belgium. When will this happen? Larsson asked, and Stefan Persson answered without blinking: "Tomorrow.""

"Even then, Michael Lemner was not completely unprepared—a few years earlier, he had been moved to Switzerland with equally short notice. - I had never worked with store operations and never worked abroad. But they said it doesn't matter. They just dropped me in Geneva, he recounts.[80](private://read/01jas9tvg84jycb27616w1f9k8/#note-80) H&M calls the method "assisted self-learning." There are those who talk about how it should be done, but you have to learn everything yourself. - We used to say we drop them in the swimming pool and then see who can swim."

"H&M's staff, with Michael Lemner at the forefront, work hard to finalize everything for the opening in Paris. And the premiere in Paris is a success. But it also marks Stefan Persson's last major public appearance as CEO of H&M."