by Tuija Pohjolainen-Hiltunen, Municipal and Industrial

I am a news addict. Nothing makes me more awake and energized than having a cocktail of “American political economic crisis” and a spoonful of “Eurozone tumbling into darkness” –news served with your breakfast coffee and toast.

In the evening again, it is so calming to hear, through reliable news sources like BBC and CNN, that NASDAQ will live its own life and the USD – Yen –ratio keeps moving no matter how deep I happen to sleep tonight.

After summer holidays, it is great to jump back into a world of moving parameters; suddenly you are in the stream and in the very essence of the economical wheels of the world. It seems that the world will be very volatile and news will be surprising during this autumn. I can see a clear touch-point to our Kemira activities with the news, like “The Chinese have lost faith in America´s government…” and “Europe and the US do not deal with their structural problems…”. These news pieces will touch us, for sure.

More than ever, we need to think about which tools will help us survive the turbulent times again. I have often wondered, in front of a new challenge, how to generate something innovative and come up with differentiating, creating something new for the market. That is for sure not easy for anybody, not easy for any company; still, those words describe the very tools to come out of rough as a winner. Luckily, there is always the need for water, and there is also a need for technologies to provide added value to the customer, no matter how tough the times are.

I tend to think that in any business, the people are the key when trying to create new innovations and ensure added customer value. The more motivated and determined our Kemira team is, the better chance we have in competition.

When looking around, I am happy to recognize that motivation is really the key word which I associate with many colleagues. Other excellent definitions being professionalism, devotion, respect, and humor! What a list of great qualities, don’t you think? When times are getting rough again, I would rather be in the same boat with people of such character, than in the next boat…..

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