Hans Ohlsson is a Kaospilot Alumni and leader with a strong and consistent track-record over 16 years within e-Commerce/Digital – delivering strong results and major business development-/re-structuring programs.

He is CEO at Ellos Group, headquartered in Borås and with operations in all the Nordic countries, has around 550 employees and sales of around SEK 2,6 billion.

Tell us a bit about your company

For 70 years, Ellos Group has been making it easier for our customers to brighten up their day. We are today a leading fashion and home furnishings e-commerce group in the Nordic region. This success is attributable to the purposeful creation by our committed employees of offerings well-adapted to customer needs. The recent years’ work to bring about change have created a modern and robust e-commerce platform that will strengthen the position in the Nordic e-commerce market and generate continued profitable growth.

Ellos Group – with Head Office in Borås, Sweden – is present in all countries in the Nordic region.

The online stores Ellos, Jotex, Stayhard and Homeroom are well established and the group has over 1,7 million active customers.

The core comprises our strong corporate culture characterised by transparency together with our employees’ solid commitment to contributing to Ellos Group’s success. This culture is marked by a strong desire to continuously raise performance. We create customer value by developing affordable, high-quality products targeted at well-defined customer segments. Our own brands is the foundation and are supplemented by strong external brands. We have unique and extensive experience of mail order in fashion and home furnishings. Ellos Group is continuously developing new technical solutions to provide customers with enhanced shopping experiences.

Which team and when did you graduate?

Team 3, 1998

What have you been doing since you graduated as a Kaospilot?

  • Working hard and moving around a bit
  • Forming a family
  • Trying to keep in shape

What is important for you in your job?

  • A challenge big and complex enough to 1) make it worth climbing out of the bed each morning and b) suggesting a real chance to fail
  • A solid 360º stake-holder environment 1) holding You accountable and 2) offering ample opportunities to learn and develop
  • That the ‘product’ of Your work has meaning for / can be experienced by ‘the many’

What major learnings would you point out from your experience that have shaped you as a leader?

  • The concept and value of delayed recognition/reward/satisfaction
  • That any and all value sits within the individual(s) – how to unlock potential and create conditions for good stuff to happen if that is the case?

What is your biggest source for inspiration right now?

  • Probably sounds strange – but I believe it to be true: The ‘bank’ of previous experiences and learnings (I am actually old enough to run into stuff that I have seen and experienced before – now having the capability to reflect and lay the puzzle using ‘real’ experiences and learnings)
  • The ‘democratization’ of communication, learning, financing/business etc… as a direct result of the digitalization and globalization
  • The fact that universe and life keep throwing major challenges onto humanity and humanity keep ‘keeping calm and carry on’

What would be an example of a learning or an experience from your time at Kaospilot that has been important to you?

The profound understanding of the fact that the future actually are created. I have often got the question from my kids on how I know what to do in my job – and I keep telling them that I don’t – I have to make it up. With that follow a responsibility to have the compass right when it comes to ethics/morale/values.

What is a piece of advice that you would like to give future Kaospilot graduates?

Keep on Dancing Like Nobody is Watching.

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