Meet the team – Björn Wahlström (CEO)

This week, it is two years since Björn Wahlström stepped into the role as CEO of Current Consulting Group (CCG). In this session, Björn discusses how CCG has developed during his tenure, what the future holds for the company, and what drives him personally.

How would you sum up your first two years as Managing Director of CCG?

My first two years as CEO can be described as intense and rewarding. The Asian region is going through big changes, and Hong Kong especially has ended up in hot water multiple times, even before COVID. During that same time, our company has been able to grow rapidly, especially in the Business Intelligence segment. In broad terms, we are taking on board around 15 new clients  yearly, and we have been doubling our revenue every two years. I was able to persuade my good friend Ilya Umanskiy to come onboard for a full-time director role which was a real boost for the business and for my work as newly minted MD. As part of that move we added “Resilience” to our service portfolio, which completed our transformation from a Shanghai focused Supply Chain Advisory company, to a firm with a focus on Greater Asia, and a broad portfolio of services and specializations. Our founder Anders Bäckström left us a very healthy company with some strong talents already onboard, and I’m really proud of how well the business has developed during these turbulent two years that I’ve been MD, and how well our team has kept up with the stress and the workload under uncertain circumstances.

How do you see CCG developing in the years ahead?

We’ve established ourselves as a growing force in Asia with a broad skillset in the two areas of Business Intelligence and Supply Chain Advisory – that’s going to be a growth area in Asia for the foreseeable future. Threats of disruption is high, and most firms now see a need to take steps towards building supply chain resilience and implement a risk management strategy, something we are particularly suited to support with. On the flip-side, overall risks and returns in the market have increased, and the need for capable and reliable corporate investigations will also increase. The work stream in litigation support especially is only going to grow. Furthermore, our group also has plans out west. As our client base in the U.S. continues to grow we are working on establishing a presence in the region.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt as CEO of CCG?

The job is delivering actionable results, and high quality outputs. Focus on the quality of work and most other parts will follow. This is as true internally in hiring, training, and work culture, as well as in the work products we deliver to clients. A more trivial lesson is personal; keep up the exercise and sleep. My inner engine stops functioning without at least 40km on the trails per week.

Finally, what drives you personally in business?

I take pride of the work product, and in being able to deliver results on difficult projects. I also thrive on seeing our team members grow professionally and personally along the journey.