Trygghet /ˈtrʏɡhɛt/ — The feeling of being wanted. Of belonging. Of knowing you are good enough. Free from fear.
Stolthet /ˈstɔlthɛt/ — The pride you feel in your work, your role, your team, and what you build together. Something close to loving what you do.
Two Norwegian words. No English translation captures what they mean to me here. Add them to a person, a team, or a business. Watch what happens.
I was barely twenty, wearing my best suit, sitting across from a man named Bjørn. Swedish. Calm. The kind of person you meet once and already know you want to learn from. Within minutes I knew: I wanted this job. I wanted to work with Bjørn.
Before we started, I noticed something on the table between us. A stack of business cards. With my name on them.
I don't know how much a stack of business cards costs. But for a young man in a cheap suit, seeing his own name on a card for the first time felt like something. It lowered my shoulders. It told me Bjørn wanted this to go well. That we were on the same side. That I was good enough.
He asked good questions. Listened carefully. Spoke about the job, the company, the opportunity, with the kind of enthusiasm that makes you want in. By the end of the interview, I wanted the job more than when I walked in.
Then he picked up one of the cards and slid it across the table.
It said: Thomas Ims. Sales.
Not advisor. Not consultant. Not account manager. Salesperson.
He looked at me and said it plainly: that is your title. And if you are not proud of that title, this is not the job for you.
I have introduced myself as a salesperson ever since. Not "just" a salesperson. A salesperson. And proud of it.
Bjørn taught me something that morning. I have carried it into every room since. Before the interview even started, before a single question was asked, he had already done something. He put my name on a card and placed it on the table. Two seconds. No cost. And it changed how I walked into that room.
That is trygghet. That is stolthet.
Add them to a person and they stand taller. Add them to a role and people own it rather than just fill it. Add them to a team and something shifts - quietly, but noticeably. Add them to a company and you have something no training programme, new technology, or process improvement can build for you.
And here is the thing: it costs almost nothing.
Not in money. Not in time. Not in new tools or restructuring. It costs attention. Attention to whether people feel wanted. Whether they feel they belong. Whether they are proud of the work they do, the role they hold, the team they are part of, and the product they stand behind.
I have tried most things over the years. New strategies. New structures. New processes. New hires. And I keep coming back to this: nothing I know of has greater impact on performance than getting these two things right. Not a restructure. Not a new hire. Not AI. Just attention to whether the people around you feel wanted and proud of their work.
These two things are also almost impossible for a competitor to copy.
You can match a product. You can match a price. You can copy a strategy. You cannot manufacture the feeling that people are genuinely wanted. You cannot fake pride in work you believe in, for a company you respect.
If you have it, you have a lead that is very hard to close. And if you are the challenger in a market, and you build this while the leader has not, it is only a matter of time.
I am proud of this job. Proud of the clients I work with and the conversations I get to be part of. I stay within the areas I know well. That is where I feel trygg, and where I do my best work. I try to give both things to the people I work with. Not as a technique. As a way of working.
That is what Bjørn gave me in a single morning. A stack of business cards and a clear title. It changed everything. It cost nothing.
Two books I find myself recommending whenever this conversation comes up.
The Culture Code — Daniel Coyle. A close look at why some teams are exceptional and others are not. The answer, consistently, is not talent or strategy. It is the feeling of safety and belonging. Coyle has a name for it. I call it trygghet.
Drive — Daniel Pink. About what actually motivates people at work. Not money. Not pressure. Autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The chapter on mastery is, for me, the closest thing in English to what I mean by stolthet.