I grew up in the early 1990s when Finland was suffering an economic depression. Finding a summer job was no mean feat, and most young people failed. In the ’80s, there had been fears of a nuclear war, and then in the ’90s there were fears of the violent disintegration of the Soviet Union. I also wondered if I should volunteer to join a possibly forthcoming Estonian war of independence.
From the mid-1990s onwards, the situation changed. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to be moving in the direction of freedom, prosperity and equality. Little by little, Finland also started to believe that we could make it after all.
Today’s young people face a mindscape similar to that of the early 1990s, perhaps even worse. Night after night, we hear news about how either the welfare sector debt or the national debt will crush our future generations, how strikes are battering companies and their employees, how soon we may be facing an actual hot war or at least hybrid and trade wars. And even if all these can be solved, climate change will eventually destroy nature and us along with it.
All these threats are real. But there is also something very Finnish about how we like to wallow in our misery. Worst of all, since the economy is largely psychological, our gloomy spirits will only make the situation worse. I remember when I moved to Vienna to work in 2014. Many major Finnish corporations were still very much holding back in the aftermath of the financial crisis. I remember wondering out loud at a board meeting in Austria if we weren’t investing too much as the economy was still weak. People gave me strange looks.
Yes, both in society and in companies, unpleasant decisions still need to be made. Yes, we must continue to strengthen the protection of our society. Yes, climate change is progressing, and in addition to slowing it down, we need to think about how to adapt to it. I’ve lived on four continents and spent about a third of my life outside Finland. With this experience, I say that despite all these challenges, Finland will be a good place for our young people to live, work and raise their families.
What do we need? More courage to change the way we do things. More courage to experiment and let go of what doesn’t work, and invest much more in what does. This doesn’t mean that what was done before was wrong. It just means that the situation has changed. This applies to both Finnish society and Metsä Group.
Metsä Group has adapted to external changes many times during its 90-year existence. And it’s doing it now. We have challenges, but we also have many growth ideas that are both economically and environmentally sustainable. The demand is not declining for any of our business operations. We have a great direction: growth with a future.
To quote Finland's former President Mauno Koivisto: “If we don’t know for sure how things will turn out, let’s assume everything will go well”.