Bengt has made himself a name within E-commerce but is an even more legendary guru within AI. Mastering AI consumer bots started more than 20 years ago. Now a mindbender around every new technology connected to the future of AI.
1. How many days per week do you prefer to work from home and why?
For me, it doesn’t matter. I like working at the office, at home or in the city center. However, I spend one day per week from home, since it’s a great way for me to focus on more difficult tasks that demand 100% focus.
2. What is a hidden treasure among apps for you — a favorite application of yours that might be unknown to many?
I have so many. This list increases all the time. It’s a lot of niched ones that can do a specific thing in an amazing way. My favorite tool right now is Canva. Canva has so many templates and easy-to-use features for content production so it's absolutely essential.
3. Any tips on how to use AI in daily life or work? What is your company policy around it?
I use it all the time. The three I use the most are ChatGPT, Midjourney and Canva. But I also use at least 10 other AI tools on a regular basis, depending on the task. A few of them are so great so I don’t reveal them. The policy is to test new things and see if it’s useful for ourselves, or for our clients. Anyway, we use some of them in our AI news to keep people in our network informed about the new possibilities.
4. What's your most important work tool, making you productive?
ChatGPT and Canva. If I could pick only one, ChatGPT. And the most fun, Midjourney.
5. What career tips would you give your younger self?
Go your own way. Find something that makes you amazed and work with that. For me it was Internet, then it became e-commerce and now it’s AI too. But I still love e-commerce, and the combination with AI is just wow.
6. What is your view on employee choice, i.e. flexibility for employees to choose their hardware and software?
My view is that that’s something they choose themselves. When it comes to software, there are a few we work with together. But it’s ok to also try out new ones. We love freemium when we test, before we buy, in that way, we already know if we like it and need it before we buy/rent it.
7. What is an ideal new employee onboarding experience?
It depends on role etc. But of course some sort of introduction and some time to grasp it all. Also great to work closely with someone for a while who knows what to do. I also like to look at the roles roadmap, and what do we want to achieve going forward, which hasn’t been time or budget to fix yet. Maybe this can be solved now with new energy and ideas and tools aboard. A great way to try out new things when someone with “virgin eyes” enters the business.
Read More: Voices & Choices #1: Sebastian Fuchs on remote work, AI & productivity
"Voices and Choices" is a weekly interview series where we dig into how top talents, founders and leaders work and what makes them productive.
