The main reason for this is simple national selfishness – I believe the Swedish side has alot to win by just seeing Copenhagen as its closest capital. That is because a capital has alot of benefits – in most countries the capital is the place where the countries “best” people gather. The most creative artist, the best IT-companies, the most extravagant social media gurus, the best law firms etc. This I think is especially true in Denmark, where there are few other large cities that can compete with Copenhagen, compared with Hamburg/Stuttgard/Düsseldorf vs Berlin in Germany or Gothenburg vs Stockholm in Sweden.

So it’s my opinion that alot of people living on the Swedish Øresund side, like Malmö or Helsingborg, have alot of good people/networks nearby, that most simply don’t realize.

For example, social media (or any other field for that matter)
If you want to make a name for yourself, it would be alot better to surround yourself with Copenhagens greatest minds. Go to their gatherings, their workshops. Because being in a crowd of the best people in a countries is alot more powerful then just being with Malmös or Helsingborgs best people – because then you wouldn’t be able to be he best, without being frequent guest in Stockholm. I mean just look at Joakim Jarderberg.

That’s why better Øresund integration is something worth striving for (and in the similar way, it is good for the danish side too – a larger “brain pool” that is part of the network).

Of course there are many solutions to this problem, and my own personal favorit is: gossip

My opinion is that one thing that is really needed is a shared news-network. Just the fact that on the swedish side Sydsvenskan has more or less nothing on Helsingborg, just as Helsingborgs Dagblad has more or less nothing from the Malmö area, is really bad. And just as bad is that both have more or less nothing about Copenhagen, even thougt there is enough happening there to fill most of Denmarks biggest newspappers.

The reason it’s bad is because news are one of the few things that is present in most peoples everyday live. Most talk about what the read in the news (either in papper, TV or internet) during their coffeebreaks, or with their friends and family. This gives a regionwide “shared experience”, something that lets you easily talk to strangers or new people in your network, because they have also knowledge about the news.

One thing which I find intresting is that gossip is really powerful in this regard. I, personally, don’t have much left over for gossip, but I see it for what it is – giving people something to talk about, to feel good about themselves together with theyre surrounding.
I feel that it is ridicilous that people here in Helsingborg know alot about the nightlive and happenings of the Stockholm elite, but more or less nothing about that in Copenhagen – even though it more or less is the same, with the same kind of people and same kind of spectacles. And just imagine how much more fun would be if you knew that this or that person is famous, when you are out for a beer in Copenhagen.

So that would be one of my favorite steps towards better integration – more gossip ;)

Update: Saw that Joakim linked here in his 10th of june post. Thank you! So in order for this to look better I corrected some spelling errors. And also made a more selling headline.
If you, for some reason, want to contact me but not leave it as a comment, you can reach me at karsten@deppert.se

Maybe it will turn out to be Swedens cheapest fairtrade coffeehouse (for students atleast)?

Skrev för ett litet tag sedan ihop en reflektion av min erfarenhet med mina anställda på SHIP och Facebook. Den har blivit publicerad på bloggteamet Mindparks sida, men tänkte jag länkar lite snyggt till den.

En intressant tvist på en fråga jag ser lyftas fram rätt ofta. Läs hela på Mindpark.

I have heard this has to do with the way the brain works. It works by remembering things people have done or said, and things we have experienced. If you do not say it, another person cannot remember it.

So if you seek something – tell it to the world, and your chances of finding it will increase.

After having lived at 4 different places in the same town in the same number of years, I have now moved to a new home again.
It was no option this time, as the last place I stayed in is about to get a total face-lift, and probably will be one of the cities mote expensive places after-ward. Not really an option to stay there for me.

So I had found myself a really nice little apartment before I left in the begining of summer. However, the same day I signed up for the apartment, and one day before I was about to leave, an old friend called. He and his girlfriend where moving together he said, and there room in a larger apartment would be free. An apartment that also had 2 other residents, both of whom I knew since earlier.

So with a little luck I managed to get someone to take over the apartment I had found, and decided instead to move in in the larger apartment with my now 2 new room-mates.

My second morning here now, and it seems to get pretty sweet. One of the room-mates is a former co-DJ to me, so now I actually have acces to really good equipment and good connections if I want to play a little in Sweden. The apartment is also located really convenient, with a 5 minute walk to all relevant spots for me. And – so far I have not had to move one single piece of furniture and that could very well stay that way. Which is nice, for I have been moving so many times that I am glad if I don’t have to move a lot of things again – my room now is small enough to not need more then a borrowed bed and sofa (I need some things for the walls thou), and the rest of the apartment has all that I could ask for.

Seems very good this far.

My biggest bad point is that I got the comment that I did not look as having as much fun as last year. Something that might be right, but I cannot feel that I have had less fun. However I think this is partly because of my involvement in SHIP the last 6 month. It was quite an exhausting period, and I think it took a lot more energy then I like to admit.

Härarbete
I have also experienced “härarbete” in a real way. It took a while to take off, as it took more then 3 weeks to get my new computer (which I am really happy with). But now I have starting using Ubuntu, and getting things done from here is no problem. Biggest drawback is the ability to talk over telephone – there are no really good quite spots here to talk on, so it is always a little bothersome.
Compared with Sweden, I spend about as much time with “office work” as back home. There are some complications, most related to that the files are on the old computer, and that I do not have a fixed office, but otherwise it works surprisingly well. Would I have been here longer it would all be about setting the right routines.

DJ
Professionally I have also come a long way as a DJ. This year is a lot of different, music wise, then last year. But I really do feel I do a lot of a better job and I have really enjoyed it. I have also been offered to play in Norway next May, through one of the former employees here. Nothing sure if it materialises, but it would be fun to visit everybody in Oslo for one week.

Some other good acquaintances have been made as well, some of which maybe lead to big new projects for me in the future. But that will only time tell. Needles to say, the biggest lessons from here is that good people can be found everywhere, and just by acting in an honest way yourself, you will find them and you will inspire each other.

But now it is almost finished, and I will miss being an employee when I get back to Sweden. It is really good, as a boss, to be an employee from time to time – you can learn a lot about leadership just by being subjected to it.

I have however now finished one of the books I brought done here, the slimest one: Full koll på mailen. It is a book I bought when I realized that I more or less do all my work through emails, and wondered if there aren’t any guides to leadership through email. There weren’t. Not what I found at least. I did however find the above mentioned book, which is about how to write and behave in electronic conversations.
There is also a small chapter devoted to being a boss and using emails.

I was sceptical to the book to start with. I usually only read books I have gotten recommended, and this one I searched for and bought without knowing anything about it. However, it turned out to be a good buy.

The book talks about a lot of things that can seem to be common sense. But, as always, common sense is not something given. So it is good to read that yes, it is important to have a friendly tone, and yes, you should start your letters with “hi” and finish with an apporiete ending (because it shows that you take your time when writing, and it therefore conveys importance to the letter)
A lot of details like these, but they are good to hear.

The things I take to me the most from the book:
- There are 3 golden rules – 1) avoid creating distance to the person you are writing too 2) think about the other persons needs 3) treat the “email room” as a limited resource, and don’t just send emails because you can.
- The book also stretches the need for good emails, avoiding to many recipients, and just talking about one topic at a time. And that you really, really, should avoid arguments through letters.

So overall it was, actually, a very good read. At 88 small pages (not even A5!), you can easily read it in under 1 hour, and I would recommend it to everybody who works with a computer. For even if you don’t think about it, a lot of our work nowadays is about getting and replying to emails.

The book is from 2 Danish authors (I think) and I haven’t seen it in any other language. So the link above is to the Swedish version.

I want to attribute the change to my dear friends the fellow pumpmasters, Kristian and Bård. Without you it never would have happened.

My daily excercise consists right now of:
40, 30, 20 pushups or 40, 30 and 20 sit-ups every day, right before I take a shower. These numbers will, of course, increasewith time, but that’s where I’m starting.

Almost on time for after beach 2009…

This season has been good, but one difference from last year is the presence of TV crews. Right before I arrived here, during midsommer, a norweigian TV show called “charterfeber” was here, filming the barschool and our club. This show is apperently really big in Norway, so it will be interesting to see if there is any impact after it has been aired, during the winter.
The crew from charterfeber has been here during the high season as well. There have however also been another Swedish crew here, filming pilots for 2 different reality shows they want to make. Both involve the barschool, and one even a swedish B-celebrity (who will arrive tomorrow, or so they say).

It will be very interesting to see if anything happens with this. Whatever happens it was atleat fun, goofing around for the cameras and staging conversations. Interesting to see also how it works, and how these things are made. Tina, my former flatmate, has for some reason been at the center of both TV crews. So she atleast will be on TV somewhere later this year.

More details if anything is sent, either in Sweden or Norway.