What Aspiring Leaders Can Teach Us About the Core of Leadership

Every year, Nordic Business Forum opens its doors to thousands of business leaders eager to learn and grow. But behind the scenes, another kind of leadership journey is taking place.

As a part of a tailored leadership program, NBF recruits students from Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences to step into a Team Leader role during the event. These students take the responsibility of leading different customer service teams that create the experience for thousands of NBF guests. From recruitment and training to leading their student teams under pressure, these Team Leaders take a crash course in leadership.

We asked a few of the NBF 2025 Team Leaders, Charlotte Ryan, Dalaal Boutnine, and Shresth Vasihist, to share their most important leadership learnings from their journey. Their answers are full of essential insights, even for an experienced leader. Titles, backgrounds, and operational environments may differ, but a few leadership fundamentals remain.

Here are four key lessons we can all take from these courageous Team Leaders:

1. Clear Communications Builds Strong Teams

“Clear and open communication is so essential. When everyone feels informed and heard, the team naturally works better together,” Charlotte highlighted.

Across the team, these young leaders recognized that leadership isn’t about telling people what to do but about making sure your message lands and your people feel seen. That means listening just as much as speaking.

Dalaal emphasized this point as well: “Communicating effectively and being understanding to everyone’s needs—that’s the foundation of leadership.”

2. Trust Is a Necessity

“I had to learn the hard way to trust my teammates,” Ray confessed, and continued:

“As a team leader, you want things to go a specific way, which can lead to micromanaging. But I couldn’t do everything alone. Trusting others and seeing them succeed was a true joy and even made me emotional.”

For many leaders, especially new ones, it’s tempting to try to take control of everything. But true leadership is about enabling and empowering others to shine. Trust, delegation, and letting go are what make a team more than the sum of its parts.

“Being a leader means being there for your teammates. And it also means trusting them,” Dalaal summarized.

3. Your Response to Mistakes is What Matters

Leadership isn’t about being perfect, because no one is. We all fail from time to time, so it’s about how you show up when things go wrong.

Charlotte said it well:

“Mistakes are inevitable, but what truly matters is how you react and handle them. Being honest, calm, and solution-oriented in those moments builds trust and shows real leadership.”

Whether it’s handling last-minute changes or navigating difficult conversations, these team leaders discovered that mistakes were not failures, but opportunities to learn and lead with integrity.

4. Care Over Authority Wins Every Time

The team leaders shared that the biggest shift came in their mindset about leadership itself.

“All my life, I’ve had this notion that a leader needs to be authoritative,” said Ray. “But this program taught me about leading with warmth. Now I think: how can people not do it this way? It’s so obvious that caring is the way to go.”

Dalaal also noted that the feeling of safety within the team makes all the difference:

“Feeling like your opinions and feelings matter helps you to be yourself. That’s what creates motivation to do your best.”

Charlotte, too, emphasized empathy and transparency: “I saw firsthand how much stronger a team becomes when everyone feels heard and included. I learned to value feedback, listen with genuine curiosity, and lead with empathy.”

What Changed After the Experience?

After their time as team leaders, they left with a changed perspective; not just about leadership, but about themselves.

“I want to focus less on perfection and more on progress. Leadership isn’t about having all the answers, but about growing together,” said Charlotte.

Dalaal, who described herself as highly expressive, shared her own moment of growth: “As a very emotional person, I realized that sometimes as a leader, you need to take a minute for yourself in order to not over react. That’s something I’ll keep working on.”

Ray left the program with a new sense of balance: “Work isn’t everything to everyone. You have to trust your team, give your best, and be proud of that.”

Leadership Fundamentals That Stay

What the Team Leaders discovered might not be groundbreaking for an experienced leader, but their insights are deeply human. And that’s the point.

Effective leadership still comes down to clear communication, mutual trust, resilience, and care. All of which are often easier said than done. Modern leadership is not about status or experience; it’s about how you show up for others.

As we continue to think about what leadership looks like in the future, maybe the most important reminder is this:

Great leadership starts with the core. And sometimes, it takes fresh eyes to see that clearly.