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Stay Away from Hanky-Panky
Pekka Huhtaniemi's advice on... |
Life
What did you want to be as a child…
In retrospect I knew rather young that I wanted to be a diplomat. I loved languages, travelling and reading international news.
Your favourite quote/motto is…
A colleague's wife said that whenever she hears Bobby McFerrin's song "Don't worry, be happy" she thinks of me. I take it as a big compliment. My motto would be along these lines, completed with a "Do things seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously". If you take yourself too seriously then you become stressed and you are not a very pleasant person to be around.
The best day of your life was…
There are several moments, mostly related to family life: Graduating with the white cap and good scores, meeting and marrying my wife, the births of my three children, while the achievements of important projects bring fond memories. Moreover, I would not be honest if I denied that I was delighted to receive a high Finnish decoration on the occasion of the latest Finnish Independence Day on 6th of December 2009. Likewise, in the autumn of 1994, I was happy to see that Finland was going to join the EU, as I was working on the project at the Prime Minister's Office: I felt that something important took place when the referendum favoured EU accession by a large margin. Finally, when the Berlin Wall came down, on a day that happens to be my own birthday, I also thought, as a former student of history, that it was an important day for our continent.
And the hardest lesson you learned…
An old friendship broke up because the other person was not in favour of the EU while I was working on promoting it. This was a blow that I did not expect - that an issue such as EU membership could break down a time-tried friendship; it was hard to swallow.
The dream you still wish to fulfil...
Careerwise? Well, I already have done so much that I have no particular wishes. After retirement, I hope to have a couple of decades, a sort of third life, to digest what I have experienced in the working life, perhaps to write something based on my observations, and to be able to spend good time with my family and grandchildren, just like I was able to spend valuable time with my grandfather growing up.
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…and Success
How much of your success is luck/work?
Maybe 50-50! Luck is when you get an interesting portfolio allowing you to show your capacities, when your superiors notice it and want to work with you later on, so when they get promotions they usually help you to get promotions, so you are not sidelined, as it happens sometimes. You can only go so far with luck; you must take all the duties assigned to you seriously.
What advice you would give somebody willing to be successful?
Try to become an interesting person far beyond your work. Be happy, don't worry, work seriously, honestly, keep high ethical standards, and something positive will come out of it. If you start to get into hanky-panky, then you might be successful in the short term but, sooner or later, you will be caught and the scandal will not only affect you, but also the people around you. Stay away from the hanky-panky!
Who do you admire the most?
In a poll made in Finland a few years ago, Marshall Mannerheim came top of personalities Finns value the most. As a statesman, as a military leader, as a personality, as an individual, I admire him so much that I decided to participate in the poll and voted for him. However, there are many other people, Finns and non-Finns who have done great things for Finland to become what it is today. I also esteem very ordinary people who make decent lives from rather modest beginnings; there were such examples in my family that inspired me. I had none of the awful experiences I hear of today in many families, such as drinking, divorce and abuse. The older I become, the more grateful I am that I had been able to spend my own childhood and youth in a stable environment where I had the opportunity to develop my own skills and knowledge, to travel and meet people.
Where would you invest your money?
I have not invested money in property or industrial shares. Instead, I invested in books, in art, in travelling, in making it possible for our children to visit our postings. I invested in human development and the cohesion of the family. I consider this type of investment the best. We had saved enough to have a nice apartment in Helsinki and, for us, this is enough; we do not need more.
What is the business idea of the future?
Taking the example of my children, who chose their own career paths and who are all happy - one of my daughters is a photographer, the other an interior designer and my son is an EU official in Brussels - I think knowledge-based services are marketable on an international scale, or creative knowledge turned into business. Choosing what appeals to you is very important, and, in this sense, being a farmer in Rovaniemi farming the right things can also be very rewarding. There are infinite possibilities in the world now as there have always been.
Comments for this article: 1
Great advice
I felt so delighted to read this wonderful advices and I take a good look at myself and have the motivations to develop my recent career as a university student (Toursim degree programme) Pekka, has clearly shared as much as possible and I want to thank him for giving such a good advices.
Posted by Lamin Touray
on 2010-04-28
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