Tommy Nodland has had an incredible career in the area of marketing and we love his insights.
Today, Tommy Nodland is the Marketing & Communications Country Manager for Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Norway. Prior to this he founded Next Exposure, a marketing and communications agency, served as Marketing Director for Ope, stopped by Morgan Stanley, and worked with consumer tech and corporate communications at Weber Shandwick and Golin, respectively.
He currently resides in Oslo, Norway. At the start of the pandemic he lived with his much better half and Gorgeous the English Bulldog. They have since been joined by Heartbreaker (Scottish Fold) and Heavensent (Bengal mixed with a random Don Juan of cats). Prior to life in Oslo, he spent a decade+ living in Miami and New York. Originally from an idyllic town on the south west coast of Norway that is best captured in memory but would also do well as a location for a crime novel.
We recently had the chance to interview Tommy about what he is currently up to and how he tackles times of chaos.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share with us what you do and the story about how you first got started?
The short of it, I am the Marketing and Communications Country Manager for BCG in Norway. Prior to that I worked in communications for Weber Shandwick and Golin, stopped by Morgan Stanley, did a U-turn and started my own marketing agency. I became one of those all-rounders people supposedly aren’t hiring anymore, by design.
From an early age I discovered an ability to convince by observing and improvising (insert Liam Neeson joke). From there it has been a journey of figuring out how I could do that for a living without having to do sales.
What is your number one advice to a business owner in today’s climate?
What problem do you solve for your customer?
Guess that is the opposite of an advice… But hear me out. Every business, organization, what have you, they all (should) exist for its customer. If you do, then what is your reason for being? What problem do you solve? Once you discover that the rest becomes, if not obvious, a lot easier. Apple, Amazon, Patagonia, all customer centric. In a world of abundance of everything but time, we need to start with problem solving for the customer and work from there.
How do you handle times of chaos?
Chaos as part of my day to day I mostly view a constant flow of new opportunities and ways of solving problems. Chaos for me is lack of scope, inconsistency from managers and co-workers, a bad brief, etc. Now that is like having a Colin Robinson (What We Do in the Shadows) type following me around.
Rapid-fire questions:
- early or late riser? Early riser.
- texting or email? Texting.
- what is the last article you read?
What 12 000 Employees Have to Say About the Future of Remote Work https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/valuable-productivity-gains-covid-19
To follow Tommy, follow him on LinkedIn here.
Thank you so much for your taking the time to do this interview, Tommy. We love your perspectives.