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(bright music)

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<v ->Risto, thank you very much for joining us today.</v>

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You became chairman in May, 2012

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and one could call that the low point

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in the very long history of Nokia.

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Very difficult time.

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Could you describe why you decided to accept

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that challenging position

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and what was Nokia like at that point in time?

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<v ->We were planning the biggest layoffs</v>

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in the company's 150-year history,

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while revenues declined by 26% in the quarter

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when I was appointed chairman.

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Our net losses or operating losses were over 2 billion

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during the first six months of that year.

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And I could continue that long list of sort of dark tidings,

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but we understood the challenge.

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And again, at that time,

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I decided to do things differently.

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<v ->How did you change the leadership</v>

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and board practices of Nokia

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in this very difficult time?

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<v ->I set, laid out golden rules for our board work.</v>

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Of course, discuss those with the board members

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and we approve them together after,

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making some changes to my original proposal.

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But I'll mention three rules out of seven.

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The first one was assume the best of intentions from others.

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We want to be honest about bad news.

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One of my favorite sayings is that bad news is good news,

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good news is no news, and no news is bad news.

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The second thing was that we'll be a data-driven board

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and we'll work harder

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than normal boards or average boards do.

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And the third rule out of the seven that I want to mention

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is one where we determine that any meeting

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where we don't laugh out loud is a complete failure.

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So we need to have fun,

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especially when we deal with the most difficult

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and most emotional decisions, like, for us,

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the selling of the handset business to Microsoft.

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<v ->Why did you decide to center the current Nokia</v>

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on the networks business instead of the devices business

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which used to be the focal point?

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<v ->Deciding to focus on networking</v>

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was not a decision to focus

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on the sort of the old definition of networking,

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but a decision to focus

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on what we call the programmable world

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where we program the environment we live in.

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And much of that programming will be done through AI,

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sort of configuring the environment

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where we live in real time

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based on the data and the analysis that is gathered

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through the billions of sensors that will be surrounding us.

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<v ->Now, since May, 2012, when you started as the chairman,</v>

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Nokia's enterprise value has grown

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by approximately 20 times.

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There were many external moves during that period.

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What were the internal moves

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that haven't really been visible outside

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that made this transformation work?

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<v ->If you take the point of view</v>

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of looking at our employee base,

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currently we have 106,000 employees,

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but over 99% of them did not carry a Nokia badge

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just three years ago.

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So it's not about internal moves.

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It has been a complete removal of engines,

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the cabin, and the wings in mid-flight of an airplane

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and reassembling the airplane to look very different

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while in mid-flight.

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<v ->How have you been able to preserve Nokia as Nokia</v>

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even though everybody has essentially changed their jobs?

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<v ->It's almost as if the company really has a soul</v>

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and the soul is there regardless of what I do,

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and I have really felt

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that the soul survived this operation.

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<v ->What advice would you have for other leaders</v>

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who are undergoing a major transformation

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such as the one you went through?

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<v ->Well, I'd say the number one thing</v>

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is that don't believe all the advice that you get.

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Think for yourself: what makes sense?

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Number two probably would be a paranoid optimist.

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It's a good way to navigate through hard times.

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Number three would be gather great people around you

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and change people in the team very quickly if you need to.

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<v ->Risto, thank you very much for speaking with us today.</v>

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<v ->Thank you.</v>