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Being stuck in a bad job can set you back years—impacting your mental health, dragging down performance, and stalling career progression. The problem is, it usually takes hindsight to know if an opportunity will turn out to be a good (or bad) career move.
Not for Bang Olufsen’s CEO Kristian Teär.
The Swedish businessman—who started out his career with Ericsson and worked his way up the tech giant to president before holding executive roles at the likes of Sony, Blackberry, and Logitech—has figured out a way of deciphering whether or not a job offer is going to be the right move for him.
The luxury audio company’s chief tells Fortune that the one thing he looks for is whether he can make a difference—and so far, he says it’s been key to his success.
“You need to believe that you can make a difference”
“Do you believe that you can go there and can change things? That you can create something and you can contribute,” he says. “Otherwise, what’s the point in moving around when you can stay with your friends and your family where you are?”
Through that lens, Teär has taken on jobs that have seen him uproot his family around the world, from Switzerland and Mexico to Malaysia and London. Now, he’s been living and working in Copenhagen, since taking the helm at Bang & Olufsen four years ago.
“When Bang & Olufsen called—it’s obviously an iconic brand—and its challenges were expressed to me, I figured that I can help and I can contribute to the company,” he said while adding that it doesn’t make sense to job hop or “travel around” otherwise.
Why he looks for “turnaround” jobs
Having always looked for opportunities to create change, Teär has made a name for himself for being able to turn a business around: BlackBerry poached him especially to help them restructure the business as chief operating officer in 2012, after he had been instrumental in helping Ericsson lay off around half of its workforce and rebuild itself after the 2001 telecom crash.
Speaking of his current role, where he’s been tasked with increasing awareness of Bang & Olufsen, as well as, drum up sales and transform the business, he says: “This is a turnaround case that I believe a lot in and that I invested a lot of time in and that I want to see finished—and we’re about halfway through so I would like to complete it before I do something else.”
His advice for others looking to emulate his success? “Follow the career path where you think you can do a good job and learn a lot of things,” he says with the caveat: “But primarily, you need to be able to deliver.”
Being able to turn a business around successfully can bring about a lot of exposure and lead to taking on bigger challenges, as it has for Teär—but, he warns, be wary of biting more than you can chew.
“I’ve seen both the ups and the downs and you realize that it is a delicate balance between being on the gas pedal or the brake pedal… You need to make sure that you manage that in a proper way because otherwise, it can derail very quickly,” he adds.
For Teär, ultimately making a difference hinges on getting real with yourself and owning whether deep-down you actually have the capabilities to start and finish the job.
“If you don’t believe you can make a change, if you don’t believe that you can create a better place, leave it to somebody else to take care of,” Teär concludes. “You need to have that desire to succeed.”
