Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Hyper Island staff legend (yes, he is) Roger Sjögren is back after having been elsewhere since 2004. We wanted to catch up and introduce him to those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet.
Roger, after having been away for 3 years you're back. Where have you been?
After I finished working at Hyper Island early 2004 I moved directly to the Middle East to project manage a United Nation conference about Palestinian refugee children. Since I really found it interesting and great living in the Middle East region I decided to stay there for a while working with different cooperation development projects and international aid projects!
What experiences from your time away do you bring with you back to Hyper Island?
I have been working in multicultural environments which I think has taught me a lot more about how to gain constructive dynamics bringing people together from different parts of the world. I have also gained much more knowledge and experiences of working with large scale projects. Since Hyper Island is in its really first kind of phase of expanding outside Karlskrona and to open up one of the programs for english speaking people I know my knowledge and experiences from the last three years will be useful! :)
How long have you been involved with Hyper Island?
I was kind of volunteering in the planning phase of Hyper Island during 1995 even before it became a limited company. So I would say from the very very beginning!
Do you have a favorite success story from Hyper Island?
Wow, this one is really difficult to answer I think, since there are so many stories I found being great successes! Of course a favorite is that more than the majority of graduated students have got work postions they are really satisfied and happy with and that more than 80% of the students already have jobs when they graduate! I would also put forward the unique pedagogical model, that has several times been internationally recognized, as probably the greatest success of Hyper Island!
What do you think Hyper Island students bring to the industry that it otherwise would be lacking?
I think Hyper Island students in general hold a broad understanding of the industry that they are suppose to work in and having this holistic view is quite a unique and valuable quality when it comes to visionary and strategical work. I would also put forward that the industry needs to get a greater understanding of group dynamics and working with the self insight of staff and its relation to creating a more effective, healthy and more profitable working environment! All students at Hyper Island are well trained and experienced in such issues!
If you were a student at Hyper Island, what part of the education would you look forward to most?
I would look forward to all the problem solving moments and to use my creativity and practise in being creative in all moments of the education! I also would love the different challenges there are to try out myself and my capacity and experiences by taking on different roles and tasks, especially the ones I am less skillful in, in order to get a strong learning experience!
If you could say one thing to potential applicants out there, what would it be?
Believe in your own ability and capacity!
Any life lessons you want to share?
Once upon a time I was quite a shy person and I am introvert by nature, but even so I did put myself in many different situations that were quite frustrating for me and also very challenging. But I decided that in order for me to learn I had do things, try out things and allow myself to potentially fail. This has created a learning part of me that I am so happy and satisfied with, and it is difficult to see myself today not acting according to it!
Thank you Roger!