New Chairman Looking Forward to Challenge

Endless societal commitment still characterizes Roland Andersson after a long political career in city and region. He is the new chairman at the University of Borås since May 1st, but no newcomer to the situation.
“No, I have been a member of boards spanning every single rector that the university has had,” he says and smiles with contentment.

Roland Andersson was 21 years old when he got his first political assignment. He is now 63, but does not want call his over 40 years in politics a career.
“I haven’t tried to pursue any such path. It’s like I say to the young careerists I meet, those who are sure they will be parliamentarians or county chairmen; I have not sought a single mission in all my life, my party has asked me to take on every single assignment.”
“Political commissions are commissions of trust. And all of a sudden you might be done with,” he jokingly smiles, then gets a serious face and continues:
“Either by your own culpability, or by an event that you cannot control. I have tried to keep that in mind, because that’s just the way things are. And if you don’t dream up an entire career, your fall will not be as great.”

But he has been involved in no political scandals himself. He has however had a couple of in troublesome incidents, thanks to his straightforward personality.
“In 1982, I debuted as municipal commissioner in Borås. I was interviewed by Västgöra-Demokraten, a local paper, and was asked when I last read a book. I replied that I had not read a book in 15 years, and that stirred up some commotion in the paper: ‘Municipal commissionar with culture portfolio has not read a book in 15 years!’”

He laughs as he recalls the event, but notes that a lot of people have remembered that throughout the years. But he did try to repent.
“I was shamed for a while. Then my reputation was restored as the staff at the city library gave me a challenge: I had to sit in the library, in public, and review a book that I had read! I have always gone along with things like that, because you have to be generous with yourself from time to time…”

Roland Andersson grew up in the small community of Gånghester outside Borås. His teens and his father’s political activity served as the impetus to his own commitment.
“I joined the Social Democratic Youth Organization when I was 15. At the time there was not a lot to do in Gånghester, and there was no recreation center, so the young social democrats organized meetings and ping-pong in the basement of the old school.”

And what was at first a question of influence over the environment in which he lived, later gave birth to grander thoughts about societal influence. In 1968, he joined the municipal board for the first time, in what was then Dalsjöfors municipality. As the surrounding municipalities where absorbed into Borås in 1974, he was given the same assignment there.

He became a full-time politician when he was named municipal commissioner, and twelve years later he became mayor. From 1996, he also spent two intense years working with the foundation of the region of Västra Götaland.
“In the spring of 1998 I was asked to represent the party in the region. I don’t know if they wanted top get rid of me or add thrust to my career,” he says with a smile.

“At the same time, I noticed that walking up the stairs to the city hall was getting to be a little repetetive, having spent 16 years in Borås. I therefore saw it as a challenge to, at age 52, turn entirely to regional and county issues.”

Career or not, did you never aspire to parliament?
“I was on the ballot once. But I made a decision in 1974, when we were expecting our first child: Being a member of parliament and a young parent, that does not make sense. The second reason was that I felt that I would not enjoy being a paper pusher up there (in Stockholm). I am probably a little too executive for that, I want things to happen, from being part of decision making to realization.”

“But I was the forth or fifth name on the ballot, so I turned down what might be called a career, and chose something else without then knowing what.”

There was certain turbulence in the region to begin with. After two years of figures in the negative billions in the year 2000, the social democrats formed a coalition with the center party and the liberals. Roland Andersson was made chairman of the county board.
“And I spent 10 seasons there,” he shares.

Those days are now over. He is pleased to have chaired his last board meeting in April, and will now stay on as chairman until the elections in September.
“I don’t want to be part of the scene in politics anymore. And I chose to resign now to give my replacement Gert-Inge Andersson a chance to make an impact before the elections.”

Roland Andersson is looking forward to new challenges in life.
“One of them is chairing the board at the University of Borås. I am very excited about it!”

He has been commissioned for three years. He previously held the position of deputy chairman, and has been a board member several times before, serving under all rectors.
“Yes, from Nils-Bertil Faxén to Anders Fransson, Said Irandoust and now Lena Nordholm. I have been a representative of both society and region.”

With his fresh assignment he has yet to phrase a chairman’s motto, which he wants to do in order to clarify his ambitions. But his focus is clear.
“I am thinking about our 12 000 students, the school is for them and for the 600 employees. In some way, we have to create interactivity and cooperation between those groups.”

“We, the board, and the staff, have to focus on the students. They stay with us for two, three, four or five years – they should have the time of their life here.  And be given conditions for entering the professional sphere.”

It might be called client perspective, and in any case it is the same perspective as then, he says. “I picked it up from working for the city and region, where I represented the citizens, and here I am representing the interests of the students. If we do not manage to provide a creative learning environment, students will go somewhere else.”

If students and staff are the two primary components for creating a successful university, society is the third component, according to Roland Andersson.
“Business, for example. From that point of view it is very exciting that we are in the process of constructing a Science Park in Simonsland. That will be a forum and arena that provides the creative environment we need, just like Lindholmen Science Park in Gothenburg, Innovatum in Trollhättan and Gothia Science Park in Skövde.”

“If the Sjuhärad Region is to live on, we have to create an environment that will make businesses want to settle here. The university plays a part there, by educating for the professions in the companies and by being at the forefront of research in a number of areas.”

Simonsland also refines the idea of a University of Professions, he feels.
“I was there when the idea was conceived, and I was in Stockholm handing in the application. I felt a certain disappointment that we did not receive formal clearance to call ourselves a university of professions, but the idea lives on in practice, and also through the five subject areas where we have applied for rights to award degrees.”

Another board assignment is also dear to Roland Andersson. Since a while back, he is the chairman of CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, in West Sweden.
“It is a movement about assuming responsibility when it comes to economic, social and environmental sustainability, with its origins in the USA.”

Our mission is not only to make business go philanthropic and donate money, it stretches further than that, Roland wants to point out.
“The bar is not what laws and regulations say, it is about taking it a few steps further and preceding laws and regulations in order to achieve something. And there is an appetite for this, more and more companies are looking for CSR people.”

But regardless of what issue is on the agenda, and whose agenda it is, humanity comes first. When the politicians on the county board were looking for ‘HBT thinking,’ Roland Andersson called for a rethink.
“There I went, not being religious at all, and quoted Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: ‘all that you want your peers to do unto you, that you must du unto them…’”

He is of the opinion that the basic view of man has to guide the approach, and that people should not be branded by ethnicity, sexual preference, religion or anything else.
“Someone said that in health care, staff should not ask about husbands or wives, but about ‘partners.’ But is that not equally condescending? A lot of people live alone, voluntarily or involuntarily. Doesn’t it disdain equally to assume that relations are the norm?”

“If we are going to quarrel and list everything we can’t ask about, the list would be damn long,” he says and smiles again. “I think that makes you forget that there are all different kinds of people. Instead, we should base our views on the equal value of all people and act respectfully.”

If that view becomes the norm to base your actions on, we will not need to have discussions about either multitude or equality, apart from when shortcomings are brought up.
“And as a process in working towards equality. In politics, men have taken the field from the onset, and been more active. In my party we have introduced affirmative action measures, since that proved necessary. I believe that it is pivotal to do the same in corporate boardrooms. Because I believe that men and women have the same ability to run a company.”

“And that’s where we get into sustainability. The most creative environments are those where men and women work together, based on their experience. An environment like that is more progressive than a single sex environment, where not all experiences are represented.”
“Look, a declaration,” he says and is pleased.

A few years ago his body let him know it was time to calm down. He got arrhythmia; “my heart beat at a wicked pace,” he vividly describes. Doctors set it right with electricity, but the following day he was in pain again. It was a heart attack, most likely stress related.
“So now I take a moderate amount of medicines and have not experienced anything since – knock on wood,” says Roland Andersson and continues:
“I also try to exercise and exercise more. There is a certain irregularity to that, but I intend to improve that!”

Are you so involved that you forget about yourself?
“No, I don’t easily get riled up or annoyed over things. And I don’t carry heavy things around with me. I have faced a few hard problems over the years, but nothing that keeps me up at night. Possible my body is having more of a reaction, even though you don’t anticipate it.”

Does it feel good to leave party politics?
“No, I am still a social democrat, and should wear a badge that says that. I think people will see where I stand. But active party politics are a thing of the past for me.”

He now looks forward to meeting other kinds of people.
“Sometimes you associate with your own kind in party politics, and don’t get to hear others’ points of view. It becomes a little introverted, and you mostly see only people who are like yourself.”

“It is educational to meet people with other ideals and thoughts. The board at the University is a prime example of that, where we come in from different directions and make up a whole in some way. And provide a wealth of experiences because of it.”

Footnote: Read more about CSR West Sweden at www.csrvastsverige.se

By: Pia Mattzon
Pictures by: Ulf Nilsson

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