Jarna Hartikainen, M.Sc. (Tech.), leads a unit at Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) responsible for planning, monitoring, and developing preparedness across almost every sector of society. The unit’s portfolio covers digital security, energy preparedness, industry, logistics, finance, water and food supply, societal security, as well as health and social care.
“Our network includes all of Finland’s key players in critical industries, and of course the public sector. We work with around 1,500 companies and coordinate national preparedness efforts,” Hartikainen explains.
Hartikainen has worked for NESA for five years. She particularly enjoys the diversity of her work.
“Given the current global situation, there’s also no difficulty in finding meaning in the work we do,” she points out.
A stimulating learning environment
Hartikainen has sharpened her business skills through the Global Leader and Aalto Executive MBA programs.
“It’s essential that we don’t just push our own agenda in preparedness planning. We need to align different perspectives and create the best possible benefits for everyone involved,” she emphasizes.
“I wanted a broader understanding of what drives the companies in our network – how they operate and what they need – so I decided to pursue studies at Aalto EE.”
She describes both programs as highly rewarding.
I feel like I can now do my job better than ever, creating conditions for our teams to succeed."
“The people who sign up for Aalto EE’s programs genuinely want to learn, and the instructors are incredibly engaging. That creates an outstanding learning environment and community.”
Hartikainen affirms that she got exactly what she was looking for from the Global Leader and Executive MBA programs: a deeper understanding of business, first-rate tools for strategic work, natural confidence in public speaking, and valuable insights into both leadership and self-leadership.
“I feel like I can now do my job better than ever, creating conditions for our teams to succeed,” she says.
The big picture helps structure your thinking
For Hartikainen, the greatest benefit of Aalto EE’s programs was the holistic perspective they provided and how that translated into her daily work.
“Many individual modules stood out to me as especially enjoyable or useful – service design, for instance, was fantastic, and the strategy modules were incredibly valuable – but the greatest takeaway was how studying at Aalto EE clarified what’s meaningful and how things interconnect.”
“Ultimately, almost everything always comes down to people – and to how important empathy is when interacting with others who see things differently, especially in challenging situations,” she underlines.
As her studies progressed, Hartikainen found it easier to grasp topics that had previously felt complex and make connections between them.
“It was exciting to notice how my thinking and ability to structure things became faster during the studies. At the same time, everything I did seemed to require less effort, and in a way, came with a greater sense of calm.”
“Understanding how people experience change has particularly strengthened my ability to lead in situations where uncertainty is part of everyday life,” she reflects.
Hartikainen emphasizes that there are so many different transformations underway – digitalization, the energy transition, security concerns – that many people’s work feels increasingly hectic and uncontrollable.
“The mental strain of work doesn’t always come from the workload itself, but from complexity. To manage your time, you need to be able to discern where and how your work can make a difference, and which things are beyond your control. These days, you can’t go chasing after everything.”
“You should strive to view things from different perspectives, stay close to loved ones, and make time for hobbies that recharge you. It will bring you clarity that reveals what truly deserves focus. As a leader, I want to help our teams embrace these ideas to find their own focus and strengths, even amid uncertainty.”
Global Leader is a great path to EMBA studies
Hartikainen explains that she had the Aalto EMBA in mind even before starting the Global Leader program.
“However, the EMBA is such an intensive and wide-ranging program that I had to seriously consider the time commitment and the expense,” she says.
Global Leader was excellent, and just a few modules in, I knew I absolutely wanted to continue with the EMBA."
“I started with Global Leader to get a feel for studying alongside work. And of course, it was easier for my employer to commit to funding the Global Leader program first,” she notes.
At the time, Hartikainen was working as NESA’s lead preparedness expert for digital security.
“Global Leader was excellent, and just a few modules in, I knew I absolutely wanted to continue with the EMBA. Right around then, the NESA’s preparedness planning unit was created as part of an organizational change effort. I was chosen to lead our new unit,” Hartikainen says.
“I welcomed the challenge, and never even thought about interrupting my studies. At that point, I already knew that I could combine work and studies – and that everything I was learning would help me develop our operations.”
Hartikainen laughingly admits that she discovered how to maneuver everything through trial and error. Along the way, she realized just how important personal wellbeing and balance really are.
“I’m an avid triathlete. At the start of the EMBA, I significantly cut down on sports for a while, because I feared I wouldn’t have time for everything. That was a big mistake. Suddenly, I seemed to have less hours in each day. If I exercise, I sleep better and have more energy for work, studies, and my children,” she highlights.
“I decided to make room in my calendar for sports. Once I had strong study routines in place and was training regularly, the rest of my studies felt much easier. A couple of months before finishing my EMBA, I even competed in an Ironman race in Copenhagen.”
The BSP completely offset the costs of the EMBA in one go
Hartikainen says that the Aalto EMBA delivered everything she had hoped for. The Business Strategy Project, BSP, was a particular highlight.
“My BSP team carried out the project for NESA. Our initial objective was to provide an analysis focused on assessing added value, but we ended up delivering something much more beneficial.”
The BSP delivered so much value that it completely offset the cost of my EMBA in one go."
“Instead of just a set of metrics to support management, we got a fully tailored leadership model and clear guidelines for tracking it through metrics,” Hartikainen describes.
The work done by her BSP group received a lot of praise at NESA.
“Our CEO said it delivered so much value that it completely offset the cost of my EMBA in one go,” Hartikainen says.
“And it’s true. If we had commissioned the same work from a consulting firm, it would’ve cost at least as much as an EMBA – and would the outcome have been as good? With consultants, you have to define exactly what you’re buying up front, but we could give much more freedom to my BSP group. It resulted in a significantly more valuable outcome than we ever could have hoped for.”
Inspiring teaching techniques
Hartikainen also credits Aalto EE’s instructors for their diverse and engaging teaching methods. She followed their approaches closely and took home many valuable ideas to use in her own work.
Being able to take modules at Aalto EE’s partner universities was a great addition to the overall experience."
“It was great to realize how much I got not just from what was being taught, but how it was taught. I picked up marvelous facilitation and leadership techniques from the different teaching styles and got a better feel for how to adapt my own approach to the needs of our employees and stakeholders. That was an unexpected bonus.”
As part of her EMBA, Hartikainen also completed a module at Yale University in the U.S.
“Being able to take modules at Aalto EE’s partner universities was a great addition to the overall experience,” she mentions.
“Studying at Yale was wonderful. It also really drove home just how high the quality of Aalto EMBA’s instruction is by international standards. It doesn’t pale in comparison to top education in the United States at all, quite the opposite,” Hartikainen underlines.
Hartikainen says she is happy to recommend the Global Leader and EMBA programs.
“To me, leadership is first and foremost about taking responsibility: both for achieving goals and especially for ensuring the people around me sustain their energy day to day and find their work meaningful. My studies really helped me sharpen that perspective,” Hartikainen says.
“I warmly recommend studying at Aalto EE. For me, starting with Global Leader was the right move. It’s a highly rewarding and valuable program – and if you decide to move forward with the EMBA, you’ll already have strong study habits and nearly a third of the credits completed.”
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