That is not a strange thing to say. But it is an honest one.
Jag har arbetat inom HR, recruitment och organisationsutveckling i 25 år. Jag har sett hundratals rekryteringsprocesser, dussintals omorganisationer och otaliga ledarskapssituationer.
And yet it still happens regularly — I encounter something that challenges what I thought I knew.
Experience is not the same as being finished
There is a trap in long experience. You start to believe you recognize everything. The next situation is a variation of something you have seen before.
Sometimes that is true. Patterns recur, challenges are often similar, and solutions resemble each other. But sometimes it is not true. And it is in those moments — when reality does not fit the template — that you learn the most.
I have tried to keep that curiosity alive. To treat every assignment as unique. To listen more than I talk. To ask 'why' perhaps one extra time more than necessary.
What 25 years actually gives you
Not the answers. Better questions.
The ability to recognize when a situation is more complex than it looks. To hear what is being said between the lines. To understand why an organization is stuck, not just where it is stuck.
It also gives a kind of steadiness. Not indifference — but the ability not to panic when things are difficult. To know that most situations can be resolved if you approach them in the right order. That is a competency not listed on a CV. But it shows in every conversation.
Why curiosity is the most important thing
The field is changing. AI is changing recruitment. Legislation is changing. New generations in the workforce are changing expectations.
A consultant who has stopped learning is a consultant delivering yesterday's solutions to tomorrow's problems.
I do not want to be that consultant.
So I read. I listen. I talk to people who think differently from me. And sometimes — more often than not — I change my mind.
That is not a weakness. It is the only sensible way to work.
If you have thoughts, questions, or simply want to talk something through — feel free to get in touch. I am happy to have an initial conversation with no agenda.
Magdalena Hagström Ståhl
By M Consulting AB
Right person. Right place. Everything changes.