#469 The Success Guide: How to Thrive in the Corporate Environment - an interview with Edward Bjurstrom by Niels Brabandt
This interview is highly valuable for anyone who wants to do more than merely survive in the corporate world and instead build a truly successful, resilient, and fulfilling career.
In his conversation with Edward Bjurstrom, former Vice President of Operations at Gilead Sciences and author of The Success Guide: How to Thrive in the Corporate Environment, Niels Brabandt explores what sustainable success in large organisations really requires. The discussion moves far beyond generic career advice and focuses on the practical realities leaders and professionals face every day: pressure, politics, constant change, technological disruption, and the challenge of remaining effective and credible over long careers E_469_2026-01-23_The Success Gu…
Listeners gain rare insights from four decades of senior leadership experience in a highly regulated, high-performance industry. Bjurstrom explains why self-awareness is a decisive leadership competence, how lack of it destroys trust, and why senior executives must actively build systems for honest feedback if they want to avoid living in an echo chamber. He shows how focus and productivity can be regained in an age of permanent distraction, how the psychological state of flow can be cultivated for deep work and strategic problem-solving, and why emotional regulation and asking the right questions are often more powerful than issuing directives.
The interview also provides a realistic view on leadership development across cultures and hierarchies, including what it takes to build trust, credibility, and performance in complex international environments. Bjurstrom’s reflections on purpose, learning, storytelling, and long-term career growth speak directly to decision makers who want to create impact rather than burn out in constant firefighting.
For ambitious professionals, senior managers, and executives who want to understand how to thrive, not just cope, in demanding corporate systems, this conversation offers structured thinking, practical tools, and leadership wisdom grounded in real experience rather than theory.
Niels Brabandt
---
More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
Is excellent leadership important to you?
Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn
Website: www.NB-Networks.biz
Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, Moderator.
Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Success in the corporate world. And of course, some people might now think, "Oh, corporate is bad enough, but how to make it there? I don't even know. Maybe it's just coincidence, and maybe it's not." We have an expert exactly on that here with us today. Hello and welcome, Edvard Bjørstrøm.
Edward Bjurstrom
Nice to be here. Thank you very much.
Niels Brabandt
Thank you very much for taking the time, and we get straight into the interview. You wrote the book The Success Guide, and let's face it, many people write these kinds of books. What was your motivation to write The Success Guide? How to thrive in the corporate environment? So it's very specific about the corporate world. What was your motivation to do that?
Edward Bjurstrom
Well, I wanted to capture what I might have learned in the last 40 years working in the pharmaceutical industry. Hopefully, it would help others avoid some of the mistakes that I made. And in crafting the title, I was very specific about thriving in the corporate environment rather than just surviving, which we're built to survive. But it's kind of a negative orientation. I want people to thrive and enjoy what they're doing and do it well. The other thing is I wanted to describe how to thrive. There's a whole lot of books that will tell you what you should do, but not very many will tell you exactly how to do it. And that was my real focus.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, excellent. And I look at you, Sivi. I mean, you've been Vice President of Operations, Gilead Sciences, Board of Directors, etc., etc.
Niels Brabandt
I mean, let's face it, when we talk about the corporate world, you use the word thrive. Many people would rather say, "I'm actually happy when I just survive the week." Basically, my next goal in mind when I wake up on Monday is, next goal in life is Friday. So how can you talk about thriving when many people are on the level of barely surviving the corporate world at the moment?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, well, that's the whole point. One of the things really is your mindset about your environment. It should be exciting to go to work. It should be kind of a thrill to accomplish good things that the company is working towards. I had the blessing of working in the pharmaceutical business, making life-saving drugs. And that was a privilege, and it was exciting. And yes, there were lots of challenges and problems and difficulties. But the idea, when you have a problem, a setback, or a difficulty, then embrace it as a learning opportunity rather than feeling like you're a failure.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. So one of the main parts you talk about in the book is that you say that self-awareness is extremely critical. Probably many people are now listening to this and say, "I can tell you five leaders immediately off my brain right here who have absolutely no perception about themselves, how the team thinks about them, how everything works. They have a completely different perception of reality." So can you elaborate on the self-awareness? Especially, how can leaders actually really become more self-aware? Because many struggle with that.
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, that's true. I've met many people who were profoundly not self-aware. So what happens is, if you're self-aware, then you understand how you affect the people around you. If you're not, you end up behaving mostly in a self-centered way. It's kind of an ironic thing. You're not self-aware, but you're really focused on yourself, which is interesting. But the behavior of a person who's not self-aware will oftentimes destroy relationships, destroy trust, and they're not even aware that that's happening.
Edward Bjurstrom
And so how you can build self-awareness is, first of all, you have to develop a realistic system for getting feedback from the people that are around you, your peers, your direct reports, whatever, in a way that you can get honest feedback. And when it comes, it's more important when you get feedback to embrace it, to accept that you need to change. And if you get feedback and you just ignore it because you don't like it, that's worse than never asking for it in the first place. But how can you actually improve and do better and adjust your approach to interacting with people unless you get real good feedback? And the big problem is that the higher up in an organization you go, the less likely people are going to give you the bad news, especially if it's about yourself.
Niels Brabandt
So how can you encourage to give them the bad news? Because many people fear, "When I give the bad news," I mean, we all know with the bad message, usually it's the messenger who faces the first negative consequences of that. So how can you encourage people to actually give you the negative without having the fear of retaliation?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, that's a great question. That's what I mean by a system for getting honest feedback. So what you really need is a trusted person to collect the information for you from at least three or four, maybe half a dozen folks or more, and strip off all the names and anything that might identify who the feedback came from.
Edward Bjurstrom
And that's fair. So it's not exactly anonymous. You know the people that you reached out to, but you don't know the exact comment from any one individual. And it would be a serious mistake to try to go around and figure out who said what. What you want to do is understand the feedback and really embrace the idea that you need to make some changes.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. So when we now talk about this, many people say, "Look, with all of what you say, I agree. However, we have so many challenges and distractions today, change of strategy, then there is AI, then there is this trend, and that basically every time I try to focus on anything, someone says, 'No, we have something new for you, and this is the flavor of the month for June 2026 or any other date.'" So how can people actually focus when we have so many challenges and distractions today? How can I actually focus and increase my productivity?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, with the invention of kind of the iPhone, we ended up with a computer in our pocket, and that was thought to be a great thing, but it actually brings a lot of distractions to everyday life. You get notifications, and then there's email and interruptions. So there are two kinds of interruptions or distractions. First of all, there's internal, and then there's external.
Edward Bjurstrom
So the internal is your idea that you want to stay connected, and every time you get a notification, you need to shift your focus to your phone or your computer versus what you're working on. The external is when people come by and trouble you with inane ideas or they just want a piece of information or your boss comes by. Those are external.
Edward Bjurstrom
And what you really want to do, if you want to get good work done in a focused period of time, first of all, you have to carve that out in your schedule. You have to protect that. And so whether it's closing your door, hanging up a sign, do not disturb, or whatever for an hour, hour and a half, or two hours so you can get some very focused, important work done and let it be known.
Edward Bjurstrom
And so you got to communicate that to the people around you. And also, you have to turn off all the notifications on your computer, your phone, and resist that temptation to shift your focus because it might take you 10 or 15 minutes to get back to where you were with one single distraction. So in a two-hour period, if you're distracted three or four or five times, you pretty much have lost the opportunity.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. And one thing I saw on you, Sivi, which I found really interesting was for research, because many people might now have the impression, "Okay, maybe this is some American rich family, Harvard bachelor's, Stanford master's, doctorate maybe in Yale afterwards, and then all the doors were open." And when I looked at you, Sivi, it's not one of these CVs. It's not one of these rich family people here. You are all open doors. And you even led an organization in Puerto Rico, which is not that common. May you talk about that area?
Niels Brabandt
How did that shape your view of leadership? What did you learn from that experience leading an organization in Puerto Rico?
Edward Bjurstrom
That was a great cultural experience, completely different from living in California. And I'm in Tennessee right now, but at the time, I was from California. And living and working in Puerto Rico, you know only about a third of the island actually speaks really fluent English. And so I had to learn Spanish, actually, while I was there. In that process, learning a language, as many of your listeners would know, gives you insights into how people think. So that was really insightful to me.
Edward Bjurstrom
The other thing was when I arrived there, the facility was not in good shape. It had a number of problems. I had to make a lot of changes, including letting some of the leadership team go. And Puerto Rico is somewhat of a familial organization. Relationships are really important. So I was not considered a good guy at first.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, I can imagine.
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, but the thing that I really learned there was I was able to really connect with the people and gain their trust by doing meaningful things that let them know I cared about them. And that all the changes that I was making was to ensure the success of the organization and the future of their jobs. And so after a couple of years, when I left, they gave me a big party and obviously showed great appreciation for what I was able to do there and because they came to understand that it was really for their benefit as well.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. And in your book, you also cover the subject of flow. You say it's part of increased productivity, which it is, by the way, for anyone listening right now. Some people always think that flow is something esoterical. It is not. There's scientific evidence to it. Michali, Csikszentmihalyi from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton Business School, has a professorship there about this topic, one of the leading business schools, universities worldwide.
Niels Brabandt
So what would you say for people who are probably not too familiar with this topic and who heard, "Yeah, flow, something like that exists, and I think people work somehow in the flow, but don't really know what that means"? Can you explain what it is and why do you think it is important?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, it is important. And it's really the easiest way to understand it is a state of mind where you're absolutely and completely focused on an important task. And there's some important parameters that allow you to get into that. First of all, you can't have any distractions because that just kind of destroys your ability to focus.
Edward Bjurstrom
But there's a couple of other things. There has to be some risk, something that's really important that you're trying to accomplish. And if you don't accomplish it, there's some risk associated with that. That helps you stay focused. The other thing is what's called the challenge-skill balance. If the challenge is much greater than your skill, then you'll be anxious and you're not going to really get into that flow mental state.
Edward Bjurstrom
If your skills are much greater than the challenge, then you kind of get bored and you're not likely to really stick with it either. And so it is an enjoyable thing where you're so focused on the task that time kind of seems to stand still. I believe that everybody has this experience occasionally. And people who really understand it try to cultivate that by carving out time to really focus, eliminate distractions, and get some really important work done in a really short period of time.
Edward Bjurstrom
And I'll tell you what happens if ever you're in a situation where there's a real emergency, something comes together that's a real big problem, and you bring a team, and it's the kind of situation where everybody checks their ego at the door, all the petty differences go away because they're dealing with such an important thing. That's an opportunity to really get some great work done. And a lot of that is because of this concept of flow. It's a mental state of supreme focus, increased creativity, and problem-solving. And I've often wondered why is it that we need to have an emergency or a crisis in order to have such a great team interaction and get good work done.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. I have a bonus question. Are you ready for a bonus question?
Edward Bjurstrom
Oh, sure.
Niels Brabandt
Yes. So I'm going to give you my opinion first because otherwise, I think the audience might judge you. I can tell you I experienced flow during my career when I worked in pharmaceuticals and IT, and that's my personal opinion. I worked a lot of hours. I didn't grow up naturally with a free enterprise background. I come from a public service family, and I worked long and hard hours to get myself into the industry, first pharmaceuticals, then IT, and I enjoyed that thoroughly.
Niels Brabandt
When now people say, "Hey, I'd like to be vice president of operations of an international corporation as well. However, due to personal preferences, I prefer to work four hours a week, 35 hours maximum." Do you think that thriving in a corporate environment with senior vice president or higher career is compatible with, let's say, strong focus on limited working hours? And then I'm not here for rage bait or just causing anger or judging certain generations. I'm just genuinely interested in your opinion because you can probably now derive my opinion because in my opinion, the more hours you put in, the more you learn, and the experience grows your network as well. That's just my personal opinion. I'd like to hear your take on it.
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, that's actually a great question. Unfortunately, in the corporate environment, a whole lot of time is wasted. A lot of people are just kind of going through the motion. They get to work by 10:00 in the morning, the wheels fall off, and they're in conflict with their peers, and they're not getting anything good done. One of the big innovations in recent times is this idea of remote work. You might be able to get in four hours in a remote setting what you might get done in eight hours back in the office. So it's a complicated set of circumstances, but you're absolutely right.
Edward Bjurstrom
To me, working was a joy. Yeah, I did put in long hours for many years. I'm retired now, and that's why I wrote the book to try to capture what I learned. But realistically, life is a learning experience. I think it's the most enjoyable thing is to learn new things. It expands your ability to understand people and systems. And so I embrace work. I spend a lot of time even now doing interviews and working on my second book.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. I'm going to have a question on your second book, of course, at the end of this interview. One aspect which I find fascinating in your book is you mentioned something which is still pretty new for many leaders. You talk about storytelling. And often leaders say, "Look, storytelling is something for the marketing people, for the sales department. I'm leading people in operations and need to get things done. I don't need storytelling." You have a different take on that. Why do you think that leaders need to be good storytellers?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, it's a fascinating thing. I enjoy telling stories. The value that the leader has is if you can tell a good story, especially if you're dealing with, let's say, change or difficulties, telling a good story to your people actually gets to people at the heart level. You can give them a lot of facts, but that just rolls off. People don't remember that. But if you give a compelling, riveting story with details that are memorable, it sticks with people. And you can explain difficult things through a story that get past people's defenses and that they can actually really understand it.
Edward Bjurstrom
And so there's a kind of a recipe that Hollywood has certainly embraced about how to put a good story together. There's always a hero, there's always a villain, there's a quest, and a guide, the most important thing. And realize that your employees who actually do the work are the heroes, not you. You might be the guide. Hopefully, you're the guide to help your folks actually get good work done. But they're the heroes. And if you have that attitude, you'll encourage your people greatly.
Niels Brabandt
I think these are great words here. So when we now come to a close of this interview and people think, "Okay, I really like to thrive in my corporate environment. However, I really don't know where to start." What is your one action that people can take this week to begin thriving rather than just surviving at work?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah, I think the most important thing is manage your emotions. That's all part of self-awareness. But the one thing to do, just concentrate on asking good questions to understand. In difficult circumstances, people tend to just react. Instead, ask a good question like, "Why do you think that? Why are you upset?"
Edward Bjurstrom
Some simple things that calm people down, and they give you an opportunity to begin to dialogue about what's really going on. And asking good questions has been one of the, I call it a secret weapon for actually managing various circumstances and giving you the open door to understand what's really happening.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. So the success guide, How to Thrive in the Corporate Environment, available right now, written by you, Edvard Bjørnstrøm. And you already said you're writing a second book. Of course, I'm curious about that. What will the second book be?
Edward Bjurstrom
I'd like to take some of the things that are in this first book and make it available for younger people, people starting out. The young people are the future of our world. And truthfully, a lot of them might be confused about what really makes it possible for them to succeed. That's my next focus.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent. And of course, one question I have to ask, but now people say, "Hey, I think we'd probably like to engage you as a speaker or a coach or someone who can help our people." How can people reach out to you?
Edward Bjurstrom
Yeah. Well, I have a consulting company, really more for coaching. Just let me know, ed@mountaintopconsult.com.
Niels Brabandt
Excellent.
Edward Bjurstrom
Ed@mountaintopconsult.com.
Niels Brabandt
Perfect. I think these are the perfect final words. The success guide, How to Thrive in the Corporate Environment, available right now, written by Edvard Bjørnstrøm. Edvard, thank you very much for your time.
Edward Bjurstrom
Thank you.