Name: Vesa Nissinen

Title: President

Organisation: Deep Lead Inc

Vesa Nissinen (b.1963) is the creator of the Deep Leadership program, which is the most widely used approach to leadership training and coaching in Finland. This program combines transformational leadership with deep learning.

Dr. Vesa Nissinen, a retired Colonel and Doctor of Education, is renowned for developing the Deep Leadership model, a transformational leadership approach implemented within the Finnish Defence Forces since the late 1990s.

His academic journey culminated in a doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki in 2001, where he introduced the Deep Leadership Model (DLM) and the corresponding Deep Leadership Questionnaire (DLQ).

Beyond his military career, Dr. Nissinen has authored several influential books on leadership. In 2002, he founded Deep Lead Oy, a company specializing in leadership training based on the Deep Leadership model, which has provided services to thousands of Finnish enterprises.

He has also served as the director of the Defence Forces Research Agency and holds an associate professor chair at the University of Lapland.

As a voluntary commitment, Vesa Nissinen has been the President of the Finnish Sport Shooting Federation for the last eight years. Since March 2024, Vesa has been leading a global sport institute, ISSF Academy.

His contributions have significantly influenced leadership training and practices within both military and civilian sectors in Finland.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Vesa's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

After acting as a leader in so many positions and organizations, the biggest challenge is to adapt to the changing operating environment, including the people and existing leadership culture. My way to tackle this challenge has been the proactive use of a Deep Lead Profile, which gives me a full 360-degree picture of my leadership in a new environment.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I became a leader "automatically" after ending up at Military Academy to be trained as an officer in 1983. It was not so obvious because the conscript service just before was not motivating for me. Also, the culture in the Finnish Military Academy at that time was not transformational, and I struggled a lot with my calling to serve the country. But then, ten years later, I had a chance as a leadership teacher in the Academy to have an impact on the culture, and Deep Leadership program was born!

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

Today, after COVID-19, people like me often work at home. And I still have relatively young children (twins 9 years) at home. So the early morning goes in organizing family issues, and the working day starts around 0900 hrs.

My main work is coaching - both business leaders and sports coaches - sometimes online, sometimes live at the customer premises. If needed, I may work quite late in the evening as well. One thing is important to me: I always plan a moment to have my physical training every day at some point. That has always been my principle, which I do not compromise.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Building trust and confidence is essential to my leadership, and based on the feedback over the decades, that is one of my strengths as a leader. But it does not happen automatically, even if you do not do anything wrong. You must actively give new people the opportunity to get to know you well enough so that the beautiful flower of trust can start to flourish!

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so

far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE BEYOND EXPECTATIONS. BERNARD M. BASS 1985. After finding this book ten years after it was published (summer 1995), I was convinced and able to start to work as a leadership teacher and researcher, ending up with the Deep Leadership concept. I also met Professor Bass in California in 1998, and that was, of course, very important for me.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Even if it is hard in the beginning, do not copy any role model but build your leadership on your true personality and the strengths you have. When doing this, remember that only learning every day can make us champions in leadership, which means receiving feedback from other people, including your subordinates. I know it is a paradox - to be strong and humble at the same time - but when you find the balance, you can go beyond expectations!

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far? As a young lieutenant (23 years old), I had a chance to witness the difference between average and top performance in the military. My third conscript platoon started to react to my leadership in a very positive way, and also, the cohesion among these 30 men - representing all layers of the society - became very strong. The platoon suddenly started to do much more than I was expecting, like it was a united organism instead of very different individuals. Naturally, during the primary training competition after eight weeks, my platoon was so brilliant in all aspects of training that nobody had seen anything like that before. I will never forget that lesson.