To say that Jaakko Alasaarela is determined to succeed would be an understatement. The CEO of ZEF calls his 32 employees “warriors” and identifies his corporate values as passion and bravery.
ZEF’s customers include Al Jazeera, MTV, IMF, Reuters, ITV, Vianor, Marimekko and Disney. Rovio, another customer, sits on ZEF’s board.
Mike Mullane: Describe your job in as close as possible to 10 words.
JA: Help people to achieve their goals and dreams in life!
MM: How would your colleagues describe you?
JA: I made a poll in ZEF and here is the conclusion of the answers: ”An enthusiastic, passionate and brave fellow ZEF Warrior fighting for our common goals and dreams!”
MM: What is your best quality and worst habit?
JA: My best quality is my ability to visualize great things and the best outcome in any situation. My worst habit is to smoke cigars when I feel I have achieved something great.
MM: What’s your biggest challenge - what keeps you awake at night?
JA: The promises I have made for achieving something great. During the night I stay awake finding ways to make it happen!
MM: Which social networks do you use the most and how important is social media in your life outside the office?
JA: I am mostly using WhatsApp. It is the most effective way of staying in close real-time contact with all the people I love and to share highs and challenges of life. Still my most important ”social network” is face to face meetings with the people close to me.
MM: What is the best advice you have ever received?
JA: ”You can achieve anything in life when you are willing to work for it with strong purpose!”
MM: What lesson have you learned the hard way?
JA: Humility, I have learnt the hard way how to treat people well and how to hire the right ones. I am proud and grateful that ZEF was awarded the Best Place to Work in Finland in 2016.
MM: If you could have dinner with any person alive or dead, who would it be?
JA: I would love to meet Elon Musk. I want to learn his way of thinking, especially how to set up ”right questions to answer”, which has been his way of getting answers and solving any challenge.
MM: How will people consume media 10 years from now?
JA: All media is brought automatically to people based on their needs, desires and values. This is done through social media, big data and algorithms which predict the right media to consume without the need for searching the information. This is actually what we are doing in ZEF!
