Who is Stefan Hyttfors
Formal:
Stefan Hyttfors is founding partner and senior advisor at Wenderfalck and a popular keynote speaker on innovative business development.
Less:
I’m a Swedish/husband/father of boy and girl.
Consulting and speaking pays my bills.
Believe in Now!
More:
Curiosity was always my driving force.
At 13 I fell in love with photography, or rather news photography.
My dream at the time was to become a photojournalist. To travel the world and be part of the action rather than to read about it. So as soon as I got my drivers license I dropped school and went “all in” as this young hang around at Expressen (Scandinavia’s largest daily back in the 80s).
After some years as a Stockholm based free lancer I decided to give Los Angeles a try. The plan needed some modifications but six months later I was on a contract living in New York City, constantly airborne to catch the story of the day.
Interview with a Texas death row inmate on Monday and then off to meet a presidential nominee in Rode Island on Tuesday. A bomb went off in Oklahoma City. Kurt Cobain killed himself in Seattle. Mike Tyson fought Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas. A couple of Swedish engineers got kidnapped in Colombia… Did I mention curiosity is my driving force?
Albanian refugees fighting for bread in Kosovo. Picture: S.Hyttfors
The trip to New York lasted for five years and If it weren’t for Simon I probably would have been doing the exact same thing today. Simon is my first child and the day he was born traveling all of a sudden became something negative. A life on the road is not compatible with fatherhood.
At the same time digital technology changed the media landscape dramatically, and network agencies made it unnecessary to travel for pictures.
My shooting days was over.
Back at Expressen in Stockholm, now as Photo Editor-In-Chief, my agenda was filled with meetings and I had to swap Photoshop for Excel..
The newspaper business was turning bad and I learned a lot about (bad) management. I also noticed journalists didn’t understand (or care for) business, and business people didn’t understand (or care for) journalism.
So I quit and went to business school.
(Surplus) Industry workers in Bengtsfors facing layoffs. Picture: S.Hyttfors
Two years without a paycheck was managed by lending money for “house renovation” (and not telling my bank about the unemployed status).
Risky, but the time out I needed and great Return On Investment.
Today I’m founding partner and chairman of the board at Wenderfalck PR-agency and at my wife’s day-spa-business Unni.
Simon is joined by sister Tilde, and the four of us reside on Ingaro in the Stockholm archipelago.
This is my base for sharing thoughts. Happy you’re with me!
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