Who is
Rasmus
We chat to Rasmus Lund-Jensen about two of his greatest loves. Chaos and a big box of LEGO.
Are you better in the morning or at night?
I’m about to become a father, so maybe come back and ask me in a few months.
What’s the first app you fire up?
Outlook or Teams. I work with colleagues in different time zones, so I need to check has come in while I’ve been away from my desk. Then it’s Excel, which is fun.
Fun? Never heard that said about Excel.
My girlfriend is always teasing me about this. I’m from a developer background so I use Excel to automate lots of things. I even used it to construct the agenda at a recent wedding, right down to logging the time they would serve the dessert.
You have just three words to describe what defines you. Which would you choose?
Ambitious. Pragmatic. And gap filler. I can’t think of one word that means ‘somebody who steps in when there’s a gap’.
What would your team say was your trademark?
Someone who is patient, a hard worker and fun.
“Gut feelings can be dangerous. You need to validate what you feel with facts and feedback from your surroundings.”
How important is your independent status?
Very. Being a consultant, I’m not clouded by any concerns about my next promotion. I’m there to move things forward, not to fulfil some personal goals. It keeps my head clear. I can just concentrate on doing my job.
Projects often involve an element of the unexpected. How do you cope?
I thrive in chaos. I love being thrown in and contributing to making a difference. Chaotic situations are a kind of disorder that you have to make sense of.
So you see some projects as starting with a mess?
It can be a bit like building something from a pile of LEGO bricks. And I should know, as I used to work for LEGO.
“Gut feelings can be dangerous. You need to validate what you feel with facts and feedback from your surroundings.”
What did you do for LEGO?
I worked in infrastructure and security, including when they went through an agile transformation. One task involved coaching the new leadership team in a different way of working. Then I was the project manager for the infrastructure at LEGO House in Billund.
Do you have a lot of LEGO bricks, then?
LEGO is close to my heart and part of my upbringing, so the answer is yes. I’m an AFOL, as they call it. An Adult Fan Of LEGO. Seriously, that’s what they call us. I can’t think of many other toys that grown men play with.
Do you build kits or just have a box of bricks?
I have both. I think, over the years, we’ve built things with instructions. Followed those instructions to the letter. Maybe we’ve lost something here. It takes genius to create the blueprint for the LEGO kit. And it takes skill to build a model. But maybe we sometimes need to let go of the instructions and create something new. I think the world needs that.
Do you have a favourite movie?
Pay It Forward, with Kevin Costner.
Why do you like it so much?
I think it’s about how beautiful and brutal the world is at the same time. Hey, I just realised I’ve never been so philosophical when describing that movie. I think the simple story is that you can do all the right things and you can still be unlucky in life.
