Last month, McKinsey released its Global Energy Perspective 2025, offering a detailed outlook on long-term energy trends, transition pathways, and the evolving economics of global systems. When combined with the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2025, these perspectives create a clearer picture of what the coming decade will demand from leaders in the energy sector.
Drawing on these insights and supported by real-time knowledge from Friisberg Spain who specialise in placing C-suite and senior leaders across the energy industry we highlight the themes most relevant for today’s organisations.
McKinsey’s scenarios show that the transition will not unfold along a single predictable path. Spanish energy companies are experiencing rapid policy evolution, fluctuating subsidy structures, and fast-changing regulatory expectations.
This dominance of renewables means organisations increasingly need leaders with strong strategic foresight, the ability to navigate uncertainty, and the depth of regulatory understanding required to operate successfully in solar, wind, hydrogen, and grid-modernisation markets.
Despite the rapid growth of renewables, McKinsey still anticipates meaningful fossil-fuel demand well beyond 2050. Spain reflects this hybrid reality:
Friisberg Spain frequently conducts searches for executives who understand both conventional energy operations and emerging transition technologies. A combination that is becoming more valuable across the Iberian energy landscape.
McKinsey highlights that technologies such as green hydrogen will expand gradually unless supported by strong regulatory intervention. Spain, however, is an exception:
This environment requires leaders comfortable managing long-horizon projects, working with investors, and collaborating across government and industry.
Both McKinsey and the IEA emphasise that energy transitions will progress unevenly between regions. Spain is positioning itself as a European energy-export hub:
Friisberg Spain plays a central role in this network, especially as Iberia emerges as a strategic link between the EU and Latin America.
The IEA notes that the world is entering the “age of electricity.” Spain is already seeing this surge:
Friisberg Spain is increasingly supporting clients who require leaders capable of managing these diverse needs.
According to the IEA, renewables continue to grow faster than any other source of energy. Spain’s 2024 electricity mix illustrates this:
Nuclear remains a stabilising force, while solar continues rapid expansion. Leaders must balance innovation in renewables with long-term infrastructure planning.
Across Friisberg, organisations are increasingly seeking leaders who combine strategic transition capability with commercial discipline, operational excellence, and digital fluency. In Spain, this is especially pronounced as energy businesses accelerate efforts in renewables, storage, grids, hydrogen, and industrial decarbonisation.
Friisberg Spain continues to play an essential role in shaping leadership pipelines for these sectors, identifying individuals capable of driving transformational change while ensuring operational and financial performance.
Friisberg’s global reach combines deep sector understanding, partner-led search quality, local-market knowledge, and strong cross-border cooperation. Our office in Madrid has become a flagship practice in the energy sector, consistently placing C-suite executives, transformation leaders, board members, and senior P&L heads who are shaping one of Europe’s most dynamic markets.
McKinsey and the IEA both reinforce a fundamental truth: the energy transition requires leaders who can bridge legacy systems and emerging technologies, navigate uncertainty, and deliver sustainable, commercially viable growth.
Friisberg Spain is ready to support clients in meeting this defining leadership challenge.
In recent years, technological changes have been reshaping the world of work in ways that profoundly transform employment. Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) does not “just” automate: it generates new ways of working, new professions, and new competencies. While many fear that AI will “take people’s jobs,” and we often discuss which roles are at risk, it’s equally important to examine the other side: which jobs will thrive in the future.
If we look at broader fields, the following areas may contain roles that will be the winners in the coming years:
AI excels in structured, repetitive tasks: collecting data, automating repetitive decisions, generating text or code. For example, IT development, customer service, and simple administrative work are already visibly changing.
In contrast, roles that require creativity, human intuition, emotional intelligence, or strategic thinking - such as product development, strategic consulting, creative agency work, and leadership roles - will be in a strong position in the AI era. Here AI doesn’t replace; it augments, freeing humans from routine tasks.
Introducing and operating AI requires more than end-users: it needs people who design, run, interpret, and adapt AI systems. Such professions include data and machine-learning engineers (Data Scientists, ML Engineers), AI product developers, and AI ethics and governance leaders.
Companies aiming to become “AI-mature” will compete for these specialists, meaning demand for these roles will grow.
While automating highly structured and mechanizable jobs is easy, roles requiring strong interpersonal skills, empathy, and complex human-to-human interaction remain relatively safe. Examples include healthcare assistants, mental-health professionals, counsellors, and creative employees.
AI can support efficiency here, but cannot replace the human element.
Many jobs won’t disappear but will transform. AI will take over routine, rule-based tasks, while humans take on higher-level responsibilities.
For example, the data analyst role used to focus on modelling and reporting; today, interpreting data, supporting decisions, and drawing strategic conclusions are the priority.
In other words, the professions that win are those where humans and AI work together and where humans retain final control, creativity, and value creation.
As AI technologies spread rapidly, roles with a high share of automatable tasks will become disadvantaged - typically administrative work, data collection and entry, simple customer service, invoicing, and repetitive internal activities.
But success requires more than simply “avoiding automation”: we must prepare for the AI era - learning how to collaborate with AI and create comparative advantages that AI cannot generate alone.
• Develop skills AI cannot replicate: creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, complex decision-making.
• Learn to use AI tools, enabling true human–machine collaboration not merely fearing automation.
• At the organizational level: build operations where AI implementation is not just a technology initiative but a business and operating-model transformation.
• Reskilling and adaptation: those who do work today that AI may take over tomorrow should consider how to transition into higher-level roles.
AI likely won’t eliminate all jobs, but it will significantly transform many. Those roles will thrive where humans perform deeply human tasks: creative, complex, relationship- and intuition-driven work.
The “AI-winning” professions combine human value that algorithms cannot independently generate with the technological fluency required in the future of work.
If we recognize this direction as professionals or business leaders, we can not only adapt but gain a competitive advantage.
Here is the list of 65 specific occupations with the highest expected growth that could be winners of the AI era in the next 5–10 years, according to the US Career Institute.
After reading through - especially seeing my position ranked 64th - I felt reassured that I still have a future. 😊
As someone working closely with C‑suite executives at Friisberg & Partners International I’m curious to find out what makes leaders excel. A recent statistic from EY immediately stood out:
It’s no coincidence. Sport develops resilience, teamwork, discipline, and decision-making under pressure all the qualities that make leaders thrive. As EY puts it, while we’re all competing in the war for talent, there’s another battle ongoing: the fight for gender parity. Women gain a crucial advantage when sport becomes a lever to level the playing field.
Yet, too many girls step away from sport early. By the age of 16, 64% of girls have stopped participating, often due to fear of judgment, low confidence, or academic pressures. These numbers show why it’s so important to encourage girls and women to stay active and share the lessons learned along the way.
I’ve seen the impact of this personally. I’ve been rowing since 2009 and, since 2016, have balanced a full-time career with training and competition, including years in GB high-performance programmes, at Molesey Boat Club, Oxford Brookes University, and with The Paralympic British Rowing Team. Managing work alongside rowing taught me lessons in focus, resilience, and leadership that continue to shape how I operate today.
The EY article argues that athletes often become exceptional leaders because of the unique pressures and demands of sport. As a cox, I learned to:
These are the same skills that make for an effective C‑suite executive: clear decision-making under pressure, motivating diverse teams, and adapting strategy on the fly.
While this was extremely rewarding, it included many hours a day driving to training, family sacrifices and annual leave being used up on competition. The experience taught me lessons about resilience, focus, and balance that I now bring into my work with executives:
Sport teaches you that leadership is not just about personal excellence - it’s about lifting the entire team and sustaining performance under pressure, but my main takeaway is to make sure you enjoy the journey. Otherwise, what's the point?
Whether you’re in high-performance sport, a professional environment, or both, the crossover is clear:
The EY article highlights female athletes as future leaders but the principle applies to all leaders: the lessons learned in sport create exceptional, adaptable, and resilient leaders.
I acknowledge that I sometimes didn't get the balance right along the way which left me burnt out, but the reminder of why I was doing this, always pulled me through.
So how can we close the gender gap? Keep showing up for women's sport. Simple.
Scandinavia is a region, not a country. Within it lie nations such as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark - each with subtle but consequential differences in how work is done, how leaders lead, and how people relate.
Many say ‘The Finnish design, the Swedes build, the Danes sell and the Norwegian buys’. Michael Karlsson from our Swedish office offers his take on the cultural nuances in Sweden.
Swedish organizations tend to emphasize equality. You might see senior executives grabbing lunch in the staff canteen, and open dialogue is encouraged, even when expressed views diverge from the majority.
One of the more striking, and sometimes frustrating, behaviours to outsiders is how decisions are made: only after lengthy discussion and with broad buy-in. Some see this as overly cautious or consensus-driven, and I agree it can be slow at times.
Swedish managers are typically strong on defining objectives, but less directive about execution. Topics like politics or religion are avoided. Emotions are usually kept in check, confrontation is muted, and critical feedback is often delivered indirectly.
Outside office hours, Swedes generally respect strong boundaries. Socializing outside work is limited unless it’s an organized event. At the same time, benefits such as generous parental leave, extended holidays, and solid pension contributions are highly valued and contrast favourably with many local norms elsewhere.
For many acquired firms, the Swedish way can feel frustrating and not very transparent: the deliberative decision process, indirect communication, and strict work–life boundaries represent a different rhythm than they’re used to.
And for businesses entering Sweden from abroad, a common and unexpected hurdle is the cost and legal obligations tied to Swedish employment norms - especially around parental leave, vacation entitlements, and pension contributions.
But those very attributes - equality, fairness, and balance - are also what many come to admire and adopt over time.
At Friisberg, our experience blends local insight with global reach.
We regularly support clients navigating cross-border transitions, whether via management audits, integration projects, or executive search mandates.
Our role is not just to explain culture, but to bridge it helping clients connect foreign ways of doing business with Swedish norms sustainably.
Note: These insights reflect common patterns observed in professional settings. Every individual and organisation is unique, and no culture can be defined in absolute terms. Our aim is to highlight trends that international leaders may encounter when working across borders, and to share how Friisberg helps clients navigate these differences with respect and effectiveness.
The rise of artificial intelligence is not a future speculation, but a present-day reality. The way companies operate - from customer service to decision-making and value creation - is transforming rapidly. AI is not just another new technology: it represents a strategic shift in thinking that will create new winners and losers in the marketplace.
Today, the question is no longer whether a company uses artificial intelligence, but how maturely and with what business logic it does so.
Many companies begin AI projects believing that the quick implementation of a few “boxed” solutions will make their processes more efficient. However, this usually leads only to local optimization. The true value of AI lies in its ability to reorganize the way work is done, how decisions are made, how resources are allocated, and even how the company itself is structured.
An AI-capable organization recognizes that AI:
Our experience shows that companies successful in the AI era consciously build maturity across the following five dimensions:
The first step is not implementation, but assessment:
To support this, the AI Readiness & AI Maturity assessment provides a 360° view of what the organization is ready for - and what it is not.
The advantage: avoiding costly, frustrating AI projects that start in the wrong direction.
The gain: fast, focused AI implementation that creates tangible business value.
AI is not optional. It is the new minimum for competitiveness.
Artificial intelligence represents a paradigm shift that reshapes industries, work, and value creation. Success depends not on technology itself, but on whether the organization is ready to adopt, operate, and use AI strategically.
At Friisberg, we not only prepare your business for the adoption of AI, but also support you in implementing concrete solutions through our strategic collaboration partners (AI Architects).
When I sit in board meetings, I can usually tell within minutes whether there is a genuine people voice in the room.
It is not about someone from HR being present, it is about whether the conversation shows empathy, curiosity and an understanding of how people actually work - what motivates them, what holds them back and what builds trust or creates fear.
Many boards still see HR as a function rather than a lens. They value human capital as a cost centre instead of a strategic asset and that is where the problem begins.
The Data Behind the Gap
Despite years of progress in governance and diversity, UK boards remain light on people expertise.
The message is clear: Boards constantly talk about people yet rarely include a people expert in the conversation.
The Real Risk of Excluding HR
Almost every major board crisis of the past decade has started with people.
Cultural drift, leadership misalignment, or poor communication, but none of these problems can be solved by finance or compliance alone.
Boards that lack HR expertise often miss early warning signs such as rising attrition, inconsistent leadership behaviour, or disengagement at key transition points. By the time those issues reach the boardroom, the damage has usually been done.
Having a senior HR voice at the table changes that. It ensures that discussions about numbers also include context about morale and capacity, that risk assessments consider human behaviour, not just systems and that succession planning becomes proactive instead of reactive.
The Strategic Power of HR Insight
Exceptional HR leaders have a rare ability to read an organisation, they see patterns in people behaviour that others overlook.
A skilled HR Director reads an organisation the way a CFO reads a balance sheet., not in numbers, but in signals. They see how leadership tone affects retention, how structure influences motivation and how culture shapes performance.
When that insight is present in the boardroom, decision-making improves, strategy becomes more realistic and more humane and companies make better calls on growth, transformation and risk because they understand the capacity of the people behind the plan.
I recently spoke with Tess Hilson-Greener who has 30+ years of global experience leading HR transformation across corporates, government, and private equity-backed businesses. She commented,
“HR is changing from a supporter of strategy to a shaper of it. It enables boards to see beyond metrics and into meaning understanding not just what was delivered, but how it was achieved and at what human cost or gain.
“In the decade ahead, HR’s will take on new board-level roles such as Chief People Strategists, AI Governance Officers, and Workforce Architects sitting alongside CFOs and COOs as equal stewards of organisational intelligence and value creation.
“The HR professionals who recognise this shift early will lead the organisations of the future invited onto boards by merit, not mandate. They will earn their place through insight, foresight, and measurable impact, redefining what leadership looks like in the AI-centred decade ahead.”
The UK Context
The UK’s regulators and investors are already signalling that people insight is no longer optional.
The FRC Corporate Governance Code 2024 expects boards to explain how culture supports strategy, not only how performance links to targets. The Investment Association Stewardship Priorities 2025 list human capital management alongside climate and technology as a top focus for governance.
People expertise has become strategic and boards that fail to include it risk appearing out of touch.
Why It Matters to Investors and CEOs
Investors increasingly recognise that culture and leadership quality determine whether strategy translates into performance. A London Business School Governance Insight Study 2024 found that boards with HR representation achieved 17% higher return on invested capital following major organisational change compared with those without.
For CEOs, a people-focused voice at board level acts as ballast, because it grounds decisions in reality and sends a signal across the workforce that people truly matter.
Why Friisberg UK
At Friisberg & Partners International, we believe leadership begins with people so when we assess or advise boards, we look carefully at how directors listen, challenge and communicate.
We work closely with HR Directors across the UK who are redefining what modern leadership looks like. They are commercially sharp, emotionally intelligent and structurally influential. They are not back-office operators, they are strategic anchors.
Our role is to help boards recognise that value and embed it in governance. When people insight informs strategy, performance follows.
Final Reflection
The strongest boards understand a simple truth: you cannot govern what you do not understand and you cannot understand an organisation without understanding its people.
Question for reflection: If your board was making a critical decision tomorrow, who would be the voice reminding them what it means for the people who make it happen?
When Friisberg supports international clients entering or acquiring companies in Germany, the conversation quickly turns to what many call “the German way of doing business.” For foreign firms, Germany’s cultural traits can be both reassuring and surprising combining precision and structure with a distinctly collaborative mindset.
German business culture values clarity, order, and defined responsibility. Hierarchies exist and are respected, yet leaders are expected to be rational rather than authoritarian. Authority is derived from expertise and competence rather than position alone.
Unlike in the UK, where pragmatism may drive quicker calls, or Sweden, where consensus dominates, German leaders expect decisions to be based on thorough analysis and detailed preparation. This process can appear slow to outsiders, but once a decision is made, implementation is swift and precise.
German professionals typically communicate in a clear and straightforward manner. Euphemisms and indirect hints, common in British or Swedish workplaces, are rare. “No” means no, and criticism is delivered plainly, though constructively.
Documentation matters. Contracts, meeting minutes, and project plans are carefully prepared and meticulously followed. Foreign partners used to more informal or verbal agreements often need to adapt quickly to this emphasis on the written word.
Work hours are respected as professional time, and personal lives are kept largely separate. Unlike in the UK, where colleagues often socialize outside the office, or Hungary, where personal networks blend with business, Germans generally prefer to keep professional and private spheres distinct.
There is a strong cultural emphasis on efficiency and productivity during working hours, rather than staying late to demonstrate commitment. Punctuality is non-negotiable - arriving even five minutes late to a meeting may be perceived as unprofessional.
For international businesses, the rigidity of structure and adherence to process can feel daunting. Negotiations are typically thorough, with a strong focus on detail, legal frameworks, and risk management. Casual improvisation or “figuring it out as we go” is rarely accepted.
On the other hand, once mutual trust is established and agreements are in place, foreign companies often find German partners to be highly reliable, consistent, and long-term oriented.
Germany is one of Europe’s largest and most competitive markets. For international companies, succeeding here requires more than meeting compliance standards, it demands a genuine understanding of how German’s work, decide, and lead.
Friisberg, with its presence across Germany and Europe, bridges these cultural nuances. We help clients align their leadership and organizational practices with local expectations without losing sight of their global identity.
For those entering the German market, cultural awareness is not just a courtesy. It is a strategic advantage.
Note: These insights reflect common patterns observed in professional settings. Every individual and organisation are unique, and no culture can be defined in absolute terms. Our aim is to highlight trends that international leaders may encounter when working across borders, and to share how Friisberg helps clients navigate these differences with respect and effectiveness.
As global tensions rise, Sweden’s defence strategy is undergoing significant changes, influencing both business practices and executive leadership. We recently asked our audience, how should businesses respond to emerging military-related obligations in Europe? The results?
50% = Align with EU defence plans
17% = Stay neutral, core focus
17% = Ethical-based cooperation
17% = Ask Govt for clear policy
We sat down with Friisberg Partner Michael Karlsson, who observes how these shifts in defence strategy are reshaping executive search and corporate resilience in Sweden.
Since reinstating conscription in 2017, Sweden has a selective service system where only a small percentage of 18-year-olds are called up, though this may increase due to the Ukraine crisis. Under Sweden’s Totalförsvarsplikt (Total Defence Obligation), businesses, especially those providing critical infrastructure, are required to maintain contingency plans and may need to release staff for military or civil defence duties during crises.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has intensified the demand for executives with military and strategic experience. Organizations are increasingly seeking leaders with crisis management expertise to navigate geopolitical risks and enhance resilience.
Diversity in leadership - across gender, culture, and professional experience boosts Sweden’s defence strategy by fostering innovation and adaptability. A broad range of perspectives is key to building resilience in the face of future threats.
CEOs must now integrate security and continuity into their business strategies, especially regarding supply chain and cyber risks. Discussions about offering lower taxes in exchange for employees participating in military training reflect Sweden's readiness to adapt to changing defence priorities.
At Friisberg, we’re committed to promoting co-opetition within Sweden’s defence sector, encouraging collaboration among stakeholders to drive innovation and strengthen the country’s defence capabilities.
Sweden’s NATO membership has reshaped defence priorities and increased the focus on leadership in defence tech and the public sector. The country’s defence strategy now emphasizes preparedness and resilience, marking a new chapter in Sweden’s security landscape.
Over the years, I have worked with many boards and have seen first-hand the difference that strong Non-Executive Directors can make. The best ones share certain qualities that go far beyond technical expertise or impressive CVs - they bring balance, perspective and courage to the boardroom.
For me, these qualities can be summed up in what I call ‘The Seven Cs of a Good NED’.
A capable NED combines sound judgement with practical wisdom. They know their craft and understand how organisations really work. It is not about knowing everything, but about knowing what matters most, and when to step in.
Curiosity keeps a board alive. The best NEDs never stop asking questions, not to trip people up, but to see things from every angle. They read beyond the board pack, stay connected to the business and are genuinely interested in the people who make it run.
Boards work best when there is mutual respect and trust. A collaborative NED listens carefully, values differing opinions and builds bridges between executives and non-executives; they understand that the board’s strength lies in collective wisdom, not individual authority.
Good challenge is at the heart of governance. It means testing ideas without undermining confidence and the best NEDs know how to ask hard questions in a constructive way, keeping discussions focused and purposeful.
Confidence allows a NED to hold their own when opinions diverge, but it also means having the humility to admit when they do not know something. The right balance of confidence and modesty brings credibility and respect around the board table.
Being a NED is not an honorary title, it requires time, preparation and genuine involvement. The most effective NEDs are those who show up fully, engage deeply and stay informed between meetings.
Courage is what separates a good NED from a great one. It is the willingness to speak up, even when it is uncomfortable and courage means standing firm on matters of ethics, accountability and fairness. It is about doing what is right, not what is easy.
In every strong board I have seen, these seven qualities appear in some form. They are not static attributes, but habits that grow through experience, reflection and self-awareness.
As governance expectations continue to rise, the best boards are those that recognise the human side of leadership. The Seven Cs provide a simple framework, but living them takes discipline, empathy and resolve.
At Friisberg UK, we focus on finding people who genuinely embody these seven traits. True board calibre is not measured by titles or tenure, but by attitude, integrity and the ability to influence wisely. Our work lies in recognising these qualities early, even when they are not obvious on paper, and bringing together boards that are both capable and courageous in equal measure.
When Friisberg partners with international clients investing in or acquiring companies in Hungary, we often hear reflections on how different the local business culture feels compared to Western Europe. While Hungary is firmly integrated into the EU and global markets, its business practices remain shaped by a unique history, strong national identity, and Central European pragmatism.
Friisberg has a long-established presence in Hungary and across Central Europe. Our consultants understand the nuances of local culture while operating as One Firm, globally connected. We support clients not only in executive search but also in management audits, integration, and leadership development ensuring that international businesses entering Hungary can adapt effectively while building trust and credibility.
For companies seeking to navigate Hungarian business culture, the key is not just compliance with local law, but respect for authority, patience in negotiation, and a readiness to build strong personal relationships.
Note: These insights reflect common patterns observed in professional settings. Every individual and organisation is unique, and no culture can be defined in absolute terms. Our aim is to highlight trends that international leaders may encounter when working across borders, and to share how Friisberg helps clients navigate these differences with respect and effectiveness.
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