How to Rebrand the Industries Everyone Gets Wrong
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Björn Axelsson, EVP and CHRO at Sandvik, to unpack how one of Sweden’s largest industrial technology companies is changing the way people think about mining, manufacturing, AI, sustainability, and future talent.
Björn explains why mining is one of the most misunderstood industries in the talent market. Many people still picture it as old-fashioned, unsafe, or disconnected from the future, when in reality Sandvik has been working with autonomous vehicles, connected fleets, electrified equipment, digital mining, software, and AI-powered solutions for years.
Most importantly, Björn shares how Sandvik is building a future-ready workforce by investing in STEM talent, early careers, mining academies, global mobility, employee-led storytelling, AI adoption, and local communities, all while helping customers access the minerals needed for the green transition.
🎓 In this episode, Björn discusses:
Why mining is one of the most misunderstood career paths for young talent
Why employee-led storytelling is helping show the real future of industrial work
How Sandvik uses autonomous vehicles, electrification, and AI across its business
How Sandvik builds talent through 15 mining academies, graduate programs, and leadership pathways
Why STEM talent becomes more interested in mining when they understand its role in the green transition
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[00:00]->[00:30]
I would say one of the misconceptions is that we are not that technology advanced.
We have since 25 years fully autonomous vehicles that we provide to our customers.
We are contributing to the sustainability by having electrified equipment that helps our customers to be CO2 neutral.
So these are typical misconceptions around our industry.
We have the latest technology and the difference is that as an engineer, you can apply it right now here with the customer.
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You
[00:46]->[00:48]
Bjorn, welcome to the show, my friend.
How are you doing?
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Thanks, Chris.
Really happy to be here.
I'm having a really good time here in Stockholm.
The weather is beautiful and I hope you're doing well too.
[00:55]->[01:15]
Yeah, not so beautiful where we are.
Typical UK weather, but we can't complain.
Actually, I say we can't complain, but we always do complain.
So...
I keep saying, how's the year treating you?
But it feels like it's already flown by so fast.
Like, I feel like, where is the first few months of the year gone?
It's just like disappeared.
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No, it just feels like the time is going so quickly, right?
We are dealing with so many different topics, challenges.
And I think that also contributes to making time flies very quickly, right?
100%.
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Before we jump into some of the cool topics we're going to be chatting,
tell everyone a little bit more about you personally and sort of your journey to where we are now.
And then also a little bit about the organization Sandvik.
[01:38]->[02:08]
Yeah we're happy to do so i mean i started my hr career 23 years ago in the aerospace industry and i spent a few
years working as an aerospace technician before i studied hr and then i spent yeah 23 years in technology companies you know super super
fun things different companies different type of owners of companies
And today I'm with Sandvik since 2019.
I'm the chief HRO here at this company.
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We are one of the big companies in Sweden and in the Nordics of 45,000 employees.
And we have been around for 160 years.
[02:20]->[02:46]
Wow.
And when we spoke a few weeks ago, I thought I knew a lot about the business.
And I was very wrong.
And I left the call being like, wow, this is a completely different to what I when I first came in contact with the business
maybe 20 years ago to where we are now.
Maybe share a little bit about that, because I think that was fascinating, the journey that you and the team continue to be on.
[02:47]->[03:19]
Yeah, we are having a really exciting time here at Sandwich.
So we are having four different business areas here.
And so it spans from machining solutions and intelligent manufacturing software solutions to mining and construction, rock processing.
So four different business areas.
And then over the last years, which is super exciting,
is that we have acquired almost 70 companies the last six and a half years.
[03:20]->[03:41]
So we are transforming the company into the future.
Which is then of course very much more driven by software solutions, digital, electrified solutions etc.
So we are very proud about the technology that we contribute with here both when it comes to sustainability but in general to our
customers to help solve their problems.
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Was that part of the attraction for you to join the organization?
[03:45]->[04:16]
There were two aspects of it technology one given my own background so of course i'm very curious about technology and i i saw
something having all of that that i was looking for but the second was really the geographies because we are truly global i mean
many technology companies that we speak to today i mean they are present in the northern hemisphere like like most other companies somehow but we
have a very nice footprint also in the southern hemisphere
So working for Zamek, it takes you to Africa, to Latin America, to Australia,
[04:16]->[04:21]
to simply more or less all the places in the world.
And that was a key driver for me.
[04:22]->[04:31]
What would you say, and I've definitely had some of my own in our last conversation,
some of the common misconceptions when people think about mining as a career?
[04:31]->[05:10]
Yeah.
Yeah, so mining is one part of our business.
Exactly.
And that was where I actually joined into something from the beginning.
I would say one of the misconceptions is number one is that we are not that technology advanced.
And that is one of the misconceptions that we have since 25 years, fully autonomous vehicles that we provide to our customers.
We have fully connected fleet of products.
We are Contributing to the sustainability by having electrified equipment that helps our customers to be CO2 neutral and so forth.
[05:10]->[05:21]
So these are typical misconceptions around our industry.
We have the latest technology and the difference is that as an engineer, you can apply it right now here with the customers.
[05:21]->[05:28]
Yeah.
You got to tell me about the background.
This is part of one of the campaigns we have called the No Mine Car, INEMO.
[05:29]->[06:02]
And it illustrates here a car that doesn't have any minerals included, such as copper.
And that means that there will not be too much of a car here, as you can see, right?
There's more left than an empty shelf.
And with that, we want to convey the message that mining is very important, both for the industry in general,
but especially for the green transition.
We need mines to contribute and get minerals that is used for everything that has to do with the renewable energy and traditional industry.
[06:03]->[06:11]
Love it.
Do you find like quite a big perception shift when you share that with young talent?
[06:12]->[06:43]
Yes, absolutely.
So we have a little bit of, let's say, a barrier.
So most people that come to and where we have the chance to really show what mining is about,
most people get really interested and they tend to stay with us.
But we need to come to that point where we really can show ourselves from that side.
And so that is sometimes a challenge for us, for sure.
It depends a little bit of the yoga fees as well.
Our industry is very popular in many parts of the world, but let's say in the Western countries and the Anglo-Saxon countries today,
[06:43]->[06:48]
we have more of a challenge there, even though many of those countries are still very important markets for mining.
[06:49]->[06:54]
Yeah.
And I can only assume, Ben, that a big part of the technology piece is also making mining safer.
[06:54]->[07:35]
Yes.
So let's say if we look at what we contribute with, one of the pieces like you indicate, Chris,
is that by self-driving vehicles and automation, we can make the mines much safer, but also much cooler to work in.
You can bring your own Xbox control when you run one of our machines from a control room in a big capital city,
for instance, with the mine far remote from there.
So that attracts very much of the next generation also working for us so that's one of the examples and then we help our
customers to become co2 neutral by also providing fully electrified vehicles and that gives another driving experience but it also helps the the mine
[07:35]->[07:53]
and the environment in the mine to be cleaner and you don't need that much ventilation compared to if you have diesel engines in the mine
for example But most of us that have tried or maybe own an electrical car, there is another driving experience that comes with it as well,
which our customers really like.
[07:53]->[08:23]
Yeah, it's hard to describe to people.
I think when we got our first Tesla, it just makes every other car that we had feel dumb.
And I've been in the U.S.
And tried full self-drive.
And then that just is quite shocking, to be honest.
It kind of takes you back for a second.
You're like, whoa, this is...
And I think was it this week, maybe, I think they just announced in the Netherlands, they've just approved full self-drive.
[08:23]->[08:41]
So this won't, you know, now this is coming to our roads as well.
Like the future is here.
But what was such a surprise when we last spoke to you?
You've already been doing this in...
We've been your organization for a while yeah that's also you know one thing with the mining industry is that we can introduce products
[08:41]->[08:57]
such as self-driving vehicles far much earlier because it's ring fenced environment on the other hand it's very important to say that there is
also very strong string and sorry strong regulations when it comes to uh uh safety of course yeah
Yeah.
[08:57]->[09:05]
If you're talking to young talent, maybe listening right now, what's the message to them?
Why is this so attractive to the next generation?
[09:05]->[09:43]
We released the talent report here recently where we look into the stem talent pool and of course for them and we have a knowledge
challenge here to to really ensure that people really understand the mining industry that's number one like we touched on here there is a perception
also regarding safety that that mining is not the safe place to work and and i will say that the standards of safety in our
industry is extremely high i've been working in several other industries before
But I think one of the topics is that 90% of the global STEM talent pool would be interested in mining if they knew
[09:43]->[10:13]
how it contributes to the green transition.
That is a great opportunity for us because, to be clear,
we provide equipment and solutions and services for the big mining houses to extract ore.
And then of course, one of the big commodities for us and with our customers are copper.
And then another topic is of course rare earth metals, which is important as well for the green transition.
[10:15]->[10:25]
Maybe this is a silly question, but given the AI boom that we see around us,
has that been a huge influx of demand for you?
[10:25]->[10:58]
Yeah, and I would like to say that we have acquired 70 companies in the last years.
I would say that the big portion of the acquisition is related to software and digitalization.
And AI is really alive and kicking in our company as well.
I did just a quick check here actually today on one of our OKRs where we drive the transformation of AI.
We have close to 2,000 agents active right now as we speak, and we did 2.5 million prompts here last month.
[10:59]->[11:17]
So that, of course, what is big and what is small in that is we are still learning, I would say,
but we really drive the AI transformation also in our company.
And of course, we help our customers to digitalize also with the help from AI.
So most of our software solutions, they have AI features built into them.
[11:17]->[11:56]
Yeah, it's almost like, yeah, it's kind of, I've gone through this whole process the last few months with my team.
Every one of my team members are now essentially AI orchestrators.
They have a team of, you know, every role actually,
there isn't a single role in our business where they don't have at least two or three orchestrators.
And we actually went through on yesterday with the team, the team was sharing different use cases that they're really excited about.
And we're getting so much time
Back to be more creative more innovative to think more strategically and it's just it's a i think it's more of a mindset shift
[11:56]->[12:08]
if i'm being honest than a technology shift yeah the last month has more been the technology's there right it's more of like how
do i bring the team on the journey with us because it's a big shift
[12:08]->[12:44]
I agree 100%, Chris.
And I mean, you know, when we look at this, we have, let's say, three different categories of AI opportunities.
Number one is everyday job for our employees to be more productive, more efficient, like you explained, right?
The other one is that we have a huge opportunity when it comes to our back office processes inside our company.
But lastly, and maybe the most importantly, is to create new revenue streams through AI solutions, right?
So those three are all very important.
But of course, being in HR, very important for us is to have the transformation with our employees in the company in order to scale
[12:44]->[12:56]
and use AI.
And I think we can all see today who is on the train with AI and who is not, right?
So it's very, very clear.
But the progress is very, very exciting.
[12:57]->[13:20]
Obviously, you've acquired organizations, you're hiring, but you're obviously competing for talent that every organization is competing for.
What has this meant for your talent strategy?
Just walk us through your approach, because obviously you're all fighting for the same talent out there.
[13:21]->[13:52]
Yeah, I would say, you know, for us, very important there is to have a solid EVP, of course,
for how to position ourselves on the market to ensure that we can both be true when we approach our candidates and that we
are well anchored into our culture and that we have a clear purpose.
So we try really to use an EVP as a navigator for how to drive the talent attraction and so forth.
[13:52]->[13:57]
I can imagine you must put a lot of focus as well on things like early career programs.
[13:57]->[14:32]
Yes, we do.
And we have a portfolio of programs that is quite impressive, I would say.
I mean, if we just focus on the mining part,
We have 15 academies around the world that produces technicians in the mining space producing around 500 new graduates every year that we take
from the schools and that we train that you know can go directly work with our customers and so on and we have global
graduate programs that we also have a global intake to
[14:33]->[15:03]
We have around 10 different internal leadership programs that we also offer from the start of your career up until you're on an executive
level.
Then we send people to Switzerland to IMD, for example.
So there are a bunch of different initiatives that we do here.
We even run our own schools, our own gymnasiums around the world, different places of the world.
Yeah, so we invest a lot early on in the career and try to ensure that we can...
Hire people at an early stage.
[15:04]->[15:15]
Do you think that's also helped you in terms of the time to proficiency and also that stickiness that people then stay with the business
because you've invested them early on?
[15:16]->[15:52]
Yeah, it is really so.
And I think to touch on the mining topic is that we have seen in the Anglo-Saxon countries,
especially if you look at countries such as Canada, Australia, that mining engineering enrollments at university has dropped dramatically over the last 10 years.
And that is related to the picture of mining that has not been seen as, let's say, attractive in that sense.
So, of course, what does that mean for us?
Yeah, we have our own programs for non mining engineers with the best mining universities in the world.
[15:53]->[16:05]
So when you start here and you're not the mining engineer, we will, let's say,
give you the right tools and education in order to be successful in the mining space by also working with those universities around the world.
[16:07]->[16:38]
Is most of it classroom-based right now, or are you also perhaps looking at leveraging things like AI to create some digital offerings?
Because I think one of the incredible opportunities of AI is to create learning that meets people where they're at, but also
is tailored to them.
It could be even things like we're using AI right now for our learning pathways, and it even understands cultural nuance.
So depending on what country they're in, the way it will teach them a particular topic will have the nuances of their culture and obviously,
[16:39]->[16:41]
of course, language.
Is that something you're exploring, just out of curiosity?
[16:42]->[17:14]
Yeah, we do that as well.
And we have been running those programs for our own internal mining engineering programs for almost one and a half decade now.
And yeah, so I think, you know, the last years we have seen a lot of of transformation into digitalization, AI and so forth.
Absolutely.
And it's also very important because, you know, our offering to the customers is also related to, let's say, mind planning,
which is fully digital, software based and so on.
[17:14]->[17:20]
So, of course, it's important that we help our students to understand that, too, and that we design the trainings in that way.
[17:21]->[17:53]
Yeah i i said this to you on our our call when we first met but i i would love for you for you
and the team or at some point to like create more content to show somebody cool work that you do right and not maybe
it's on site seeing it you know following the day a day in the life of one of you like i think um even
i think that would really get them quite excited because i think uh
They live on social media, right?
And when they're looking at new roles now, they're looking at video, they're looking at audio, social media.
[17:54]->[18:04]
I know you're already on that journey.
It's part, obviously, why we're chatting today.
But I feel like if you look at the platforms that they're on, most organizations in your space, they're not there.
[18:05]->[18:06]
No one's there.
[18:07]->[18:18]
It's a huge...
Open space um i agree 100 yeah but i would recommend everyone that listened to this one to go to the sunwick instagram and uh
[18:18]->[18:28]
okay okay yeah nice and the difference for you know with us is that it's not run by corporate it's our employees hosting the account
every week really
[18:29]->[18:44]
Okay that's it i didn't know that great no that's what i mean right because normally it's like so overly polished and so like
people it needs to feel like organic it needs to feel real and and people gravitate i love the fact that you put that trust
[18:44]->[19:02]
yeah and yeah we really like if we want to show ourselves from the right side and from you know authentically with our employees
and that's the same one
Most of the campaign we do, we can always do more, but it's always with our own people.
So we really try to ensure that we let our employees speak about the company.
[19:02]->[19:24]
Yeah.
I mean, there's no stronger way.
If you're talking about your EVP, right?
If it comes from your employees, right?
That's the best way.
As you look ahead, there's so exciting, especially given all the acquisitions, the technology space, so much there.
What are you most excited about?
[19:25]->[20:02]
I would say looking ahead, the mining industry, I think, has a very bright future.
And I think also it has come to a point where people really start to understand how important it is with access to minerals,
for example.
I think we are on the right path here.
I think the knowledge is gradually coming.
And it's a little bit sad to say that maybe geopolitics has also exposed this a little bit more, how important it is.
Because I think if you look at the last years here, I mean, the mining industry in general has had a very nice momentum.
[20:02]->[20:28]
And with regionalization and so forth, it's more and more important to ensure that there is a safe supply of minerals in order to make
the green transition, for example.
We see that in europe but we also see that in other parts of the world where the urgency on this matter has been
increasing so i think we are on the right path and that makes also this industry very purposeful and very important yeah one of the things
[20:28]->[20:41]
that we didn't talk about which i think is not spoken about enough also is maybe the importance of the culture curiosity and the commitment
to supporting local communities where you operate because i think that's something that we don't hear about enough
[20:42]->[21:14]
I agree.
And that one is very important for us.
The purpose for many of our managers and employees around the world is really to help to improve local communities.
And our industry offers an opportunity for you to really get to know the world by traveling around.
And if you go into the mining industry historically, it's full of
People seeking for adventure but also full of people that have had a lifestyle of a nomad moving around a lot and many of the professionals
[21:14]->[21:39]
in the mining industry they live a little bit like that as well so they have seen a lot they have been around a lot
and many of the countries where you go to you you see that there is a great opportunity to improve local communities
So that's a very important topic for our organization,
that we really contribute to local communities and improve life for people in the local communities.
[21:39]->[21:41]
What does that look like?
Could you give an example?
[21:42]->[22:14]
It can be, for instance, that we help to ensure that the local communities have access to clean water.
It can be that local communities have access to electricity.
It can be, for instance, that in countries where there is problems with currencies or whatever,
that we ensure that our employees and the local communities get access to the essentials.
But it's also to help to contribute to reconciliation when it comes to indigenous peoples.
[22:16]->[22:23]
These kind of topics.
And so, yeah, and that's full of purpose for many of our employees.
[22:23]->[22:35]
Yeah, that's why I asked you that question.
I think people maybe, there is a very clear why and purpose connected.
When you talk about how you're helping them, these are things that most people take for granted.
Right, in our day to day.
[22:36]->[22:42]
Yes.
So it's very educational to work in this industry because you learn a lot about the world in that sense.
[22:43]->[23:13]
I've interviewed quite a few people in the money industry over the last sort of 10 years.
And one of the things that come up always on the podcast that just popped into my brain randomly right now is they always
mentioned that if especially those that were parents that had kids with them that moved to relocated for different jobs,
they always would say to me that it was an incredible experience for their children.
And that they became very well-rounded and you know they're culturally aware and you know you know like it very um i i they
[23:13]->[23:30]
just i they just always brought up their kids and the experience that because i was like how was that is that tough right
because you know you kids build friends and and then they're off they're like no actually they build a lot of resilience i suppose
the word that came up quite a lot so is that do you hear that from employees or you know just just accuracy we
[23:30]->[24:06]
do that a lot we do that a lot and uh
I believe very much in, you know, you have something called the third culture kid, TCKs.
Our family is a little bit like that too.
I mean, we've been in different countries throughout our lives.
And of course, that's an opportunity to be versatile in terms of culture, languages, self-confidence.
But of course, moving around also can be certain challenges, right?
So bonding with friends and things like that.
So I think we have seen, of course, many of our employees and their families having a fantastic development over time.
[24:07]->[24:17]
And their kids, as you say, grow up in a
In an environment where they meet people from around the world.
I mean, that's a fortune and a gift to the kids especially.
[24:17]->[24:25]
Yeah, because I'm sure that is a question and consideration that comes up during the interview process or you're chatting to people, right?
[24:26]->[24:53]
Yeah, it is.
And one thing there, Chris, is that one of our core values in Zamiq is curiosity, actually.
I love it.
Yeah.
And people usually feel very attached to that core value.
But we also see that it has a lot to do with how we can learn, experiment, how we can be open, inclusive.
And how we can offer, let's say, learning throughout an entire life at work.
[24:55]->[25:05]
Is there anything that we haven't spoke about that we should have along the way?
Or maybe what advice would you give to other colleagues that will be in your position one day?
[25:06]->[25:35]
My strongest advice for people working as HR professionals, but also in general, to get international experience as quickly as possible.
I've got that myself and I can just say that changed a lot in my life.
Be curious try to learn things all the time and I think if you really want to be good at your job then it's
a little bit like sports you need to be open for feedback to always improve yeah yeah exactly you take and you're gonna fall
[25:35]->[25:46]
over you're gonna take a few hits along the way before I let you go where can people connect with you if they want
to reach out and say hi and also learn more about the organization
[25:47]->[26:02]
Yeah, the easiest way is to connect through LinkedIn.
We're happy to connect with everyone here.
That is interesting to have a conversation.
And of course, you can find us also at Instagram, Facebook and so forth.
And then, of course, our traditional homepage as well.
[26:03]->[26:24]
Nice.
Well, as always, anyone who's listening right now, all of those links will be below or whatever platform you're on, they'll
be in the description.
But Bjorn, I appreciate you coming on and you also educated me, right?
I mean, I've learned a lot that I didn't realize.
I thought I knew a lot about the industry and the space.
So this was definitely educational and I'm super excited for you and the team and for what's yet to come.
[26:24]->[26:26]
Thanks a lot, Chris.
It was a pleasure to be here.
Björn Axelsson, EVP and CHRO at Sandvik.