Vi har netop oprettet en ny praktikstilling i 2013 i forbindelse med udgivelse af "The Authentic Company" i udlandet:

Få et stærkt internationalt netværk i forlagsbranchen
Har du læst marketing, kommunikation og sprog, og har du lyst til at være i kontakt med oversættere og internationale business-forlag? Vær med til at drive den internationale udgivelse af Nikolaj Stagis bog “Den autentiske virksomhed” i England, USA, Tyskland og Norden.
Prøv dine teoretiske færdigheder af i praksis i et praktikforløb, som fokuserer på opbygning af netværk i forlagsbranchen.

Dine opgaver vil bl.a. omfatte følgende:

• Research om udenlandske forlag samt kontakt til dem
• Deltagelse i research og udviklingen af den engelske version af bogen
• Udvikling af præsentations- og pressemateriale
• Skrive tekster til website og blog samt sociale medier
• Udvikling af PR-aktiviteter i forbindelse med udgivelsen
• Evt. planlægning af begivenheder vedr. lancering

With the office back in place, we would like to thank all the lovely people who dropped by to celebrate Stagis last night. Thank you for all the nice flowers and presents and a special thank you to the all the people who contributed with interesting perspectives on the recent 15 years of Stagis. 

Especially the kind words from some of our fantastic customers and partners made the evening memorable, and a short trip down memory lane with stories and anecdotes from the past 15 years with Stagis pointed out the strong ties and relations that makes Stagis go deep into the heart of companies and organizations. Lars Hargaard from OKI Printing Solutions told the story about how a grey color printer named 3400 became "OKI Identity" and how it was marketed as a piece of furniture that would fit an office or space in every possible color. Lars was quite surprised when he got the first prototype - his grey printer had turned into a ferrari-red designer-item. "There was a lot of talk about the market position and so on, and Stagis was quite secretive. But finally they unveiled this red printer and we really liked it!". Watch the case and a video. Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen told about her time at Helsingør Kommune where Stagis was involved in various design projects and Nikolaj Stagis showed a few glimpses from fifteen years passed. "It's hard to believe that fifteen years passed", he explained and talked about the development of Stagis in the year to come, when Stagis will turn 16. "The development of Stagis is dependent on the development of myself and the people that are in the company," he said. The evening also included a hula hoop show my Ms Mia which was quite fascinating. We enjoyed celebrating our 15th anniversary with all of you.

The Stagis team and I wishes you all a lovely weekend.

This summer our new design director, Christian Leifelt, joined the team. Christian is an experienced graphic designer, art director and artist, who has been specializing in developing visual identity for the past 15 years. After receiving his degree from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he joined renowned design firm Kontrapunkt, specializing in graphic design and working on projects for organizations such as Microsoft and The Danish Ministry of Defence and later started his own design studio, combining design work with art projects and exhibitions. One of the later projects was the visual identity for Kulturværftet, the new cultural centre of Elsinore. We're excited to have Christian on the team and look forward to presenting a new corporate website for Stagis by the end of this year, designed as a collaboration of Anne and Christian.

Another new face in the office this summer is executive assistant, Kristoffer Schou, who joined us in the beginning of September. Kristoffer holds a masters in philosophy and international marketing management from Copenhagen Business School and has been working with such varied ventures as IT companies, wind turbine project and an art institute, promoting art publications. He is now in charge of the talks and conferences we are involved in, the translation and international publication of my book "The Authentic Company" and helps running the day-to-day business of Stagis, especially helping out with strategic projects.

There is one other new member of the extended Stagis family on it's way. Our highly esteemed designer, Anne Schourup-Kristensen, who has been working at Stagis since 2006, just started her maternity leave last week as she and her boyfriend Kent is becoming a family of three very soon. We are looking forward to hear if it's a boy or a girl very soon and we look forward to having Anne back in the office next summer.

Stagis is growing up – 15th anniversary
The Stagis company is certainly no baby any more – this year the company has been in business for 15 years, and is well on it's way to becoming an adult with a character and life of it's own. Still too young to marry, but old enough to compete with the old boys of the business, I'd say that we "punch above our weight", as president Obamas phrases it. For me it's hard to grasp that the business I started in my home in Odense and moved into a small space that same year has now been running for 15 years, since 1997, now in the third office that we've had. Next month we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of Stagis. Kristoffer, Esben and Christian is planning that and we will be sending out invitations to new and old business relations and friends very soon. I hope to see many faces visiting our office when we open doors to celebrate 15 years of business at the end of November!

New ambitions for the New Year
As we want both our clients and Stagis to grow during the next years, I'm starting several initiatives to develop a business with even more skills and more competencies. During the coming weeks we will start searching for a senior strategist who will also be in charge of operations in our Copenhagen office. I expect to have our new business strategist and COO in place sometime during the first quarter of 2013. I'll make sure you hear more about that during November and December as we start preparing for a new year with lots of ambitions and actions to make both mine and the team members dreams about the future come true.

Over the past months we've spent a lot of time in the city of Kolding, as we are assisting the municipal authorities developing a new vision for the municipality. In 2013 I expect to work more with city branding and place branding as well as new commercial clients who wish to focus their business strategy and the identity of the company in order to drive the business and their growth further.

Vi søger en dygtig projektkoordinator til at dække en bred palette af opgaver indenfor salg, promovering, eventkoordinering og kommunikation for Nikolaj Stagis. Jobbet bliver i de kommende dage slået op på en række websites. Du kan læse hele opslaget på vores job-side.

Den nye projektkoordinators primære ansvar bliver at booke foredrag og arrangere events med samarbejdspartnere for Nikolaj Stagis og bogen “Den autentiske virksomhed”. Desuden får du rollen som assistent for Nikolaj Stagis, hvilket omfatter hjælp med stort og småt i det daglige, herunder planlægning og koordinering.

Jobbet medfører koordinering, aftaleindgåelse og kommunikation om events, foredrag, workshops, mediesamarbejder og assistance omkring udgivelse af Nikolajs bog på udenlandske markeder. Opgaverne er primært i Danmark i 2012, men på sigt også i udlandet. Events arrangeres i samarbejde med organisationer, brancheforeninger, medier, virksomheder og universiteter. Du får ansvar for salg og booking, herunder kontakt til arrangører og en lang række lancerings- og kommunikationsopgaver.

DINE KOMPETENCER
Du har erfaring med salg, relationsopbygning og projektkoordinering. Du motiveres af ambitiøse mål og kan godt lide at præstere både alene og for at understøtte teamet. Du er imødekommende og menneskekender – både på telefonen og live. Du er en dygtig skriftlig formidler og taler og skriver flydende engelsk og evt. et tredje sprog. Du har læst virksomhedskommunikation, branding, strategi eller marketing på kandidat-/masterniveau. Jobbet er på fuld tid.

Vi søger en erfaren designer/AD'er, som vil være med til at sætte kursen for det kreative arbejde i Stagis de kommende år. Jobbet er slået op på markedsforing.dk, danishdesignassociation.com, danishdesigners.com og bureaubiz.dk. Her er et udsnit af jobopslaget, som du også kan se på vores job-side:

Designchef
Art director som brænder for design af visuel identitet og image-kampagner
Du brænder for at udforme identitet og skabe brands, og er både fagligt dygtig og ambitiøs nok til at hæve vores kreative niveau. Vi arbejder på tværs af medier og faggrænser, og fokuserer på at skabe den løsning, der bedst udtrykker kundens autentiske identitet. Ligesom os har du høje forventninger til konceptuelt stærke løsninger og kvalitet i eksekveringen.
Hvis du har en drøm om at være selvstændig, så læs videre. Stagis er en lille virksomhed, som kører på lige dele passion, talent og ambitioner - og vi er på jagt efter potentielle partnere.

Stagis udløser potentialer
Stagis lever af at få øje på virksomheders potentiale og folde det ud ved at udvikle brands og designe visuel identitet, image-kampagner, websites, tryksager – alt hvad der kommunikerer. 
Du har lyst til at indgå i teamet og være ansvarlig for udviklingen af identitet og visuel kommunikation, som er baseret på indsigt og afspejler virksomhedens sjæl. Vi står over for at vækste Stagis til det næste niveau og vil i løbet af det kommende år ansætte medarbejdere med potentiale til at gøre Stagis større og stærkere.

Dine kompetencer
Vores nye designchef har mere end fem års bureauerfaring, kommer fra én af de anerkendte design-uddannelser, kan vise en stærk portfolio, en imponerende kundeliste og trives godt med både at nørde med detaljerne alene og udvikle løsninger i samråd med et team af faste eller freelance kolleger. Du kan gøre rede for et koncept både på skrift og ved et præsentationsmøde, du trives med at tage føringen og du kan lide at have kundekontakt.

Du har udviklet logoer, navnetræk og brands, kan udtænke koncepter på brand-niveau og til image-kampagner og udvikle idéer til interaktive websites. Og så er du detaljeorienteret nok til at sikre, at projektet bliver fulgt til dørs og leveret i høj kvalitet. Du har erfaring med at planlægge og gennemføre større projekter i samarbejde med strategikonsulenter, tekstforfattere og webudviklere.

On April 18th Stagis is hosting DDA Bar in cooperation with Danish Design Association (DDA) in Stagis’ office in Kompagnistræde, Copenhagen. The event is themed around architecture and design, and the speakers professor Kristian Kreiner, Copenhagen Busines School and Nikolaj Stagis, CEO Stagis will each provide insights on the idea of authenticity as a way of developing the design agency and it's ability to compete - even under a strict set of rules.

Professor Kristian Kreiner is on the verge of publishing his book “Dialog og konkurrence” (Dialogue and competition) on architectual competitions. At the event, he will discuss the need for designers with an approach based on autheticity in today’s design competitions. His argument is, that is has become more and more common that competitions today are so organized, that the creative aspect of design is suffering.

The event will be concluded with networking and refreshments from Bøgedal Bryghus (Boegedal Brewery). Sign up for the event on DDA’s website.

Yesterday we launched my book "Den autentiske virksomhed" (The Authentic Company) at a great conference in one of Copenhagens most beautiful and historic settings, the Old Stock Exchange. The speakers at the conference were Federico Minoli, former CEO and president at Ducati, Dr. Andreas Braun, BMW Museum, Dr. Majken Schultz, professor at Copenhagen Business School, Casper Vorting, owner of Bøgedal Brewery and finally Peter Kreiner, CEO of Noma restaurant.

I've worked on the book for about four years – a great journey into the authentic and less authentic including visits with some of the greatest companies and their leaders and owners. A lifetime experience that led to 360 pages and climaxed at the conference and reception yesterday. Great crowd, wonderful talks, good food from Aamanns and about 300 people coming to visit either the conference or the reception. Thank you all for your kind support, questions and interest. It's been a long journey sofar - and it's only just begun. i'm looking forward to get around Denmark and visit different companies, organizations and cities to talk about the authentic companies over the months to come...!

During the next few weeks I will launch a new website focusing on the book and I'm looking forward to sharing more pictures and videos from the event!2

Last week we were fortunate enough to receive The Danish Communication Award 2011 from the members of Danish Communication Association (Dansk Kommunikationsforening) in the concert hall of DR. About 250 participants in the audience of corporate communication professionals voted after presentations of the five nominated communication projects. A few hours later we got the result and were called to the stage to receive the award. I went on stage with the executive of the project from Movia, Maja Nellemann, and my colleague Louise Kramer, who is project manager at Stagis.

Many of the participants (including myself) summed up the events on Twitter - look for #komdag. You can see my tweets on twitter.com/#!/nikolajstagis. At Stagis we've been blogging about the project quite a few times since we started implementing it in 2008. Here's the most recent about the nomination for the award. Or you can find more about the project on our website by clicking "cases".

We are really proud of the award and the acknowledgement we've received from our colleagues in the field of corporate communication. Our project "Bus drivers with character" received about twice as many votes as the next nominated project and the audience cheered after seeing a short introductory video with bus driver Torben who was - as always - quite entertaining. What makes me just as proud as receiving the award is meeting some of the bus drivers who has been involved in the project, and who tells me that it made a difference in their lives. Like the bus driver Linda, who was awarded the Danish bus driver of the year on September 2nd and is soon flying to Singapore to see public transportation there and meet bus drivers in that region. She loves the bus and the passengers and now she is going to board an aeroplane for the first time in her life to fly to Asia! You can meet her on "Bus driver TV".

Danish article about the project online (Update November 18th)
Danish Commucation Association (DKF) just released a Danish article about the project. You can read it on kommunikationsforening.dk. There are videos and lots of other articles from the event on the site, too.

We are closing the office for two weeks, from July 16th through July 31st as we leave to spend time in the sun rather than in the hot office in Kompagnistraede, Copenhagen. We will be back, ready to take on new projects and finalize ongoing work from August 1st.

I have been spending most of my time in June and July in Rome, Italy, working on my book projects. The manuscript for the Danish book titled "Den autentiske virksomhed" was finalized in June after massive editing from a total of 365 pages to 303. While the Danish editor at Gyldendal is reviewing it I will be starting up the other half of the project which is to edit and change various parts in order for the book to be published in an international version. Also, I've been spending time in Italy working with some Italian case studies. On Friday, I'm interviewing one of the masterminds behind the city planning in Rome through the past 20 years, Eugenio La Rocca, Superintendent of Cultural Heritage of the City of Rome during the 90s and 2000s. We will be discussing the paradoxes between massive cultural heritage and the need to change and develop a city. Two important factors that do not always work out nicely - just like in all other aspects of understanding, preserving and changing organizational identity in organizations, large and small.

When I return from Italy and my colleagues return to the office in Copenhagen August 1st, we will also be welcoming a few new members to the Stagis team. During May and June we have been busy recruiting new skilled people and four new faces will show up at Stagis during August and September. I look forward to that and I know everyone else does too!

It is about 35 degrees celcius in Rome today - a bit too much to be in front of the screen if you ask me - I hope you will enjoy the summer as much as I do! Enjoy La Dolce Vita!

For the past three years I've been working on 'Den autentiske virksomhed' (or, The Authentic Company, as it may be in English). Now I'm finally coming to an end. There is a full 360-page manuscript which I'm now editing to about 300 pages. I'm planning to deliver the final document to the publishing house Gyldendal Business sometime in May and hopefully see a real book looking a bit like the picture above during the summer. Besides my theory on business strategy development based on the authentic strengths of the organization, there is a string of case studies in the book. Some of them are Noma, LEGO, Ducati, Alessi, Hästens, Novozymes, BMW and Absolut. I've been really lucky to visit them and talk to their CEOs, owners and leaders.

During the fall I'll tour Denmark to talk about The Authentic Company and discuss how companies of all sorts can explore and develop their strengths from within. Some of the talks are already being arranged as I receive calls almost every week from people who want to discuss authenticity and what it means. Here are some of the talks that I'm doing soon:

14. April 2011, Hewlett-Packard Denmark (workshop)
3. May 2011, Vanebryderdagen 2011, 'Bremen' in Copenhagen (conference)
5. May 2011, Dansk Industri (talk)
11. May 2011, Dansk Kommunikationsforening (Day seminar)
13. May 2011, Medieforbundet i DR (workshop)
23. May 2011, Danske Fysioterapeuter (talk)
23. August 2011, FTF (workshop)
10. October 2011, Master of Management Development, CBS (education)
1. November 2011, Efterskoleforeningens lederkonference (talk)

During May we'll put more video clips from some of my talks on the website and once we get closer to the release date of the Danish book we'll start publishing parts of the content here on the blog, on Facebook and elsewhere. We'll make sure you get notice!

If you want to know more or want to book me for a talk, take a look at stagis.dk (Danish) or stagis.com (English). Lots of students want to know more - don't hesitate to write!