We’ve struck gold with our podcast guest, none other than Kristin Berg, CEO of Mestro. Mestro is a dynamic, digital scale-up with a promising future. Their cloud-based energy monitoring service is a game-changer for property owners, offering them not just savings in time and money, but also a respite from those energy-related headaches. Sustainability is at the heart of their mission, and their electrifying growth journey has only just begun.

Tell me about yourself. Who are you?

I am a person who is super curious, always learning, I am often positive, and I generally think that people want to do good. I think I’m open and I ask a lot of questions. Also pretty direct in my approach.

And you are the CEO of Mestro. Can you tell us just shortly how did you become the CEO of Mestro and what was your journey until you started there?

So Mestro and myself go way back when I was the CEO of another company, who delivered a system to the real estate industry. And that company lacked a module for energy monitoring, which is what Mestro does. We didn’t have that as a part of our offering to our customers. So I was searching for the best energy monitoring system that would actually fit in our offering. Then I found Mestro and I’ve fallen in love with the company and started that partnership.  I got to know the chairman and one day he asked if I would be interested in taking on the role as the CEO of Mestro. And I couldn’t refuse.

The offering is so right, the team is wonderful, there’s a great board in place, and the customers are all in the real estate industry. It’s all great companies, and we have a great opportunity to make a really huge difference when it comes to making the world a better place to live, one building at a time, saving emissions. And also, it’s a real personal challenge for me since Mestro is a listed company, so I need to grow to take on the role. And I love to expand and grow my knowledge.

How many employees are you now?

We have around 40 employees.

Can you tell me what is the company’s vision and mission? Have you revisited this?

No, I wasn’t part of setting the original vision and mission. Mestro’s mission today is to be the gold standard in transforming the human environmental footprint. That was set back in 2019, before the pandemic, before we went public on the NASDAQ. Now we feel that we have outgrown that mission, and we have matured since then. Right now, we’re in the process of developing a more refined version of our brand positioning, which we hope to launch in early 2024. So stay tuned for this because we are really excited about it.

The vision of the company is really like the ultimate goal. You may never reach it. How do you come together and decide something like that?

We have worked for a year now, trying to work with different branding companies and also working with our employees and team members to say where will we be and what’s our mission. What do we want to deliver to the world? We’ve taken our time, and this fall we have sat in smaller groups to decide. Now we’re ready to present it to the board and then to the rest of the company. I think we will agree because it’s been a long process, and we have asked a lot of questions and thought about it thoroughly.

What pitfalls do you see when you work with goal setting? What could businesses in general improve when it comes to goal setting?

I think the pitfalls include making goals measurable. Sometimes it’s hard to make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. So you have to push yourself to make them measurable. I’m never fully satisfied with them, and I’m pretty hard on myself for not taking more time in goal setting. Everyone loves to achieve goals, and when goals are relevant, it’s a great thing to strive towards. We take our time, but we can take even more time in setting goals, and we’re trying to do this right now.

How do you communicate and follow up on goals?

We communicate them in January to the whole team. Right now we’re in the goal-setting period for 2024 with the management team, and in January, we will communicate the new goals in the team meeting. Then we will sit down with each employee and talk about how their personal goals align with the department and company goals. We try to make it a learning and personal development goal. We discuss it again in June and follow up on it during team meetings throughout the year. Also, We communicate how the company has reached its goals in our kickoff meetings.

Do you know how your employees pursue your goals?

I feel that everyone likes to understand how their achievements can help the company succeed and help them grow personally. We need to take even more time to discuss goals, and I think that this is something that we will improve in 2024. Mestro is a company filled with people with great leadership skills who like to win and learn.

Do you crush your goals?

Since we are a listed company, I cannot talk about where we are in terms of financial goals. But when it comes to organizational goals and process goals, we are truly crushing them.

Do you want to learn more about goal-setting? Check our OKR-guide.