He should lead the emploees not through his power or formal position, but through the principles of cooperation and agreement. Being a good listener is considered to be another important quality. In discussions with his staff, a professional manager should use reason and base his views on facts. Getting emotional when discussing a problem is considered rather inappropriate. In Swedish companies, the concept of power distance is largely replaced by personal responsibility.
Personal status is of relatively small importance in Swedish business life.
Managers only rarely give signals of their own status and employees normally don't feel inferior to them. An executive is most of all considered to be a specialist in managing companies and he is therefore not socially superior to a specialist in any other field. In this respect, Sweden seems to differ from many other countries. Swedish company structure is that Swedes normally use their first names at work. Organizations Swedish organizations are probably less rigid than many of their foreign counterparts.