Trivec Troopers: Daniel de Sousa

Get to know the Trivec team through our blog series: Trivec Troopers. In this post you'll get to meet our Group CEO, Daniel de Sousa.

Name: Daniel de Sousa

Title: Group CEO, since April 2019

Favorite quote:

“Live everyday of your life”

I have it tattooed to my chest on the left side.

Name a fun fact about your hometown?

I’m born and raised in a mid-size town in the middle of Sweden, Falun. The most well-known landmark for the city is two enormous Ski-jumping ramps that have costed a fortune to build and renovating over the last decade but that no one uses. There is simply no active ski-jumpers 😊. Everyone with a connection to Falun has an opinion about the Ski jumping ramps.

How did you find your way from Falun to Trivec?

A genuine interest for leadership has been the common thread in both my personal and professional life for a very long time. It started in my early teens as a coach for sports teams in various sports followed by management positions in sports associations as a very young adult. This early age leadership carrier opened professional opportunities and I ended up in the software industry as a sales manager directly after senior high school (gymnasiet). This is now almost 20 years ago, and I have been having the pleasure to spend nearly 2 decades in top management position within the software industry, an amazing journey in many ways with a dramatic technology shift along the way.

My overall motivation is to save the world…😊 or maybe more seriously, at least contribute to a better and more sustainable society for all. It might sound a bit silly, but I’m quite sure politics could have been an alternative way for me and at the core of me as a business leader there is absolutely a strong idealist that truly believes in the power of doing good. In practice this means that I’m extremely result oriented and want to get things done, sometimes even too fast.

Family means a lot to me; I grew up in a big family with 5 siblings and already as a teenager I was determined to build a family of my own with kids one day. In the 1980’ not the easiest dream to fulfill as a homosexual and off course unlimited joy when our son was born in February 2015.

If you could write your own job title, what would it be?

As the Group CEO of Trivec I mainly see my role as helping others to succeed. To create result in an organization is both about team play but at the same time the sum of all individual performance. My role is to make sure we know WHY we are doing things and WHERE we are going next.

I spend most of my times in various meetings. It can be about strategic planning, following up on ongoing projects or meeting with important customers or potential partners. 

Your top 3 favorite podcasts?

Not really any favorites. Right now I’m listening to

• “Europa-podden” a podcast about European politics
• “Digitalpodden” a podcast focusing on start-ups and digitalization of businesses
• “TED talks daily” a broad range of interesting topics

And, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

There is not much time left after work and family activities. However, I love to travel and thankfully also have the privilege to do so rather often. Sports and training in various forms are high on the priority list, usually 5-6 sessions weekly. 

Five quick questions:

• If you were a vegetable, which one would you be? Broccoli (Some scientists claim that broccoli helps to clear out bad substances from your brain, that’s super inspiring)
• Name three things on your bucket-list

1. Charity work in a very different place (poor part of Africa, Asia)
2. To run New York Marathon
3. Skiing in the Alps with my son (he is soon ready 😊)

• Do you have a quote that inspires you?
• I found the quote “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” truly inspiring. Change might often feel almost impossible to achieve and it’s important to understand that you just need to start in order to be on your way…
• Do you have any hidden talents? Many years ago, I was a rather talented Trumpet player, got several scholarships and were for a time determined to become a professional musician. However, other things become more interesting after a while and a stopped playing. I still have a Trumpet at home and maybe I will pick it up again sometime
• If I asked you to cook dinner for me, what would I be served? It would be a combination of Brazilian cuisine and kids friendly, most likely a Spaghetti Bolognese with a taste of Rio de Janeiro.

- Trivec Troopers: Nico Plinke
- Trivec Troopers: Jenny Westerberg