Just over six months ago, Paananen was developing Espoo’s collaboration networks as the city’s Director of Economic Development. Today, he works in a senior leadership position at NATO in The Hague. A Doctor of Science (Tech.), Paananen serves in NATO’s Information and Communication Agency, which supports a range of NATO bodies, member states and development organisations.
‘The work is less different than you might think. It’s a general management role – leading a business unit. I’m an operational manager; I know nothing about secret technologies. What I do need to know is how the organisation runs. It’s about resourcing, organising and managing leadership processes.’
Paananen notes that although NATO is not strictly a military organisation, it does employ military personnel, reflecting military culture within its structure. For example, there is a chart indicating which military rank corresponds to various civilian roles.
‘My pay grade as a Deputy Chief corresponds more or less to a lieutenant colonel. Which is amusing, because my actual rank in the reserves is corporal.’
Coming from Finland, most people have completed military service and have at least some understanding of how the military operates, according to Paananen. He has been actively involved in national defence courses and civilian crisis management.
‘NATO is still a unique organisation. It took me about a month to begin understanding what people were talking about in meetings. Everything has its own acronym, and there are many.’
Paananen feels he is doing meaningful work in an organisation that strengthens Finland’s security. He had been drawn to societal impact already in his early twenties, when he started his studies at the Helsinki School of Economics in the mid-2000s.
‘I was a generalist by nature and didn’t yet have a clear career plan, but several members of my family had attended the School of Economics. The studies lived up to my expectations as they were broad-based and insightful. I found my major in organisational management.’
After graduating in 2010, Paananen worked in business consulting. Although he enjoyed solving business challenges, consulting didn’t allow him to go deep enough. Through a friend, he learned about Simlab at Aalto University’s School of Engineering, where real company problems were solved in multidisciplinary teams.
‘At the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, the group included lawyers, engineers, service designers, and one project needed an economist. That is how my doctoral studies began.’
In 2015, Paananen completed his doctorate on managing innovation across organisational boundaries. He developed a model showing how leadership operates through practical actions and practices.
‘Completing a doctoral thesis requires being self-directed: first defining the problem and then setting out to solve it. For me, this was the most crucial learning from my doctoral work. That was why I didn’t stay in academia – I wanted to apply what I had learned in the real world.”
With expertise in innovation ecosystems, Paananen considered roles at the Ministry of Employment and the Economy or at Tekes. Then he came across a job posting for an Economic Development Manager for the City of Espoo.
‘The description matched exactly what I knew and what I enjoyed. I had not even realised that cities handled matters like these.’
Paananen soon learned that his ideas aligned closely with Espoo’s leadership, and he was offered the position. Economic development in cities was undergoing a shift toward a more proactive approach.
‘I got to facilitate new connections, create collaboration platforms and build networks. It felt a bit like joining an internal start-up.’
When Tuula Antola, the director of economic development who recruited him, left the city's service, Paananen took her place. During his years in Espoo, he also completed his third Aalto degree, an EMBA tailored for the city.
‘The program participants included people with medical backgrounds from the social and health care sector, teachers, and lawyers, all of whom had different ways of perceiving the world. The EMBA was a way for the city's leadership to create a common language for management.’
After nearly a decade working for the city, Paananen and his family began to consider international opportunities. Finland’s NATO membership had opened new doors. Paananen read through job descriptions, which were not always easy to interpret, but eventually found the right fit.
The NATO recruitment process was extensive and required patience from candidates. Eighteen months passed from application to employment, including two rounds of interviews, numerous tasks and tests, and strict security and background checks.
‘I spent a whole summer day filling out the initial form because the questions required essay-length answers. It was clear that they aim for the most objective selection possible, leaving no room for gut feeling.’
Paananen encourages Finns to pursue careers in international organisations. The Hague alone hosts dozens of them, many of which are barely known in Finland.
‘It may feel like these roles are reserved for exceptional individuals, but our competence absolutely stands up to international comparison. Finnish universities , Aalto at the forefront, are world-class.’
If you’re interested in international roles, you won’t often find them on LinkedIn. You need to browse organisations’ own websites.
‘You need to be proactive and a bit of a detective to first find the job posting and then to understand what the job actually involves.’
Text: Heidi Hammarsten
Photo: Maarit Heikkinen / Ville Luoto
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