Dr Anders Tegnell is widely recognised as a foremost leadership speaker in public health, whose principled stewardship during Sweden’s COVID-19 response challenged global conventions. His decades of experience in epidemiology, international health systems, and crisis strategy uniquely qualify him to speak not just on disease, but on trust, resilience and decision-making under pressure.
Throughout his tenure as State Epidemiologist, Tegnell led teams across Scandinavia and advised global institutions, all while navigating intense scrutiny and polarized debate. His ability to blend scientific rigour with clear, humane communication has become a benchmark for leading in uncertain times.
In this exclusive interview with the Mental Health Speakers Agency, he reveals how leadership emerges in crisis, how institutions can build public trust, and why we must prepare for what comes next.
Q: From your experience overseeing pandemic responses, what do you see as the most important lesson for public health leaders?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “You need to look at the bigger picture. You can’t just focus on one part of the problem. You need to realise that a major health crisis like this one is not a health facility problem or a communicable disease problem.
“It is actually an all-of-society problem. So, you need to look at it from that perspective. You need to take in all different aspects as far as you can into how you respond to it, so that you don’t end up causing more harm than benefit.”
Q: In times of crisis, what approaches do you believe are most effective in building trust and reassuring the public?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “Listening to them and giving them very good, concrete answers to their queries. Not oversimplifying, because people are a lot smarter than you think, but really giving them reasons why you say or do, or ask them to do, things. Talk to them like they were adults.”
Q: Having managed high-pressure situations, what do you consider the key to effective crisis management?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “To have a good group around you so that you can balance solving different problems, so that you don’t sit there alone and think about it.
“Really communicating with everybody that’s going to have to be involved in different ways, even if it’s partners you don’t usually communicate with, so that you feel reasonably sure that what you’re doing is the best possible to do in this situation.”
Q: How have your experiences shaped your vision for strengthening health systems worldwide?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “I mean two things. One thing is that the health system really also needs to think broadly, to understand what you need to do for your public, for your population, and what they expect from you, so that you really deliver maybe not exactly what they want, but at least give them good reasons why this is delivered and why this isn’t.
“And think in the long term, not try to crash through and solve individual problems, but try to find common solutions to broader things.”
Q: When leading major healthcare initiatives, what principles guide your decision-making?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “That you don’t overreact, that you try to reason what is good to do now. And before you act, really have contact with all the major actors that are going to be affected in what you’re doing, so that everybody understands where you’re going.”
Q: Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, what did it teach you about the nature of leadership?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “That you need to communicate, of course, and try to explain very carefully and over and over again what we are trying to do together. And listen very carefully to what people then are wondering about, so that you can keep on repeating the basic messages and generally see to it that you have everyone around you on board.”
Q: Looking at the global health security sector, what advice would you give policymakers and practitioners today?
Dr. Anders Tegnell: “Work more together. Be conscious that everybody needs to adapt whatever we are doing to the local context and really support that, not force solutions on in different areas where you might have to do something different. So, be very open about it and try to share experiences but not deliver them like they were the solutions.”
This exclusive interview with Dr. Anders Tegnell was conducted by Sophia Hayes of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
