---
title: "The Board as a Service | Ville Tolvanen | Negotiator 59"
titleOriginal: "Hallitus palveluna eli BaaS | Ville Tolvanen | Neuvottelija 59"
episodeNumber: "59"
guest: "Ville Tolvanen"
datePublished: 2021-01-22
duration: "48:18"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60"
captionsVtt: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep59-hallitus-palveluna-baas-ville-tolvanen/captions.en.vtt
captionsSrt: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep59-hallitus-palveluna-baas-ville-tolvanen/captions.en.srt
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["leadership_governance","saas_software"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page created on 2026-08-30 from a MacWhisper Finnish transcription (486 cues, entity pass applied from the archived raw). Chapter timecodes are the publisher's own YouTube chapter list, verified cue by cue against the transcript, and the titles are translated from it. Subtitles are Finnish only; no English cue track shipped."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/66-hallitus-palveluna-eli-baas-ville-tolvanen-neuvottelija-59"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep59-hallitus-palveluna-baas-ville-tolvanen/
---
# The Board as a Service | Ville Tolvanen | Negotiator 59

## Chapters

- [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=0s) The entrepreneur trusts nobody
- [01:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=67s) Introducing Ville Tolvanen
- [01:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=112s) A career in digitalisation and consulting
- [03:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=180s) Moving to Italy and the stone house in Piedmont
- [04:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=292s) Board work in a hybrid model and at a distance
- [06:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=408s) The platforms are still immature
- [07:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=476s) Board as a Service
- [09:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=576s) The Companies Act and the pursuit of profit
- [11:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=715s) Radiolinja's digital strategy from the year 2000
- [12:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=767s) The owner's glass ceiling and the board's role
- [13:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=818s) An ugly picture of what boards are worth
- [14:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=862s) Management doctrine from 20th-century manufacturing
- [15:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=930s) The car got smarter but the board did not
- [17:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1041s) The CEO gets the criticism far too late
- [19:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1141s) Special committees and board roles
- [21:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1270s) Injecting specialist expertise into the company's daily life
- [22:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1359s) The Formula One team analogy for owner and management roles
- [24:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1440s) Konecranes and Cargotec as examples
- [26:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1606s) Why Finnish companies are reluctant to grow
- [28:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1682s) Board professionalism as the number-one late-career wish
- [30:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1810s) Teams and Google as board platforms
- [33:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2002s) Management filters the information reaching the board
- [34:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2061s) Siilasmaa's paranoid optimist and Nokia
- [36:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2167s) InHunt and reinventing executive search
- [38:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2283s) The human investment advisor as the future
- [39:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2359s) How a young person gets into board work
- [41:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2470s) Special skills decide it, not CVs
- [43:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2598s) Motivation, substance, capability and commitment
- [44:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2670s) Diversity demands programmatic work
- [47:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2836s) Summary and closing

## Summary

Ville Tolvanen presents the Board as a Service (BaaS) model, in which the board becomes a value-adding service the owner orders rather than a traditional supervisory organ. At the heart of the discussion is the tension between reactive board work inherited from manufacturing-era management and forward-looking leadership grounded in near-real-time data. Tolvanen explains why many owners and CEOs regard the board as a worthless waste of time, and how the roles should be grouped like a Formula One team, where the owner takes the risk, the board builds tomorrow and the CEO drives the lap times. Sami Miettinen and Tolvanen also cover the narrow networks of family firms, the root causes of Finnish companies' reluctance to grow, the development of board platforms, and the role of executive search and diversity in assembling boards. The episode closes on how a younger professional can build a credible board portfolio when there are far more willing candidates than seats.

## Chapters

- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=0s) — The entrepreneur trusts nobody
- [**01:07**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=67s) — Introducing Ville Tolvanen
- [**01:52**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=112s) — A career in digitalisation and consulting
- [**03:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=180s) — Moving to Italy and the stone house in Piedmont
- [**04:52**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=292s) — Board work in a hybrid model and at a distance
- [**06:48**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=408s) — The platforms are still immature
- [**07:56**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=476s) — Board as a Service
- [**09:36**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=576s) — The Companies Act and the pursuit of profit
- [**11:55**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=715s) — Radiolinja's digital strategy from the year 2000
- [**12:47**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=767s) — The owner's glass ceiling and the board's role
- [**13:38**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=818s) — An ugly picture of what boards are worth
- [**14:22**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=862s) — Management doctrine from 20th-century manufacturing
- [**15:30**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=930s) — The car got smarter but the board did not
- [**17:21**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1041s) — The CEO gets the criticism far too late
- [**19:01**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1141s) — Special committees and board roles
- [**21:10**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1270s) — Injecting specialist expertise into the company's daily life
- [**22:39**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1359s) — The Formula One team analogy for owner and management roles
- [**24:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1440s) — Konecranes and Cargotec as examples
- [**26:46**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1606s) — Why Finnish companies are reluctant to grow
- [**28:02**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1682s) — Board professionalism as the number-one late-career wish
- [**30:10**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=1810s) — Teams and Google as board platforms
- [**33:22**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2002s) — Management filters the information reaching the board
- [**34:21**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2061s) — Siilasmaa's paranoid optimist and Nokia
- [**36:07**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2167s) — InHunt and reinventing executive search
- [**38:03**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2283s) — The human investment advisor as the future
- [**39:19**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2359s) — How a young person gets into board work
- [**41:10**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2470s) — Special skills decide it, not CVs
- [**43:18**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2598s) — Motivation, substance, capability and commitment
- [**44:30**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2670s) — Diversity demands programmatic work
- [**47:16**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60&t=2836s) — Summary and closing

## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Hallitus palveluna eli BaaS | Ville Tolvanen | Neuvottelija 59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpPRMPKJ60).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/66-hallitus-palveluna-eli-baas-ville-tolvanen-neuvottelija-59).

---

Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — The Board as a Service | Ville Tolvanen | Negotiator 59, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep59-hallitus-palveluna-baas-ville-tolvanen/, 2021-01-22. For quotes include episode 59 and timestamp.