The Gustafsson File
NAME: Anders Gustafsson
TITLE: CEO
COMPANY: Zebra Technologies Corp.
Born: Gothenburg, Sweden
Education: Master’s in electrical engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden; master’s degree in business administration, Harvard School of Business.
What was your first job and what did you learn from it? The first job I had was in my dad’s grocery store stacking shelves and delivering groceries. My real first summer job was a nurse’s aide in a mental hospital. The first day, I remember I came home, and I was a bit squeamish about what I was getting myself into. At the end, I would say that was very good for me. You look at people with mental illness in a very different way.
Who has been the biggest influence on your life? My wife, Donna. We’ve been married for 21 years. She’s also a businessperson, so we do talk a lot about business from that perspective. But we also just talk about who I am as a person. I’m a work in progress for her. She’s working on trying to make me who I’m supposed to be.
If you could speak with anyone from the present or past, with whom would you want to speak with? Winston Churchill would be a very interesting person. It was an interesting time in the world, and he seemed to have been a unique kind of character.
