The World Class Leaders Show: The CEO leadership podcast for leaders who solve big problems and build better futures. · Andrea Petrone

205 - From Two Duffel Bags to 15,000 Employees: How the CEO of Greif Built a World-Class Company

September 18, 2025·41 min·2 clips

Ole Rosgaard arrived in Cambridge with two duffel bags and no bathroom in his room.

1. The World Class Leaders Show episode centers on Ole Rosgaard's path from two duffel bags in Cambridge to CEO of Greif. 2. Andrea Petrone hosts Ole Rosgaard, who has led Greif since 2015 and brings experience from Denmark, the UK, the United States, Germany, and five continents. 3. The episode asks how a CEO builds a people-first company, makes decisions under uncertainty, and keeps growing without comfort. 4. Ole says living in multiple countries made him more tolerant and better able to notice cultural differences in business. 5. He links that global perspective to running Greif as a people business, because he says every company depends on people. 6. Ole describes growing up in Denmark, working for his father's 120-person business, then joining the Danish military before moving into international management. 7. He recalls arriving in Cambridge with two duffel bags, no bathroom in the room, and a strong bout of impostor syndrome. 8. He says that first job in the UK eventually led to nearly 17 years of building a business from scratch to close to 100 businesses. 9. Ole says his career lesson is simple: if you are not uncomfortable, you are not growing. 10. He compares that idea to the gym, university, and 5K races, where effort and discomfort come before improvement. 11. He says the move from Germany to Greif came after a phone call, 12 interviews, and 6 tests. 12. He explains that the research on Greif looked "less than pretty," yet he still chose Columbus, Ohio, and at-will employment. 13. Ole says he stops at about 75% of the data and then relies on instincts shaped by what he notices in meetings. 14. He says the brain picks up on body language and unspoken signals faster than conscious analysis. 15. He argues that leaders should not fear failure because mistakes create new learning. 16. He says his job is to create psychological safety so Greif colleagues can take risks without being punished for trying. 17. Ole says Greif is a 148-year-old packaging company that handles factory-to-factory shipping for chemicals, foam, medicine, paint, and other bulk products. 18. He says Greif is pivoting away from container boards and forest land into less cyclical businesses with a stronger balance sheet. 19. The interview has a practical, reflective style, with Andrea Petrone pressing on career transitions, board dynamics, and culture, while Ole answers with specific examples and numbers. 20. Leaders who manage teams, run operations, or make high-stakes decisions will get the most from it; listeners wanting celebrity gossip or entertainment probably will not.

As heard by us

Culture, service, and scale are treated as a single leadership problem.

Ole Rosgaard's arc is laid out cleanly, from a tiny room in Cambridge and two duffel bags to the CEO chair at Greif. What holds the piece together is the link between purpose, colleague engagement, and customer service.

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Why you'd press play

If you lead through culture, this gives you a concrete CEO model to study at Greif.

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