Biography

I am Thomas Baekdal, I am 31 years old, living in Vejle, Denmark and work as a project manager and as an Internet Coordinator for one of Scandinavia's largest clothing companies. I also do a bit of freelancing - helping various companies use the internet more effectively.

Personal

I am not married (yet?). I have no children, no cats or dogs - not even a tiny little goldfish. But, I generally do not mind any of the above.

I spend most my time working, but when I am not I like to sail, run like mad on rollerblades, go out into the nature to take pictures (not very good ones) or read numerous books. I also spend more time in front of the computer than the average person - but then again, I hardly ever watch Opera on TV.

I have often been characterized as funny, although I tend to lean to the wacky side. I am also known to be demanding, a perfectionist and mostly seeing the world in "that's great/awful" - usually being very quick to change my opinion.

I characterize myself with these values (click to read), which I try to live my life by.

Professional

I have in many tests (like Belbin's) been found to be innovative, imaginative, creative, a problem solver, extrovert, dynamic, dedicated and a self starter. I have also been found to be manipulative, dominant, over-optimistic, provocative and somewhat inflexible to poor ideas (in my views). The tests vary a bit - but this is the general picture.

I characterize myself as visionary, strategist and as a problem solver - and it is these three characteristics that I primarily focus my life on - but not solely.

Education

I have a Business College degree and I am a certified International Project Manager. I did also start an education to be a fashion designer (on TEKO-Denmark), but dropped halfway when I was offered an interesting job. Read more under "Experience".

Job

In my job as an Internet Coordinator I enjoy finding out what we can use the Internet for, why we should do so and how this could be done. I think it is important that we use the internet for something else than an extension of marketing - We should use it to effectively support our business strategies. We should also make websites for our readers, instead of our self.

We should use the Internet to effectively support our business strategies

I do not particularly like doing web-design - that is designing and programming websites. I can do it, and it has been a part of my job for many years, but I see it as necessary burden in order to accomplish the above tasks.

I also care a lot about branding, usability, and people over technology.

The Future

Get married, have children and a cat (and possibly a goldfish for the cat). Most likely I will buy a boat (read: 50 foot yacht). Although none of these are in any immediate hurry - I generally enjoy my lifestyle.

Professionally I would like to focus more on the consultant part of my life. Focus on business strategies beyond the web. Things like branding, human resource, knowledge expansions, business ethics, innovation and management techniques are all things that I am very interested in and try to learn more about.