Caro Hallgren · CV
Svenska

Caro Hallgren

Change leader and business transformation lead

I get in fast, see the whole picture and make the most of the capacity already there. I see what needs to be added, and bring the people along to where the business is heading.

25 years in leadership roles at DFDS, Cartier, ALGIZ Security in Monaco, Randstad and Specsavers, and since 2025 in my own company, helping leadership teams connect the business plan to their people and prepare the organisation for Agentic AI. Change sticks when people understand why it is in their own interest, and that is where I am strongest. I don't need a fixed job description, and I would rather develop than maintain.

Results

Resource optimisation
Talent supply
30%

Higher resource efficiency with Optician on demand, which I initiated, and better customer journeys.

Nr 1

Great Place to Work Sweden, with a new talent journey and EVP.

Change leadership
Building new
30+

Franchise partners embraced the concept and culture.

500

Stores (approx.) in five countries got Recruitment Services, which I started.

Matrix

Functions pulled together in matrix organisations, even without mandate.

0→1

New business unit at Randstad, from first client to delivery.

130

Stores adapted fast through the pandemic, with risk assessment every evening.

24/7

Security company in Monaco, staffed around the clock.

5

Countries got a sustainability agenda (CSRD, SBTi), as its first lead.

ISO

New management system at DFDS that saved the certification.

In my assignments today
1.5MSEK

Key people stayed and perform better, in one case worth 1.5 MSEK.

New plan

Business plan, roles and hiring built on strengths.

Trust

Stronger trust has led to better results and more ownership.

Team

From conflict management to collaboration.

Where I make the biggest difference

  • The company grows or changes, but the roles have not kept up
  • Resources are short, or not used well
  • Something new needs building: business unit, function, offer
  • One culture across many units: franchise, acquisitions, countries
  • Functions work in silos and need to pull together
  • A hard-to-sell agenda needs to take hold: quality, sustainability, AI
Caro Hallgren · CV1

Experience

Founder, change leader and performance partner

Trust Your Talent TYT AB, Gothenburg

Connects the business plan to the people who deliver it: strategy, organisation, roles, resource planning and what AI can take over. Developed the Hero method: Hero Profile™ (individual), Hero Team™ (team) and Hero Organization™ (structure). As Hero Performance Partner I work close to the leadership team and train internal coaches. In change, Hero complements models such as ADKAR, Kotter and Bridges: the message lands with each person, friction shows in time and key people stay.

Specsavers

Global optical group with more than 2,000 stores and 50,000 employees, franchise model and own production chain. My area: Northern Europe, around 500 stores in five countries.

Head of Sustainability, Northern Europe

First sustainability lead across five countries. Set the agenda in line with CSRD and SBTi and embedded it through leaders at every level.

Head of Central Operations, Sweden

Swedish leadership team. Led 15 specialists giving around 130 franchise stores the full toolbox, and took the stores through the pandemic. Broke down silos and initiated Optician on demand.

Head of Talent Management, Northern Europe

We secured a new talent journey and a new employer brand, with university programmes, the International Academy and development paths to partnership. Some 30 franchise partners embraced the concept and culture.

Head of Recruitment Services, Northern Europe

Started the unit and scaled it to five countries: recruiting opticians, store partners and leaders, and a consultant pool covering every shift, weekdays and weekends.

Randstad

Gothenburg

Built the Professionals Engineering business unit in Sweden: clients, sales, processes and delivery. Before that, the RPO for Volvo Cars, around 350 specialist recruitments a year.

Chief of Staff and Operations Manager

ALGIZ Security, Monaco and Montpellier

Third person in. Recruitment from elite units, round-the-clock operations, business development and the set-up in Monaco.

France: co-manager, Cartier

Cartier 2009-2011 in Montpellier and Bordeaux. Earlier Horiba ABX and O'Carolans

Client care, storytelling and VIP events in luxury.

Quality and Environmental Manager

DFDS Tor Line, Gothenburg. Leadership team

Saved the ISO 9001 and 14001 certification by showing the business value and rebuilding the quality system, and trained all staff.

How we can work: in a permanent or interim role in leadership, operational development, change or talent management. Or through Trust Your Talent: talks, workshops, Hero Journey™ and Hero Performance Partner.

Caro Hallgren · CV2
Caffè latte · In depth

In depth

How we did it: four examples

Done together with teams and colleagues. My part: see the opportunity, bring people along and drive it home.

Specsavers, Sweden

Optician on demand

30%higher resource efficiency
The situation
Too few opticians, organic growth and the goal of reaching as many customers as possible. Functions worked in silos.
What we did
I initiated tele-optometry and a new customer journey. The optical assistant became a clinical assistant, the optician's hands in the examination room, with training developed with Karolinska Institutet. Marketing, IT, finance and clinical teams drove it together.
The result
One optician could serve several stores. Customers met two people, opticians focused on clinical work and could work remotely, and assistants did more. Less travel saved time and the environment. Spread to more countries.
Specsavers, franchise

The franchise partners

30+partners embraced the concept
The situation
Many acquisitions in a franchise organisation. Partners had come different distances with concept, ways of working and shared culture.
What we did
We reviewed the portfolio and saw where each partner stood. With those who had furthest to go we went through why the framework and the shared culture were good for their own business, and communicated in a way that built engagement across the country.
The result
Some 30 embraced the concept and culture, and many more were strengthened. Those who preferred to move on got support to a good exit. The lesson: assess before acquiring, and be clear from the start about framework, culture and why.
Specsavers, talent

The employer brand

No. 1Great Place to Work Sweden
The situation
A shortage of opticians and an undeserved poor reputation as an employer, in an organisation where each store is its own employer.
What we did
We created a new talent journey, with a platform for training, conferences and support, also for opticians outside the company. University programmes from the first year of study, an international academy towards Swedish licensing and development paths to partnership.
The result
An employer brand that attracts and more routes into the profession. Specsavers ranked first in Great Place to Work Sweden. Employees who thrive became the best ambassadors.
DFDS Tor Line

The quality system nobody wanted

ISO9001 and 14001 saved
The situation
The company was about to lose its certification, and the topic was a hard sell in the leadership team.
What I did
Showed the business value for customers and internally. Rebuilt the system into a clear map of hand-overs between departments, easy to read, and ran training.
The result
The certification was secured and everyone took the system on. Here I learned to turn the hard sell into business value.

How I lead

My most important job as a leader is to give people the right conditions to shine, and make sure they get the recognition they deserve. When people can take responsibility and enjoy their work, customers are happy and the business does well. I am warm, coaching and a good listener, and I adapt how I communicate to the person in front of me. In tough times I am strong and supportive, one of the team with my sleeves rolled up.

How I work

I drive change from why, to what, to how. First I make sure things land right: where are we going, what is there, what is needed and what is expected. I don't wait for the path to be clear, I help create it. Then I build the engagement that makes people take ownership, and follow up that it delivers results. My work is in line with established change models such as ADKAR, Kotter's eight steps and Bridges' transition model, and I use what fits the situation.

Caro Hallgren · CV · Caffè latte3
Caffè latte · Roles in detail

In depth

Roles in detail

Trust Your Talent TYT AB, founder

  • The approach: where is the business going, what is there today and what is needed. Then strengths and drivers (Hero Profile™), well-composed teams (Hero Team™) and resource planning against the business goals (Hero Organization™).
  • In assignments: key people who stayed, roles reallocated and routine tasks automated, recruitment against a clear gap, and teams moving from conflict management to collaboration.
  • Hero prototype and a skill that makes the AI model dig deep. Profiles also delivered as JSON for the company's Agentic AI.
  • Formats: talks, workshops and individual Hero Profiles; Hero Journey™ from individual to organisation; Hero Performance Partner, continuously close to the leadership team; training internal coaches.

Head of Sustainability, Northern Europe

  • Set and drove the full sustainability agenda in five markets, in a group that owns its production chain. Alone in the role: 98 per cent change leadership.
  • Brought C-level, every function and every store along by showing the value and the why.
  • Project rooms per country with different customer and legal requirements, training, lower energy use in stores and reuse of glasses.
  • External first point of contact in networks and industry associations.

Head of Central Operations, Sweden

  • Led 15 specialists in internal communication, processes, customer journey, IT systems, call centre, clinical projects, training and the talent journey.
  • Took the cross-functional role on my own initiative, in a team where everyone reported to Denmark.
  • Took the stores through the pandemic: risk assessment every evening as the rules changed, and reallocated roles.
  • Initiated and led Optician on demand, and coached store leaders towards profitability and happy customers.

Head of Talent Management, Northern Europe

  • Secured with the team a new talent journey and employer brand, with a platform for opticians with training, conferences and support. Trade fairs and events to attract new talent.
  • University programmes from the first year of study, and an international academy for opticians with foreign qualifications.
  • Development paths and leadership programmes, from assistant to retail partner and from new optician to partner or specialist.
  • Supported franchisees in becoming good employers, and brought the franchise partners on board with concept and culture.

Head of Recruitment Services, Northern Europe

  • Started the unit in Sweden and scaled it to Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. First hands-on, then with my own team and strategic responsibility.
  • Recruitment of opticians, store partners, leaders and managers, for permanent roles and partnership.
  • Consultant pool of locum opticians. Every gap in the rota hit patients directly.
  • Talent Management Cycle and relocation packages for candidates and families.

Randstad

  • Professionals Engineering, 2013-2015: existed globally but not in Sweden. New clients, sales, structures, processes and SLAs, own recruitment and responsibility for delivery.
  • RPO Volvo Cars, 2012-2013: all white-collar recruitment, nationally and globally, much of it R&D and IT. Found the needle in the haystack and challenged managers to bring in different backgrounds.

ALGIZ Security

  • Operations, HR, processes, structure and marketing in a company built from zero.
  • Recruited bodyguards and security staff from elite units who could also move in VIP settings. Round-the-clock staffing could never fail.
  • Protection of clients and families worldwide, and of private yachts in pirate waters.
  • Certifications, contacts with authorities and the set-up in Monaco, which requires an invitation from the Ministry of the Interior.

France

  • Cartier, 2009-2011: co-manager in Montpellier and Bordeaux. Client care, storytelling and VIP events.
  • Horiba ABX, 2008-2009: marketing department, medical diagnostics.
  • O'Carolans, 2006-2008: assistant manager, team and international clientele.

DFDS Tor Line

  • Quality and Environmental Manager in the leadership team. The quality, environment and safety system.
  • Trained all staff, internal audits, contacts with authorities and media communication.
Caro Hallgren · CV · Caffè latte4