Jon Lykke
Executive leadership with heart | Strategic Execution | Digital transformation | People & Culture | Security & Compliance
I believe people and culture are the real engine of digital transformation and technical delivery. That’s how I help organizations navigate complex transformations: I align leadership, processes, and technology to unlock growth — for lasting impact.
A Technologist Who Leads with Vision and Empathy
My Convictions
I believe the strongest organizations unite ambition, trust, and capacity. In practice, this has me drive major gains in eNPS, faster delivery cycles, and higher NPS — because empowered people deliver lasting transformation. I lead with empathy, emotional intelligence, and radical transparency, expecting high performance through shared purpose, not pressure. With 20+ years of IT leadership and digital transformation experience, I’ve delivered large-scale change for government, enterprises, and global teams. I’ve modernized engineering organizations, scaled enterprise platforms, and built cultures that retain top talent. Colleagues describe me as someone who builds clarity in chaos, sets a high bar, and stands shoulder to shoulder with the team. For me, trust, ownership, and feedback are daily practices — not just slogans.
My Core Values
- Empowerment through trust
- Strategic clarity
- Inclusive leadership
- Continuous learning
- Measurable impact
My leadership ethos
- Success demands clear ambitions, sound strategies, and relentless prioritization — miss one, and both formidability and capacity suffer.
- I build healthy cultures that drive results and foster growth — one doesn’t work without the other.
- I believe strongly in end-to-end responsibility for all roles and positions — in a team, we are never fully without influence or fault.
- I value small gestures — if we’re too busy to help a teammate under pressure, we’ve lost sight of what matters.
- I never pretend to be someone I’m not — I believe the fastest growth happens when we treat our shortcomings as seriously as our strengths.
- I run a tight ship, with high ambitions and a focus on accountability. I reward hard work, innovative solutions, open communication, and attitudes that dare to believe.
Career Timeline Highlights
(2023–2025)
Senior Director, KMD
Led global Technology organization across Copenhagen, Warsaw, and Bangalore (70+ staff, 100M+ DKK budget), delivering strategic transformation and operational excellence. Built the world’s first fully scalable, GDPR-compliant cloud platform, today trusted by cornerstone Danish institutions. Drove 4M DKK cost savings in year one, accelerated CI/CD adoption through Windows-to-Linux migration, and established enterprise-wide security and compliance frameworks. Restructured international leadership team, revitalized tech culture by empowering SMEs, and introduced OKRs at executive level to ensure strategic alignment and measurable impact.
(2019–2023)
CIO, TimeLog A/S
Directed global R&D across 10 technical teams (35+ staff, 20M+ DKK budget) in Copenhagen, Kuala Lumpur, Aarhus, and Aalborg. Transformed employee engagement, raising satisfaction from 3.9 to 8.9/10. Secured strategic compliance partnerships and delivered ISAE 3000 & 3402 Type I & II certifications. Elevated security maturity with quarterly white-hat penetration testing, improving corporate security score by 330% and reducing security incidents by 90%. Advanced DevSecOps and QA maturity, scaling test automation from 0% to 50% and driving near-perfect software reliability. Closed 178 critical bugs to zero in 9 months through Project BlackOps
(2012–2019)
Development Director, Miracle A/S
Held dual roles spanning organizational leadership and large-scale project execution in high-security enterprise environments. Directed major development and consulting organization with focus on engagement, compliance, EBITDA growth, and agile maturity. Delivered £50M+ enterprise programs for Danish state and retail, balancing complex technical leadership with business strategy to ensure scalable, cost-effective solutions and a high-performance culture.Delivered high-security state & retail systems. Drove EBITDA growth and agile maturity.
Your transformation ally — from vision to delivery
My Competiencies
- Digital Prioritization & Transformation
- Executive Leadership
- Portfolio & Project Oversight
- Tech Culture Development
- Strategy-to-Execution Advisory
- Compliance & Risk Frameworks
How my competencies can help your company
- Unblock tech strategies and digital transformation tracks that aren’t seeing the traction and progress you need. Basically: Bring focus to the stuff that matters.
- Bring clarity, trust, and calm direction to teams and team members — creating alignment where bureaucracy and noise once ruled in vain.
- Cut through chaos with structure, focus, and measurable delivery, ensuring every project — and initiative — earns its right to exist.
- Gain confidence in strategies, strengthen collaboration and teamwork, and build a culture that not only retains great people — but attracts new ones too.
- Translate vision into practical movement — keeping the strategy alive beyond the PowerPoint and grounded in reality and actual capacity.
- Turn compliance into confidence by making governance a natural part of how people work, not an obstacle they avoid — If it doesn't add value, we shouldn't do it.
Trusted by colleagues and partners across the globe
Popular Articles
Why culture is the most important strategy — for any organization
Organizational culture is the backbone of success. Strong attitudes, diversity, and clear values drive engagement, performance, and lasting growth.
Spiral Dynamics — A compelling view into people's behavior
Spiral Dynamics explains differing worldviews: Human development mirrors evolution, shaped by context, capacity, and motivation — understanding fosters empathy.
#WhoIAm
Experienced IT leader shifting from portfolio management to driving strategy, culture, and growth. Skilled in NLP, communication, and fostering collaboration.
What I bring to your organization
Executive leader driving digital transformation with empathy, trust, and strategy—aligning ambition and capacity to empower people, boost culture, and deliver results.
Books That Shaped Me
Measure What Matters
“The biggest influencer on how I prioritize, measure progress and give feedback.”
Dare to Lead
“A wild and highly relevant take on transparency and honesty as a leader.”
Mind of the Leader
"This book is what I refer to when I need to read up on what good leadership is"
Inspired
"An absolute must-read book, for anyone who wishes to increase value creation."
Mastery
"The single biggest tribute to the belief that mastery isn't an accomplishment, it is a pursuit."
What's our problem
"This book is an in-depth explanation of our biggest sociological challenges anno 2025 — A truly great read."
Personal Corner
More than a CIO
- Winter swimmer
- Physical labor enthusiast
- 98 countries and states
- People-first mindset
- Partner, colleague, collaborator
- Passionate bon vivant
Beyond the office
I am a person who truly loves life — all of it. There hasn’t been a single hard time in my life that I didn’t find value in, in some way, shape, or form. It takes a cataclysmic event to shake my conviction that life is a grand adventure — because I genuinely believe it is. The setbacks, the bruises and the defeats are really just segues, when you convert them to insights.
I firmly believe we are here to do good. That doesn’t mean mistakes should be feared — only that we should learn from them and bring that knowledge back into play. Always onwards and up, or “Plus Ultra” — as I was taught in the regent’s Royal Regiment.
When I’m not diving into the icy waters of Denmark during the dark morning hours of a Scandinavian winter, or spending countless hours in the kitchen learning new things, I treasure camaraderie and wild ambitions at work. I have a lot of energy, and I grow uneasy if I don’t find meaningful ways to channel it — So I need to stay busy.
That’s also why the best days are those where I’ve put in real effort and truly made a difference. That doesn’t have to be at work, it can be helping a friend, a stranger, working on our home, or doing something for my social circle — What matters is contribution.
I make it a point to always arrive at the office smiling, to lend a hand wherever I can, and to engage deeply with the people around me. I forgive a lot — but I expect honesty and transparency in return, and I don’t tolerate deceitful behaviour. I’m not easily demotivated, but egocentricity, lies, and hurtful agendas can get me down. We should all aim to add a little more to a meaningful legacy, every single day.
