“My job is to create the conditions for others to succeed”

Interpreter's story

Interpreter's story

“My job is to create the conditions for others to succeed”

Jukka Kylmälä went out into the world as a young man and built a career as an executive for major technology companies. Now, from his home office in Nurmijärvi, he interprets people’s life situations from the womb to inheritance.

A quiet, unchanging country lane in Central Finland, cattle farms, and the frequent smell of cow dung. These were the reasons why Jukka Kylmälä, 67, the former CEO of subsidiaries of the construction company YIT, the elevator company Kone and the machinery giant Valmet, left to explore the world as a young man. He wanted to get as far away from his home region as possible, never to return, and never to smell the penetrating odor of the barns again.

Luck intervened in the spring of 1975, when Jukka received a student place at Kiev State University in the Soviet Union. He spent a year there in preparatory studies until the dean appeared in the classroom to recruit interpretation students for the Moscow Institute of Languages, as there was a shortage of foreigners in the program. The hopes of better living conditions and new adventures led Jukka to pack his things and head to Moscow.

Once his studies began, Jukka quickly got involved in interpreting work. He was offered gigs in various situations, from business events to art exhibitions and theater.

- Back then, we interpreted with the skills we had, even if everything wasn’t entirely clear yet, Jukka laughs.

A foreigner working in the Soviet Union at the time was a rare sight, and this position led Jukka to increasingly challenging job offers. One person knew another, and another knew a third, and eventually, after his studies, Jukka secured an interpreter position at YIT’s construction site at the Lada factory in Tolyatti, Samara. According to Jukka, this was when he began to distance himself from humanism.

– My actual career ended up being, somewhat unexpectedly, as the CEO of a subsidiary of an industrial company, he says.

During his first years as an interpreter, Jukka’s career continued at YIT as a chief engineer for contractual reasons. Later, YIT’s export department management invited Jukka to Moscow, where he advanced to a managerial position. This was during the second half of the 1980s.

In 1995, a headhunter contacted Jukka and attracted him to work for the elevator company Kone’s Moscow unit. Jukka decided once again to take on the challenge life threw at him and ended up spending the next 12 years in the shoes of Kone’s CEO.

In 2008, Jukka was recruited as CEO of the machinery company Valmet, which also operated in Moscow at the time. Jukka’s working period in the machinery industry, which lasted a little over five years, and his decades-long career as a business executive, ended in the fall of 2013. It was time to return to Finland.

The interpreter is on call five days a week and lives in the moment

Now, over a decade later, the retired three-time CEO looks out at the forest landscape of Nurmijärvi from the window of his home office, which he built in the upstairs of his family’s house, and waits for a remote interpreting assignment to begin.

– This is currently the best place in the world. It’s 27 minutes to the airport, 45 minutes to the statue of Mannerheim, and five kilometers away is the world’s most beautiful sandy beach at Sääksjärvi. From the front door you can go jogging in the woods - and there are no cattle farms nearby, he laughs.

When the interpretation session is over, Jukka heads to the path behind his house, which takes him to the middle of a hilly forest landscape. There, he leaves behind everything he doesn’t need to carry with him. He enjoys no longer being responsible for anything at work other than his own contribution.

Although on paper Jukka is retired, he doesn’t believe he’ll ever become a gentleman of leisure. It’s important for him to stay active, and the extra income doesn’t hurt. He works as a business consultant-or “middleman”, as he calls his role. Jukka also returned to interpreting after decades when he started working in 2022 for Youpret, providing interpreting services in Russian, English and Finnish. Jukka soon realized that it suits his current life situation perfectly.

– I am usually on call five days a week, although I take Fridays a bit more lightly. The duration of an interpreting session varies from fifteen minutes to over an hour, so I accept them accordingly, Jukka says.

Jukka admits that, at first, it was difficult for a three-time CEO to adjust to being a customer service representative.

– I eventually found the right mindset and learned to restrain myself from interfering with the perspectives of the other parties. These jobs are actually related to each other. My job is still to create the conditions for the other parties to succeed.

In Jukka’s experience, interpreting work receives more positive feedback than being a CEO.

– I have received written feedback a few times, and it is always nice. I can say that a thank you is even as valuable as a reward when it comes from helping someone in a difficult situation, he says.

Jukka also finds it pleasant that the interpreting work allows him to encounter so many different perspectives on the world. You learn many things that you might never have thought about otherwise.

Interpreting covers the whole spectrum of human life; in Jukka’s words, everything that can happen from the womb to the grave and inheritance.

– The situations are very intense, sometimes even tragic, just like life is. However, interpreting is so focused on the present moment that my own feelings only surface afterward.

Youpret offers its interpreters training and discussion sessions, where they have the opportunity for both professional and peer support. Jukka considers this opportunity important.

The balance to work is found in family and culture

One of Jukka’s most important roles in the world is spending time with his two grandchildren. He takes care of his grandsons weekly. With them, Jukka admires the nature of the local forest, goes swimming, reads books and engages in everyday activities.

– With them, the focus must be very much on the present moment. Even the smallest things are wonderful to them. They are the greatest joy of my life.

After grandchildren, the best balance to work is culture. Jukka is a passionate drama theater and opera enthusiast.

Jukka and his wife became culture enthusiasts during their years in Moscow. Their circle of friends includes artistic directors, directors, and actors from the world of theater. In Finland, they regularly attend cultural events in Helsinki, which is less than an hour’s drive from home.

– In Russia, high culture was something entirely different, but we also have interesting events in Finland, he notes.

Back to the beginning

Many people Jukka has encountered in life have wondered about the flip chart that is always around him. He tells those curious that he writes short observations about the world on it. They usually come out in Japanese-style haiku poems. Jukka has even self-published four poetry booklets of his haikus in Russia under the pseudonym Baron Jürgen von Kopf. According to Jukka, the name is tied to a historical legend, which is a story of its own.

– I happened to mention my hobby to a friend who is the artistic director of a publishing company, and he offered to publish them, Jukka says.

Jukka describes his writing as semi-predictive, combining many elements.

– Ordinary people, philosophy, all aspects of life, injustice, chance… The fragile weakness of humans, he lists.

- It sort of tumbles down the stairs. The last line can be something completely different from the first ones, but at the same time, it bounces back to the beginning.

They are a bit like life, which bounced Jukka, after all those adventurous years back to the countryside to plan how to conquer the world.

– The big fish is still waiting to be caught, he smiles.

Text: Annika Lius
Pictures: Antti Rintala

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