Finland headed to the polls on Sunday to elect thousands of councillors in a range of local and regional bodies.
The Social Democrats took a big win in the municipal elections, taking nearly one in four votes nationwide to push the National Coalition Party of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo into second place.
In the county council elections, for 21 regional bodies that arrange social and healthcare outside Helsinki, the SDP also topped the poll. The Centre Party recorded a good result in its rural heartlands to secure third spot.
Government parties did poorly, with all but the NCP losing support compared to the previous municipal elections in 2021. Turnout in the municipal election was 54.2 percent, while the county elections saw 51.7 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
The dual vote for municipal and county councils caused logistical issues for election officials, with counting slower than usual for Finland, where large numbers vote in advance and results are usually clear within a couple of hours of polls closing.
The Finns Party saw support collapse compared to the last municipal election, with the party nearly halving its vote from four years ago. They lost support in several towns that are seeing hospital services cut back as part of the central government's savings drive.
I can only speak from my own experience and what I've seen, but generally the best leaders are the ones who emerge naturally from within the team. You shouldn’t need to "prove yourself" to your superiors but to your coworkers instead.
Most teams don't want or need a boss, they need a leader
I don't know what your "vision" looks like, but start small. Feel like some manual task could be automated? Write a script and share it with the team. Think something should be done differently? Bring it up and see what others in the team think. The point is, you don't need actual "power" within the company to start implementing your vision. Unless of course the company culture is just horrible, in which case you'd probably be better off looking for other opportunities regardless..