Industry Updates
Magazine
Brand Story
Press Release
BLOGS
Casper Aaen is not just another leader in the corporate world—he’s a high achiever, redefining leadership through strategic thinking, passion, and innovation. Over the past three decades, Casper has been at the forefront of business development, transforming industries and inspiring change. After high school, he joined the military and later transitioned to the business world, taking on various senior management roles. From serving in the military to holding senior leadership roles in several renowned companies like Dangaard Telecom, Nuance, Digizuite, and Falck, Caspers’ journey reflects a relentless pursuit of excellence and impact. Since its early days, his journey has been a global one, thriving in international environments and traveling extensively to expand its reach and impact across the world. Currently, he serves as the COO at PanzerGlass A/S, a dedicated brand that delivers world-class accessories for the mobile industry.
Laying the Groundwork: Where It All Began
From a young age, Casper has held leadership positions. However, it wasn’t until he finished high school and joined the military that his professional journey as a leader truly began. After several years in the military and officer school, he completed a master’s degree in Organization and Strategy. Casper believes that continuous personal development is crucial for effective leadership. Therefore, he pursued further education through programs like INSEAD and recently finished an MBA in sustainability.
The Inspiration: A New Beginning Towards Growth
Casper’s journey at PanzerGlass began through his professional and personal connection with PanzerGlass’s CEO, Jimmy Olsen. As the company grew, it seemed only natural that Casper would eventually join the board. When Casper first started PanzerGlass was still a very small organization, with only a few people on board. Initially, it operated as a small and young organization, focusing on the basics and with a short-term focus.
Shaping Leadership: The Proven Track Record of Success
Casper did not experience a pivotal moment that defined him as a leader. On the contrary, his leadership process has been shaped gradually with every role he has held. However, the most important lesson he learned early in his career is that being a leader goes beyond just being a team member, coach, or manager. You are responsible for the well-being and success of the people under your care. He strongly believes that a natural leader is the one whom the majority in the organization would point to even anonymously. To him, being the person the company trusts to create the most successful future for everyone is essential, and having a proven track record of success is a strong indicator of this capability.
The Significant Leadership Qualities
With Casper joining the leadership team, PanzerGlass entered a new phase of growth thanks to his dynamic leadership skills, understanding of market dynamics, and ability to forge strong relationships with key stakeholders.
From an early age, he has been deeply interested in performance culture, believing that individuals are shaped by their surroundings—parents, siblings, friends, education, colleagues, and leaders. Performance culture is vital because it enhances the entire organization, a leader’s core responsibility. As a leader, Casper prioritizes setting high ambition levels, fostering open dialogue about mistakes, and encouraging innovative ways of working. He sees himself as a frontrunner, setting strategic direction and collaborating with his team to achieve their goals. For him, leadership requires focusing on vision and strategy, driving a unified performance culture, and often a remote workforce. Casper continually applies a customer-centric approach and strives to maintain a high level of competitiveness across all business areas. “By foreseeing future needs and maintaining the ambition of being industry leaders, we can win against the strongest competitors. I concentrate 90% on the processes needed for success and only 10% on the goals themselves, as setting a goal does not bring me closer to achieving it,” says Casper.
Aligning His Leadership with the PanzerGlass’ Core Values and Culture
As an executive, Casper is responsible for cultivating a performance-driven culture within the company. He ensures that successful practices are shared across all departments and maintains cohesion and alignment. Casper takes a holistic view of the organization, considering it as a value chain from beginning to end, encompassing both internal and external components. His objectives are to realise the strategy by cascading the changes throughout the organization, unifying the culture, and constantly integrate performance improvements throughout. Before joining PanzerGlass, Casper held various CCO roles, which provided him with a unique perspective on the company as a whole, allowing him to understand the intricacies that contribute to high performance and avoid narrow strategic thinking.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Continuous Improvement
Casper emphasizes the importance of dedicating time to innovation and improvement.
for achieving success. He feels it’s crucial to explore and invest in various opportunities, even if they seem ambitious. An innovative culture cannot thrive without allowing for failure. Not all the ideas will be successful, but expecting perfection every time will stifle innovation and creativity among employees.
Casper also firmly believes that encouraging diversity among employees leads to a variety of ideas, enhancing overall growth. Casper advocates that innovation should be a collective responsibility, with an expectation of annual double-digit growth and a fact-based approach. He and his teams are committed to taking choices that will push the whole industry into a new paradigm. Leading the change and setting the new standards translate directly into the attitude of winning and not just participating. Through innovation, the team challenges themselves to develop and launch over 1,000 products per year, establishing PanzerGlass as one of the fastest-moving consumer goods companies in the industry.
An Edge Over the Peers
Casper views PanzerGlass not just as a screen protection company but as a key player in the mobile accessories market. This industry is characterized by fast-moving consumer goods and intense competition, with regional fragmentation across online, offline, retail, and B2B channels. Unlike many competitors who are either local or regional, PanzerGlass strives for a global-level presence. What sets PanzerGlass apart is its rapid development pace and innovative spirit.
“We are pioneers, with ongoing PhD research collaborations in performance culture and new materials. Our ability to navigate and succeed globally is a significant differentiator in this highly competitive and ever-changing landscape,” emphasizes Casper.
Further, agility and innovation provide PanzerGlass with a competitive edge. The organization rapidly responds to customer needs and consistently introduces new solutions and go-to-market models value propositions. Despite their fast growth, the team maintains a high level of responsiveness and adaptability that few companies can match. Striving for a strong performance culture enables the team to scale effectively while remaining innovative and customer-centric. This unique combination sets the company apart in the industry.
Building on Success: The Key Driving Factors Behind PanzerGlass’s Growth
The executives, with years of expertise and extensive industry knowledge, have played a pivotal role in driving PanzerGlass forward. Their clear strategy, focused targets, and a customer-centric, proactive approach in a non-consolidated industry have further empowered this growth. The executive management team has built a strong track record of success by seizing the best opportunities and maintaining high-quality and trustworthy deliverables. This has helped the company earn significant trust from its customers. “The process of realizing our success is strongly linked to performance culture, which pushes us to stay innovative and deploy principles of continuous improvement across the organization,” asserts Casper.
Navigating the Complexities: Casper’s Take-On
Building a company from the ground up and witnessing worldwide growth is one of the most rewarding experiences a business leader can have. As PanzerGlass grows, complexity increases with the addition of markets, product categories, and technologies. This demands more procedures, functions, and competencies. The whole organization ensures procedures are in place, builds structure, stabilizes, and then, after a hyper-care period, integrates new additions seamlessly, allowing continuous growth across countries, markets, and product categories.
The Latest Trends and Challenges: A Glance
Many products have evolved into fashionable accessories over the years. but the screen protection might seem less appealing due to its transparency. Consumers are becoming more discerning, valuing higher quality and advanced features. As mobile phones and devices grow more complex, their accessories will also integrate more technology and functions. Cases and screen protectors will no longer be basic but will offer additional features. For instance, a case is not just a colored cover anymore; it includes additional functionalities. The same applies to screen protection, where consumers expect more than just basic protection. Sustainability and compatibility with foldable devices will also become increasingly important.
Looking Ahead: The Future of PanzerGlass
In the next five years, PanzerGlass aims to be a dominant global player, not just in certain regions. The company strives to lead in technologies and new products, introducing innovations that attract competitors’ customers. Maintaining a strong customer focus is paramount, as the company is adopting an outside-in approach to understand and meet customer needs. This vision represents what PanzerGlass stands for, ensuring the company stays ahead in the market and continuously brings valuable, interesting products to the customers. Given the high ambitions, Casper will continue bending the industry standards and build a strong track record of success.
