Despite chairing two of Europe's largest companies and heading a group of the continent's leading industrialists, Jorma Ollila is hardly a household name. This suits the operational style of the 58-year-old Finn, who is chairman of both Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone company, and Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's biggest oil group.

Only two weeks ago he met Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in his role as head of the European Roundtable of Industrialists, a grouping of the continent's leading 50 or so chief executives or chairmen. “We like to work in the background,” says Mr Ollila, in what could almost be his mission statement.

This unassuming approach extends to his softly spoken manner and the venue for the interview: a bland conference room in a luxurious central London hotel. As well as masking his level of influence today, his low-key style contrasts sharply with his record. His success as chief executive of Nokia for 15 years – during which time he turned what was once a struggling industrial conglomerate into a global mobile phone powerhouse – prompted British teenagers to vote him the most creative thinker of modern times in a survey conducted five years ago by the UK's Design Council.