Kolind was executive vice president of Risø National Laboratory from 1981 to 1984 and chief operating officer of Radiometer from 1984 to 1988. For ten years, Kolind served as Group CEO for William Demant Holding A/S, which owns hearing aid manufacturer Oticon. Kolind carried through a financial turnaround of Oticon 1988–90, and in 1991 Kolind changed the company by designing and implementing the so-called "Spaghetti Organization", which has been featured as one of the first knowledge-based, almost paperless organisations in the world. Kolind left William Demant Holding in 1998. Kolind's work in Oticon has been featured in articles and books including Tom Peters' Liberation Management and Per Thygesen Poulsen's Think the Unthinkable, both in 1993. Upon Kolind's departure from Oticon, professor Mette Morsing from the Copenhagen Business School co-edited the book Managing the Unmanagable for a Decade in 1998, which also discusses Kolind's works. Since 1998 Kolind has served as non-executive board member of K. J. Jacobs AG, Grundfos, Poul Due Jensens Fond, Unimerco Group, Zealand Pharma, LinKS and Wemind. In 2000 he started PreVenture A/S, a venture capital firm, which was managed by BankInvest. PreVenture owned Retail Internet A/S, Yellowtel A/S, Isabella Smith A/S and and was dissolved in 2009. Today, Kolind is majority shareholder in KeepFocus A/S through his personal holding company Kolind A/S. Other investments are Spiir, Impero A/S, and Bookanaut Aps. The Kolind family also owns Løndal Østerskov A/S, which is the owner of the Løndal and Addithus Estates in Denmark. Kolind is chairman of the supervisory board of Kristeligt Dagblad A/S and a member of the advisory board of Danske Bank. Kolind is also chairman of the board of Jacob Jensen Holding ApS, and LinKS.
Books
In 2000 Kolind published the book, The Knowledge Society—Agenda for Denmark in the 21st Century. In 2006, Kolind wrote The Second Cycle–Winning the War against Bureaucracy. Kolind also co-authored the book, Unboss: Leadership For Today and For The Future,. He also a contributor to the book, The Future of Innovation—where over 350 academic, political and business thinkers contributed.
Politics
On 7 May 2007 Kolind announced that he had supported the newly formed party, Liberal Alliance with a donation of DKK 100.000 hoping that he could help establish a new political agenda for Denmark in relation to the increased competition from low-wage countries, the environmental challenge and the future for Danish culture. At the November 2007 parliamentary election, Kolind ran for Liberal Alliance in the Fyn region. Kolind was not elected, but he openly continued to actively support the party.
