About
A practitioner, not a guru
I spent the first half of my working life running businesses — head-hunting, general management, a business unit across Nordic Europe — and the second half studying why capable teams stall.
The doctorate in psychology came after the operating experience, not instead of it. That order matters to clients: the models are academically defensible, and the advice has been tested against a profit-and-loss account.
Forty years in leadership positions, many of them global, means I have sat on most sides of the table the client is describing — as the executive, as the recruiter, and now as the mentor.
Alongside the psychology there is an MBA (siviløkonom) and an MSc, seven years as associate partner and lecturer at the Norwegian Board Academy, and full membership of the Institute of Directors in London. Governance is where the green agenda is won or lost, so that is where I work.
Today the work is concentrated on the green economy: mentoring the people building it, and contributing as an expert in ISO/TC 323 to the circular-economy standards it will be judged by. Services are delivered by Nordic Heads Ltd from Oslo, Stockholm, Cologne, Brussels and London.
The reason under all of it is simple. Our children and grandchildren will live with the decisions being taken in boardrooms this decade, and a livable planet is not a preference — it is a responsibility and an enormous business opportunity. I do not think that is sentimental; I think it is the strongest business case there is.
The future is not fixed. If enough of us work on it deliberately — with method rather than good intentions — it changes. That is why the work is mentoring rather than advocacy: one leader at a time, making decisions that hold.
Framework
7Domains → 5*STARS
The 7Domains model was built with the late Professor Alex Roberts of Edinburgh Business School: mentoring and coaching combined with a strategic focus programme, under the name Accelerated Leadership Development.
In practice the seven domains reduce to five strategic conversations. These are what I am hired for, whether the client is a management team, a board, or a practitioner building their own.
| S | Systemic thinking |
| T | Team development |
| A | Accelerators for leadership and organisational development |
| R | Results and return on investment |
| S | Strategic leadership in practice |
Endorsements
Attributed by role; names on request.
“Outstanding at maximising value creation within management teams — independent of industry, nationality and culture.”
“Probably the fastest turnaround we have ever seen.”
“Because he is one of the best in Europe.”
“We are still harvesting from your strategies.”
Keep in touch
One letter a month on circular-economy standards and green leadership. Reply to any of them and you reach me directly.