Networking Event of the Year / Danish Top Executive Summit 2010 / The Crisis as a Catalyst

(Photo: Kgl.Hofleverandør, Klaus Møller)

The Crisis as a Catalyst

It’s the end of the good old days – Use it!

There is no shortage of challenges ahead, neither for policy makers nor for business leaders: New giant emerging economies like China and India rush forward, and good old leadership models are no good anymore. The winners are the countries and leaders who seize the opportunities and are adaptable – crisis or not!

That was one of the important messages, as approx. 500 leaders from Danish companies gathered at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. One of the keynote speakers was an American professor Gary Hamel – recognized as one of the world’s leading strategic thinkers. And his speech “Management Version 2.0 – Building a Company of the Future “- was indeed food for thought for most people. It was particularly the message that the leadership model in business globally has stood still for decades and totally ignored the revolution that has taken place in the technology and lifestyle areas.
Hierarchies are still headed in the clear shape from the top down, and key words are still discipline and control – and not much has changed in the good old organizational decision making process.

To cite just one concrete example of Hamel’s provocative thoughts: Break down organizations into small units where employees feel responsible, where they feel their voices are heard, where there’s plenty of autonomy, where they feel they are joint owners of the company. Let the employees themselves both recruit people, appoint their own leaders,  and evaluate each other’s performance. This will eventually become a requirement from generation F (acebook)!

“We have to turn management upside down,” Gary Hamel thundered and pointed out that the management teams of today with keywords as obedience, diligence and intellect get way too little out of the human capital in enterprises. Instead, we must make room for features such as initiative, creativity and passion.

In Denmark, we are probably at the forefront of the development, Hamel describes, but there is clearly room for improvement …

NETWORK

There’s wine in the glasses, and it’s Monday Evening in Copenhagen, where the club of the top executives are gathering at their annual Top Executive Summit at the Royal Danish Opera. After a long day with various presentations from among others also foreign VL groups and workshops, the time has come for snacks and small-talk and subsequently dinner, entertainment and networking ad libitum.

“If you want to reach the top [careerwise, ed.] you can’t do it only by will and the right skills set. Someone must recognise you and mention your name as candidate for e.g. a board member position. It’s not enough to have a big network, you also have to set oneself up to be chosen amongst the many. It’s not who you know, but who knows you”, says Christian Walldstrøm, ph.d. and associate professor at University of Aarhus.

Networks are no Shortcut

Christian Waldstrøm stresses that the network is no shortcut to power, although it is sometimes presented that way. “You can’t be a leader, you can hardly do the job if you don’t have a network. But you can not network your way to power, if you do not have the qualities and competencies which are known to affect one’s ability to make a career. It is often said that 80 percent of all jobs are filled through networking, and spøjst enough, it is often the people who facilitates networking, which spits dne kind of statistics out. But it is simply not true. Partly because in Denmark, we are panicky fear of being accused of nepotism, and partly because most jobs must be advertised, “explains Waldstrøm.

“Networks are a time-waster, and therefore people will join the networks that really bring something in various ways. In the same way as career paths become more fragmented, our networks also become more fragmented and attached to various parts of our lives,” he explains.

Knowledge and Contacts

Charlotte Junge agrees to that. She is the owner of a business which gives advice to companies and individuals in building effective networks, and her experience is, that the use of networks is changing form being “half-concealed and lodge-like” to becoming positively and professionally utilised. Knowledge-sharing is the new mantra.

“Due to the strong individualization, also at work, there is a need to reinvent the networks which e.g. can exploit the wealth of knowledge that individual employees possess, “explains Charlotte Junge, who is an author of the book “Netværk – Vejen til målet, version 2.0.” (“Networks – the path to the target, version 2.0.”, Ed.). She continues:

Many believe that it’s about having as big a network as possible, in which you can circulate your CV if you for example need a new job. But it doesn’t work like that. Nobody wants to recommend people they do not know very, very thoroughly. In contrast, the network can help us with knowledge, contacts, and information about new job opportunities.

Back in the Opera House the talking goes so merrily along the dinner tables, that the organizer must ask the guests to get ready to go to the foyer, where the next part of the program is entertainment, and more networking. If by then you should have spare business cards, you may continue at the Hotel Admiral in “networking for the nighthawks.”

About the VL Groups

• Danish Association for Corporate Governance (Dansk Selskab for Virksomhedsledelse) is an umbrella organisation for all the VL groups holding more than 3,000 members. The network was founded in Copenhagen on 3 May 1965 by a group of business leaders and the – at that time – only VL group – the current group no. 1.
• VL-group stands for “manager group” (Danish: VirksomhedsLeder gruppe).
• Today there are 92 VL groups and 8 VL groups are being formed.
• The members of a VL group is from a company’s senior management, members of the executive board, including those from professional services and the public sector. Each group will meet 8-10 times a year at informal meetings for discussion of management themes.
• 86 percent of members are men. 14 percent are women.

Sources: Jyllands-Posten, CC Publications

Further Resources

Website of the VL GROUPS: www.vlgrupperne.dk/en

About the VL Summit

Headline of the Annual Danish Top Executive Summit 2010:

THE CRISIS AS CATALYST! The winning strategies of the future will be forged in adversity.

You could meet some of the worlds most exciting personalities on the subjects of innovation and the front-runner philosophy: Professor Gary Hamel – first time in Denmark and key note speaker. Robert Safian: Editor and Managing Director Fast Company Magazine, Clement Kjersgaard, Nils Bernstein, Governor Chairman Danmarks Nationalbank, Hanne B. Sørensen, CCO Maersk, Peder Tuborgh, CEO Arla, Jens Moberg, CEO Better Place, Connie Hedegaard, Anders Eldrup, CEO Dong, Søren Lynggaard, CEO Ole Lynggard Copenhagen, Peter Arndrup Poulsen, CEO Brdr. Hartmann, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and many more.