Interview with Søren Hermansen

Date: 15.07.2019 Reading time: 1 min. By: Louise Orbesen

How do we grow future leaders?

– Companies should try to find leaders who haven’t all received the same professional training and educational upbringing.

– Organizations need people who know about psychology, sensing… somebody who can map the world in a new way; and not only based on numbers and bottom lines.

What is wrong with leadership today?

– The ideal leader understands what responsibility and administration mean for the community. For the entirety. A good example is the dairy coop. When you make leadership a career track, it becomes a personal project.

– Today, too much delegation – and bonus systems – create unhealthy competition. It harms quality and competencies. People end up competing against each other. Focusing on the wrong things.

– The cooperatives have become so successful that they have become corporations. It’s not good. Now it is about personal ambition. The result is less trust.

What does current leadership need the most?

– I want to make the world more sustainable. The first step is to start talking with each other. Innovation starts here. It is about the creation of trust.

– I believe in “bio-dynamics”; A leader must be chosen by community agreement and accept.

– The old Danish cooperative movements are an inspiration for future leadership design.