Leadership is our mission, and our most important task is to provide leaders to businesses that need to get a leader in place quickly!
When we talk to senior executives about being a leader, we get many interesting answers and perspectives – and we find that fascinating. We think others will too, so we decided to contact a selection of senior executives, ask them a few questions about being a leader and turn their answers into short blog posts that we will publish. We hope they will be useful and inspiring for our followers.
“I have never chased a position. For me, choosing to become a leader has been more about achieving things together with others and driving change where it is needed,” says Anita Tunold, CEO of Aleris, Norway's largest private healthcare provider. “I have also been lucky and been given opportunities that I have seized. When I was offered the top job at Aleris, I consulted my daughters, who were crystal clear: ‘Of course you should say yes! What kind of role model would you be for us otherwise?’”
When asked what matters to her as a leader, the answers came quickly: “Being open and honest, building trust and communicating clearly are high on the list. I also make a point of giving praise and celebrating what we achieve, while at the same time it is important to set goals for continuous improvement and to dare to put into words what we can do better. There is care in clarity too, and nobody is left wondering what I mean,” Anita says with a smile, before pointing out: “Good exchanges of views are essential in improvement work, which is why I am so pleased that our employee surveys show that people at Aleris feel safe to say what they think and to speak up about mistakes. That is also important for patient safety.”
The key lessons Anita highlights after many years as a leader are “be yourself”, “be curious about people, your field and other people's perspectives” and “dare to set big, hairy goals”. Finally, we talked about whether being a leader has changed since the pandemic, and for Anita it has certainly changed in some areas: “But perhaps the most important thing is what has not changed – something that is a leadership responsibility and has to do with the very existence of the business: We do not create a high-performance company culture and results simply by working from home!”
Thank you, Anita, for sharing your experience as a leader!
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