A better class of people

Good leadership is hard to define but as the saying goes, you know it when you see it. In Norway, leadership calls for diversity, of gender, background and age, the first of these by a quota system which would be considered controversial in many countries.

Despite the apparently harmonious arrangement, it’s not always plain sailing in an industry still marked by gender imbalance and a distinct lack of diversity. Hurtigruten CEO Hedda Felin came to shipping from a decade in oil and gas “so I was used to being the only female in the room, it’s no better in shipping,” she told the opening Nor-Shipping conference

Her company has created a business case for diversity in its team, not only gender but in seeking to bring in different perspectives, itself a different challenge. “Different culture and perspectives are welcome; gender is the easy way to start, we need more than just good technical and operational skills,” she said.

This road leads directly to ESG, something which she describes as “not a support function but a core function, it supports the purpose of the company and its recruitment strategy”.

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