– Many things are unfamiliar and a little unknown – E24
Oda’s “internal core” had no major leadership ambitions. Now she has taken over as top manager in Norway.
– Now I have praised so much of the coffee here.
After being served E24’s extremely deplorable coffee at the last meeting, self-appointed coffee junkie and recent Norwegian manager in Oda, Kristin Thornes Woldsdal, gets to show off the much talked about brew in her own offices in Nydalen.
The prayer election has been voted on. The mixing conditions in the funnel have been experimented with. The coffee grinder is set to the perfect number of grams. So perfect that the meme cat «Grumpy Cat» is hung on it, with the inscription «NO».
– Deterring does not allowed to ask about the weight.
It will be six dice rolls for the coffee. However, the office of the new boss is not very impressive yet. A note in the Oda colors with her name on it is hung a little skewed on the door with tape. Inside is a solitary office desk, a chair, and a trolley with some partitions. Woldsdal laughs apologetically when she shows E24 in.
– They have promised that there will be a seating group here soon, she says and points to the corner.
It is almost exactly one month since the 32-year-old took the step up from business developer to top manager in one of Norway’s largest growth companies. A big, scary step, many would think. Woldsdal for its part takes it with surprisingly great calm – so there is no big difference from the job she has had before.
Parts of the role are known. Then there are many things that are unfamiliar and a little unknown. It is visible externally, for example, is a bit scary, she says in this week’s episode of E24’s podcast Voksenpoeng.
Listen to the entire interview where you usually find your podcasts, or in the player below.
Economy family
She got her financial interest from her father and partly from her four siblings. The creative part of her has been given by more who work as furniture upholsterers and interior designers.
But it did not become a creative profession for anyone other than the mother in the family.
– She had hoped that with five children she could get a doctor, a lawyer … One in every profession, sort of. And then she got five of what she had before, so she thinks she has gotten a little bad payoff, says Woldsdal and laughs.
– So she dies at family dinner, then it’s just finances?
– In fact, we talk very little work at home. I think if you had come to dinner with us, you would not have known what we were working on. It goes more into funny stories on repeat, and yes … More everyday things.
Sibling rivalry has been nothing special, even though everyone ended up in equal professions. The family has not been particularly concerned with titles and status, says Woldsdal. She had not laid out a career plan either when she dropped out of high school.
French at work
It was two years abroad before she returned home to Norway. First at language school in France, then at college in the United States.
The plan was actually four years in Colorado, but after a year, she felt homesick. Woldsdal wanted to be closer friends and family, and ended up at the Norwegian School of Management in Bergen.
The way forward went, perhaps not so surprisingly, in the consulting industry. At a company presentation towards the end of her master’s degree in economics, the consulting firm Qvartz, which was later acquired by Bain & Company, had impressed her. And they love better “work-life balance” and other agencies.
– Did they have it, or was it a lie?
– When I talked to friends who were in McKinsey and BCG, I found that we worked less with us. It was long days Monday to Thursday, but when it was short days on Friday and free on the weekends, it went well. The office in Copenhagen was above Nørrebro Brygghus, so at four o’clock we paddled down there and started the weekend. So yes, you worked more than eight to four, but it did me no good. I loved working at Qvartz, says Woldsdal.
Browse the gallery or follow Voksenpoeng_med_Nora on Instagram to read Kristin Thornes Woldsdal’s school diary.
Over the years, as consultants picked up with her business development tools that she wanted – and an important lesson about resume writing.
She knew French after a year in France and Switzerland. But maybe not as much as Qvartz thought.
– There is a little difference between ordering a croissant at a café and working in a language.
She noticed this when she was sent on a project for Europe’s largest Christmas tree producer, to conduct several interviews in different French cities. Woldsdal quickly realized that she did not have time to look up what she did not understand on Google translate along the way. The solution was to record the interviews.
– So when we got back to the hotel in the evenings, often quite sent when I was there listening to the interviews and googled up on what different words I had not understood meant so that I could translate it into English and send over to the project manager. Fake it until you can handle it!
– You were not exposed?
– I was not revealed! But it took quite a while, then. There was not so much sleep or work-life balance on this project.
– Quite surprised
After three years of ever-changing projects and teams, Woldsdal began thinking about switching jobs. She would like to follow a company over a long period of time, not just deliver a solution that others would implement.
She discussed it with a friend who had already made the same transition – to Oda, who at the time was called Kolonial. Coincidentally, there was a vacancy there as a strategy and business developer. The application deadline was the same day. Woldsdal threw himself around – and landed the position.
– The timing was a bit random, but I had been following Kolonial for a while. I thought it was a very exciting company, says Woldsdal.
She only managed three years in the job before entrepreneur and CEO Karl Munthe-Kaas realized that he needed someone to take over his role as Norwegian CEO. By then, she had indeed also used to work on projects across the organization, and become well known. But no great leadership ambitions had been expressed. The message that the entrepreneur could envision her as his heir, thus came a little abruptly.
– I was quite surprised, it was not something I had thought of. But I was also incredibly happy, says Woldsdal.
When the news was released, she was described as an “internal star”, well-liked by all. Then you also do not have to spend another 10 seconds in a room with Woldsdal to understand why: She talks a lot, smiles just as much, scores high on the charisma scale. There is very hard work behind it an image with severe facial pressure you can see in this article.
E24 is also not particularly surprised that she still hears that she has a «built-in positivity that is contagious and engaging».
– I love getting to know people, and I am very relieved to love people. I think it’s a nice trait to have in such a role. And then I am quite goal-focused and structured, says Woldsdal about strengthening his as a leader.
She is good at the broad lines, and setting boundaries. But then she also needs the detail-oriented ones, and they can challenge the boxes she makes.
– I really appreciate working with people who are more creative than me, think outside the box and come up with the solutions that are outside the framework I have set.
And going from project manager to top manager at the age of 32, she has not thought of as so scary. Not in Oda, at least.
– Many young people get to try their hand at roles they have never had before, it’s a bit of our DNA. I’m not going to do this alone, I have a lot of good people around me, and Karl is close. I feel very confident in navigating even what is unknown, and it does not get so foamy.
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