Insights – Kristiansen & Co

Why my own company – and not another leadership position

Merete N. Kristiansen — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When I stepped down as chief executive of Akvaplan-niva in May, I expected things to go quiet for a while. It did not.

Calls, messages and invitations to meet came in – from people I have worked with over the years, and from some I knew only by reputation. I said yes to everyone who wanted to meet. They were good conversations, and they gave me new perspectives. They also became part of my own process of working things out: they told me something I had not seen as clearly from inside a position.

What the conversations told me

Two things kept coming up. One was the expectation: “You’ll be picked up for a new top job soon.” It is what people say to each other in business, and it is kindly meant.

The other was more interesting. Several did not ask whether I was looking for a job. They asked whether they could use me – in their company, on a project, or as a partner.

A combination, not a CV

It was the way they described it that made me think. None of them asked for a CV. They described a combination: someone who has held operational responsibility in several companies and industries, who has built markets abroad, and who has at the same time sat on boards across research, innovation, education, banking and seafood – and who can be brought in without a large apparatus attached. It was put quite directly: that combination is hard to find.

That was the recognition that stayed with me: what I have learned can be used in more ways than in one company at a time. And I think they are right. None of the parts is rare on its own – there are plenty of capable executives, experienced board members and people who know the markets abroad. What is rare is that they sit in the same person, and that this person is available for a defined assignment. Most people with that background are occupied in a chair somewhere.

That is a description of a gap in the market, not of me. And it changed the question: not “which job comes next”, but “what happens if I make this combination available on my own terms”.

Why my own company

The answer was Kristiansen & Co.

I will be honest that this is also about what I want. All my working life I have carried responsibility on behalf of others – for companies, owners and boards that were not mine. It has been rewarding, and I have learned a great deal from it. But I now have more freedom than before, and I want to build something where I take responsibility for the development myself – creating value with what I know, this time on my own account. That is what I am taking on now, and I intend to do it properly.

What I left at Akvaplan-niva was a mission I cared about: bringing knowledge about the ocean, climate, aquaculture and new technology across into value creation for business and society – together with colleagues who wanted to make a difference. That mission does not end because the position does. It continues in a different form.

What I bring is not one perspective but three at once. In a boardroom, I know how a matter looks from management’s side. In a management team, I know what the owners are going to ask – and what it takes to build a team that delivers. In a market expansion, I know what tends to go wrong, because I have been in it.

If you have a company, a board or a project where I could be useful, do get in touch. And if you simply feel like a conversation about the opportunities in the north, that is a good reason too.

Three questions the board should ask before an international expansion

Merete N. Kristiansen — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Internationalisation rarely fails on ambition. It fails on the prerequisites. After years of market work in Asia and Europe, there are three questions I believe every board should have answered before the company commits to a new market.

Do we know who actually pays?

It is easy to describe a market in volumes and growth rates. It is harder to answer who the first paying customer is, what they pay for today, and why they would switch. Without that answer, the market analysis is a description, not a plan.

Do we have someone who has done it before?

Distributor agreements, customs regimes, payment terms and local hiring look manageable from Norway. In practice they rarely are. Experience from the specific market – not from internationalisation in general – is the single factor I have seen matter most.

Can the organisation at home carry it?

An expansion abroad always draws more leadership capacity than the budget suggests. The board should know what will be left unprioritised at home, and whether the leadership team actually has room to sustain the effort over time – not just to launch it.

None of these questions are new. But in the processes I have been part of, as an executive and as a board member, it is striking how often the decision is made before all three are answered.

Interim leadership: when is it the right move?

Merete N. Kristiansen — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A leadership gap is not always a crisis. But it is always a decision: should the role stand empty while the search process runs, should someone internal fill it temporarily, or should an interim leader come in from outside?

My experience is that interim is right in three situations. When the role carries operational responsibility for results that cannot wait – an empty chair costs more than a temporary leader. When the organisation is in a restructuring where it is an advantage that the person carrying it out is not staying. And when the board needs time to run a proper search process without putting operations on hold.

Interim is the wrong move when the gap is really a symptom – of an unresolved strategy, an ownership conflict or an organisation that does not hold together. A temporary leader does not solve that problem; it postpones it, with interest.

The most important advice is still simple: settle the mandate before day one. An interim leader without a clear mandate becomes an expensive stand-in. With a clear mandate, a defined period can move the company further than a normal year.