---
title: "Growth in the north: do we have the leadership to carry it?"
description: "Finding the right leaders, and developing those who already lead. To me, these are two sides of the same coin. That is why I am now adding executive recruitment to my services, in collaboration with Kjell Strøm and Fair Assess."
date: 2026-09-21
author: Merete N. Kristiansen
publisher: Kristiansen & Co
canonical: https://kristiansenco.no/en/insights/vekst-i-nord-har-vi-ledelsen-som-skal-b%C3%A6re-den/
---

# Growth in the north: do we have the leadership to carry it?

Northern Norway is growing. Several of the region’s most important industries are expanding at a pace we have not seen for a long time. It raises a question I believe many of us recognise: are we building the leadership to carry that growth at the same pace as we are building the businesses themselves?

To me, this comes down to two things that are closely connected. The first is finding the right people: leaders who have the right professional expertise and who understand the context they will be leading in. My experience is that there are many capable leaders and a great deal of strong expertise in the north. The best appointments happen when the person searching knows the communities and can convey what both the role and the region have to offer. That is also how you find the candidates who would otherwise never have been seen. Because it is rarely the position alone that makes good leaders come, and stay. It is the story of a whole life in the north.

The second is developing today’s leaders. This is about the team: management teams and boards that together make sound judgements, adjust course along the way and, at the same time, develop new business areas and strategies.

This is at the core of my work in organisational and leadership development: developing management teams, organisational design and leadership support in periods of growth and change. I am now adding executive recruitment.

It is a new service on my part, which is why I have joined forces with Kjell Strøm and Fair Assess. Kjell has long experience in executive search and executive recruitment, with a methodology for selection and thorough assessment of candidates. For my part, I bring what I have learned as a leader and board member in the ocean industries and in the north: an understanding of the roles and environments a leader will be stepping into, and of what it actually takes to succeed here. We focus where we can contribute most with our experience and expertise: recruiting and developing senior executives, management teams and boards.

The collaboration is new, and we are building it step by step, with Northern Norway as our starting point and the whole country as our market. The aim is for organisations to find leaders who fit, and who stay. And for today’s leaders to develop on the basis of their own everyday reality, not according to a ready-made template. Please get in touch with me if you would like to hear more, or have experiences you would like to share.