CEOs lack management experience

Many Chief Executive Officers are hired based on their academic experiences in fields such as economics or law rather than their managerial experience.

This is the view of Eyðbjørn Poulsen, the director of management consultancy firm Leiðsluhúsið.

“In some cases, CEO positions are given to people with no relevant experience at all,” he says in an interview with Magistarin magazine, published by Magistarafelagið, which is the union for MA and MSc degree holders.

“A Chief Executive Officer, or any kind of manager, cannot simply jump from the bottom rung of the ladder straight up to the top.

“You can’t learn about management simply by reading books. You need real-life experience with real people. It’s a craft that must be learned, just like any other.”

Poulsen believes that if the CEO of a major company does not have a minimum of 10 years’ work experience within the field of management, he or she is not suitable for the job.

“In most other countries, managerial experience is an essential requirement for CEO positions, but in the Faroes it often isn’t.”

Translated by prosa.fo