Marianne Dahl

A quick post for the LVI nerds and users - and other good people interested in leadership development: Over the years when discussing versatility and the use of the 360 degree feedback tool LVI (Leadership Versatility Index) with leaders around Scandinavia, many has asked about the concept of the "Just Right" - how does that work? Here are some brief notes on the subject from Rob Kaiser, the primary thought leader on versatile leadership worldwide The ideal amount of any behavior depends on the situation. Our research shows quite clearly that the three top factors are culture, the business challenge, and the people being led. The right amount of command-and-control leadership in the hierarchical and high power distance cultures of Asia, for instance, is probably a lot more of that behavior than would be the right amount in the more egalitarian cultures of the Nordics. Similar thing for the people being led: a more senior and experienced employee will expect more empowerment and less command-and-control than a relatively inexperienced employee. A big part of the power in the LVI is the contextual nature of the rating scale. When raters decide if a leader does “the right amount” versus too little or too much of a behavior, they are considering the behavior they have observed in terms of the cultural norms, people being led, and other situational factors. The method leaves it to the people involved to decide how much is the right amount. So the feedback is grounded in the context, unlike ratings on five-point scales where you have to loosely calibrate whether a “4 on accountability is more appropriate here, but a 5 is more appropriate there” and that sort of thing. Feedback on the too little/too much scale can lead to deep insights and dialogue about expectations. For instance, when a US expat gets feedback that he isn’t providing enough direction and may be seen as too hands-off for a relatively inexperienced and culturally more hierarchical employee body in Asia. It forces the manager to reconsider assumptions about what has worked before and what is “the right”way to lead and instead to be more mindful of the present circumstances and the particular nuances that make it unique. Relatedly, this feedback can also force explicit consideration of competing expectations, for instance when superiors say you need to push harder for results but subordinates say you push too hard. These competing expectations exist, and the LVI throws them into relief so they can be explored and managed. In summary: "just Right" depends primarily on the culture, the business challenge and the people being led.

65

4 Comments

Bain & Company once again published their annual insight on Mergers and Acquisition, Global M&A Report 2026. It is always very insightful and interesting read on the market, not only on the M&A perspective. I would like to highlight few key takeaways, from an angle for Nordic SME, our home turf and market we operate to build and scale B2B tech-driven companies. Furthermore, I will launch a mini series of posts revolving around M&A theme on the Nordic B2B SME, and their potential growth strategies. Bain & Company first and foremost stated that the M&A market has rebounded. Although the relative share of capital allocated to M&A declined. While the M&A market is driven by the large deals, especially from the Nordic perspective, there are opportunities for smaller deals to be made. My key takeaways are seen through the Nordic lens. The report provides actionable insights for the SMEs to consider. Here are my top five takeaways: 1) M&A has structurally changed — scale is no longer the advantage 2) The best acquirers design portfolios, not one-off deals 3) AI and digital capability are now core deal rationales 4) Integration speed matters more than deal price 5) “Prepared acquirers” outperform opportunistic buyers My take on their implication for the Nordics are the following: You do not need “big M&A” to win. You need repeatable, thesis-driven deal capability. Top performers treat M&A as a capital allocation system, continuously rebalancing toward growth engines and divesting distractions. Family-owned and founder-led firms must professionalize portfolio logic without losing entrepreneurial speed. Buying capability (teams, IP, data) beats building from scratch — especially in tight Nordic talent markets. Consensus culture must be balanced with integration decisiveness. Waiting for “the right deal” is riskier than building readiness before markets fully recover. What does this mean for the ambitious SME in the Nordics? Mergers and Acquisitions are a powerful strategic plays, that can provide SMEs the scale and growth they would need to compete in the international arena. However, M&A is a capital intensive and a professional strategy and needs capabilities which rarely exist in a SME. Therefore finding skills and resources to design and execute successful M&A strategy is the number one priority. I will elaborate how the M&A could accelerate Nordic SMEs growth on a mini series of posts in the coming weeks. #creovista #mergersandacquisitions #nordics Photo credit: Bain & Company

10

2 Comments