Criticism of women leaders – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

"I'm moving away from the traditional expectations regarding the behavior of a public sector leader," said Anita Krohn Traaseth, director of Innovation Norway, at NRK.

This is the first interview she gives after announcing last week that she will act as head of the organization next year.

He sometimes stormed the streamlined leader. Even Traaseth thinks he has led Innovation Norway through major changes, but also because it is a woman.

– Take the attention of the media, for example, and in what way I speak. In the past five years, little attention has been paid to work and results, but more to form and color, Traaseth said.

She is eager to add that the attention due to the genre is not wrong in itself.

"It's good with great interest for women leaders, but perhaps not always as good as we describe it." Books and research have concluded that we are described differently from male colleagues, she says.

"It was said that it was the kids' club that pushed you out of the position." Do you have any experience of that?

"It's just someone who decided I should be here for five years, and that's me.

Conflicts with the president

Traaseth was appointed head of the Norway Innovation Group in 2014. In 2016, she received a warning from the board of directors stating that she was showing an insufficient understanding of roles, unable to criticize and deal with problematic publications.

In particular, the board of directors criticized a message written by Traaseth herself on her private blog in 2015. She suggested that internal forces pushed her to launch an affidavit campaign.

– You mean you challenged the "established ones". Who are they

– Upon my arrival in 2014, I had a clear change mandate. I reorganized myself, I defined a new direction for the company, employed a new management team and took many actions that changed the balance of power for many years.

– So do you have enemies?

"I do not think everyone is so happy, and then they want to communicate their skepticism and dissatisfaction, that was done emphatically and that's fine.

In 2017, Per Otto Dyb, President of Innovation Norge, withdrew after trying to launch a process in which Traaseth's position was at the origin of the theme. In his dismissal, he accused Traaseth of having created "conflicts, confrontations and divisions".

– It's an ointment powerful enough to get from its superior?

"I have worked with the former president for four years and we have met a lot, but it is clear that we also disagree on several points.

– You must have created divisions and clashes?

"I can not stop people from thinking about me, they have to have the freedom and the ability to summarize, and that does not necessarily mean it's okay.

Contested Appointments

This summer again, the billionaires' quarrel Katharina Andresen got a temporary job in Innovation Norway. It was asked if the position was created following Andresen had previously interviewed Traaseth with questions about possible involvement.

Traaseth herself explained that she had sent Andresen to the director of human resources, Yvonne Waterfalls, and that she had realized for the first time that Andresen was engaged when She had read that in the media.

Later, questions were raised about the general manager of human resources, Waterfalls, was himself employed by Traaseth as "employee hired by a friend". The two had previously worked together at HP Norway. Traaseth showed that Waterfalls had been recruited by a headhunter company.

Innovation Norway ordered an external review of the situation and the audit firm Deloitte concluded that the employment was within the regulatory framework.

"Deloitte has reviewed all of my appointments since my arrival in 2014 and reviewed all of the jobs in the company during the last period." They were evaluated against current regulations and ethical regulations, if I made a mistake, but I did not do it.

She says however that she understands that the questions have been asked.

– The media should ask such questions, it is their social task. But once you've found the statements to be incorrect, you can also write that, and I think the media did, "said Traaseth.

"Of course, not with the same intensity, but I do not think so, no one expects it," she adds.