Working with Norwegians

by Sean Percival

This book is the beautiful story of a successful American venture capitalist who met the Norwegian business culture and learnt a great deal. Sean had an intense and very public business failure in Norway; then he fell in love with the country. The Loud American presents his reflections and learnings, giving unique insights into the way Norwegians and Scandinavians do business. This outsider's view is packed with tips and tricks so that foreigners and Norwegians can be better at doing business together.

149 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Sean is an American entrepreneur, investor and author originally from California. He has invested in over 120 startups and founded several of his own. Through his work in acclaimed accelerator programs like 500 Startups and the Katapult Accelerator, Sean has helped to mentor 1000s of startups on growth marketing and fundraising.

Reviews

[Shane Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would categorize this book as an anthropological ethnography that applies the Silicon Valley mentality to Norway. To sum it up, Silicon Valley has a mentality "If you have the capability, we will provide the capacity no matter where you are from as long as the idea is viable". As Ice T and his band Body Count sing about in the same song title "(In Norway), Shit Ain't Like That, Its real fucked up".

Its a valuable book on the shelf as there are limited publications for the outsider to understand Norway and also for Norwegians to understand themselves through other's eyes. As an ethnography its understood that it is not a data or statistic driven book as one reader asks for, that would be additional research that needs to be done, and should be.

For example, I have written a master's on sustainable innovation or lack thereof in a rural district in Norway and found how little academic publications there were regarding the region, when that is the case the self and outside understanding falls to something less then the rigor of academia. After the initial resaerch, then tried to compare my findings with the Oslo innovation scene. When I would tell people in Oslo that there is a tendency for the rural district in question not to accept new leaders or outside ideas they were not surprised however, when I would mention the same thing about Oslo they were surprised. However, the ranks of diversity among the boards of directors, whom holds the power and the lack of diversity to impregnate a broad range of opinions and worldviews at all levels in Norwegian society is greatly lacking.

Is the lack of outsiders in positions of power a crisis? Yes but its a latent and emerging one, if one understands the Economic Complexity Index, Norway is quite weak in this area and future GDP growth is likely to suffer. Additionally, Norway has not set a vision for the future of what it wants to be after oil. It is fair to say that Norway is the lost tribe of Scandinavia, more akin to Saudi Arabia, holding on to its traditions and way of being because it is not forced to change and meet the realities of the world as say an Israel or a Sweden must. The result is Norway lacks a great deal of the infrastructure and advanced thinking that propels economies to the top, as Sweden for example has, that is :

Sweden is serving the fourth industrial revolution by packaging advanced knowledge into exportable stuff produced under increasingly sustainable conditions. Whereas, Norway is serving the second industrial revolution with primarily petroleum and fish, where even its most advanced industries are based on resource extraction and are starting to be out-competed globally (subsea for example). The risk adverse Norwegians should translate that subsea technology into space extraction technology and leverage their cards with Musk to be the pioneers in that realm, in addition the Norwegian character of being able to endure long physical and mentally challenging journeys and their experience at navigating earth's inner space, the oceans, should make them ideal candidates to handle the operations of Musk's vision. I can think of several Norwegians living in Holmenkollen whom I would like to volunteer for such missions, as their homes would be quite suitable for me to live in.

To get back to a Sweden or Israel for a moment, both understand the value of close collaboration between government and industry in setting policies that work to fuel innovation. Sweden produces 4 times as many triadic patents per capita compared to Norway as one result. They also understand vision (to be a carbon net neutral society, and getting there by Swedish innovation). Sweden understood the multi-generational idea of sustainable transformation and implemented it, they have used the living lab process to work with those transformations, comparatively Sweden has decade long funding projects in the 100 million Euro range to research sustainable transformation and other wicked problems that integrates and is a cornerstone of their national strategies. Norway has a private venture called "Folk" which seems to lack the firepower and weight to make national level transformational change, as they do not have a mandate per se from the government and are not part of an overall system for transformation. Don't get me wrong, Folk is a great initiative however, its just a few cannons firing staccato compared to Sweden's integration of proverbial artillery, armor, infantry and air superiority level of thinking acting towards neutralizing wicked problems.

A couple of other points about the crisis in Norway, Between 1990 and 2011 manufacturing exports have declined by half, to 19 percent of overall GDP. Of the manufacturing base that is left, it has become increasingly dependent on the oil industry with growth in manufacturing serving other sub sectors remaining almost flat compared to 2005 levels (Cheptea, Mordonu and Kazuko, 2013).

Second point, the Norwegian economist Erik S. Reinert posits that for 450 years, the real gold is not in the gold mines (or oil wells) but in manufacturing...

When Spain started receiving galleons of silver and gold from the Americas in the middle of the 16th century why did most of that silver and gold end up elsewhere?

"In various forms, the statement that manufactures were the real gold mines, much more valuable than the actual gold mines themselves, is found all over Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, from Giovanni Botero (1588), Tommaso Campanella (1602) and Antonio Genovesi (1770s) in Italy, to Anders Berch, the first economics professor outside Germany, in Sweden (Berch 1747). The Spanish mercantilist Geronymo de Uztariz (1724/1752, and foreword to Goyeneche 1717), whose main work was translated into both French and English, commented from a particularly good vantage point, being a Spaniard and having lived in Holland and Italy for 23 years. Uztariz’ conclusion is in line with the contemporary mainstream: ‘[Manufactures] is a mine more fruitful of gain, riches, and plenty, than those of Potosi. (Potosi, at about 4,000 metres above sea-level in present-day Bolivia, was the richest of all mines in the world. At the time, it was the second largest city in the world after London). (Source : Reinert, Erik S. “How Rich nations got Rich Essays in the History of Economic Policy”, P. 6)"

So, the underpinnings of the reasoning behind Pervical's book are strong, that Norway needs diversity across the boards, ranging from new actors with new ideas to a much more diverse and robust export industry.

Sean points out Norway will never produce a Google, Uber or Airbnb type companies as they dont possess the trench fighter-disruptive change maker-win at all costs attitude. This could be a trend issue, as the society now seems to be producing a bunch of Ozzie and Harriets, its likely the next generation will be less conformist. Although conformity is a massive problem here in general as Norway is one of the most conformist or tight cultures that exists. Read the following for further details: Differences Between Tight and Loose Cultures: A 33-Nation Study, Michele J. Gelfand, et. al.

There are other structural and cultural problems that hold Norway back. Stanford professor Larry Leifer talks about if you use "Yes, and" in an idea generation discussion there is somewhere around a 40 percent better chance of coming up with a useful idea. Norway is the land of "but" or "thats just the way it ease" or "why change, as that just means more work". Its not the people in Norway wanting and willing to sacrifice for change that are so much the problem as a society filled with sticks in the mud who control budgets and hold power. These people often hold the power due to Norway subsiding a few hundred thousand extra jobs in the government sector in their "full employment" mentality. I can't emphasize enough the level of arrogance inversely related to competence and "huevos" that exists in the society and the pride that comes from holding onto tradition for traditions sake even though it is known its a bad idea from all rational measures.

Another area is the venture capital market. Norway claims it is a society based on trust, not in this arena in terms of a, "trust but verify" due diligence point of view. It would be hard for me to recommend investors to put money into a Norwegian startup due to the lack of investor protection in the following areas:

1. Lack of fiduciary responsibility of the principals. Officers and directors are free to leave and to place their own interests ahead of the company.

2. Lack of principal and director responsibility. Karp Diem's line from the song "White Men who are Pushing 50" applies here "Helt ansvarsfritt, som alle hvite menn som pusher 50" or all white men who push 50 are completely free of any responsibility (and most liability). It allows robber barons to breed and perpetuate.

3. Lack of legislation limiting forward statements. Startups in Norway can say things that will get the same people saying the same things in the US liable for their words.

What is interesting about this matter is in 1995 Norway passed legislation that modeled the US Securities and Exchange Act. However, the Norwegian Justice Department refused to implement the law to give better investor protection. The finance community for startups in Norway is small and wants to be in control and maintain the ability to act as they see fit, rather than make the market attractive and competitive (where often term sheets here are not)...its more of that small minded myopic mercenary thinking. Sweden has similar laws as Norway however, they are much more disciplined and the command and control is much tighter as burning an investors fingers in Sweden can have much more severe consequences...when one family controls 40 percent of the stock market that is the way it is...in Norway it is the state whom controls, and they do not care about this issue so much.

So, what I am getting at here is the systems, culture and opportunities that exist in Norway are rather unattractive for changing the world. I can completely understand Sean's worldview here, he is in a relationship has a family and wants to make the most of it within the system as it exists and perhaps make some incremental changes. I've been there and done that and for me its sort of like a broken record. Rather, I am more interested in disruptive innovation within the society, to do this outsiders and progressive Norwegians need to work on all fronts not just the narrowness of the startup culture.

To begin with, immigrants and progressive Norwegians need to mobilize and garner political power. Norway has a tendency to throw political cleavages without power under the bus, examples range from the Merchant Marine of WWII not being recognized as veterans, to deepsea divers and their injuries, to the "small pensioners". To even get to this stage then outsiders, as IMDI (Directorate of Integration and Diversity) states that outsiders need to be given the microphone. However, there is a massive lack of institutions and infrastructure focused on doing just that run by and for outsiders. When outsiders begin gaining some semblance of political power parity to their numbers that is when their collective ideas will be heard and to a greater degree acted upon to change the society. As the Norwegian mentality in general does not respect the "small band of miscreants with a great idea to change the world" nearly as much as how much power you have, that is what makes Norwegians sit at the negotiating table.

One pet peeve of the book is how Sean keeps referring to Norwegians as attractive and potentially interesting to sleep with. This must be a Californian interpretation of beauty and is surprising coming from a guy who works with innovation. As for me, a dude from Seattle, where we would overstate how much it rained to keep the Californians away, I find beauty to be how much risk a person is willing to take for others or a great idea, how much courage someone has, and the ability when told by the status quo to "slow your roll" to respond with the Kid Cudi verse:

"I'm screaming out fuck that
I'm a do just what I want
Looking ahead no turning back
If I fall if I die
Know I lived it to the fullest
If I fall if I die
Know I lived and missed some bullets"

Yes, its easy to sleep with a aesthetically attractive Norwegian and punch above one's weight than say for us Americans back home. However, a great deal of the time (this is from an American man's perspective) we are investing a great deal of energy into taking that aesthetically beautiful Norwegian to new places in the universe and the bedroom they have never been before, to show them the possibilities and help them to discover new things about themselves. Often at the end of the day its a draining experience, and maybe they wish to return the favor but many do not know how, and the energy flow ends up being a net loss.

Sean's book is for those who are stuck in Norway and due to life circumstances need to fit in and can't escape the gravity the nation creates. There are better places to do anything he speaks about in his book related to business, in Denmark and Sweden you have similar safety nets, the difference is those countries are looking outwards and dont have the "straight jacket" of the oil curse to allow them to hold on to as many hangups as Norwegians do. If you are here and apply his thinking and do you best to walk the tightrope of conforming while changing things the best you are going to accomplish is doing something relatively mundane and half-assed, if you want to do something whole-assed then the structure, systems, and culture have to change her first.

To shift the culture shift the incentives.

If we are going to solve the innovation challenges in Norway then Innovation Norway has to rethink its two cultures of bankers vs innovators spending a lot of time fighting one another.

The culture has to change, prizes need to award only companies with export potential. It was quite sad to see Norway's best and brightest start Kolonial rather than tackle the export problem (Kolonial is needed to fight the oligarchies, but its not Norway's highest priority). If a company cannot export it should not be considered an interesting investment due to there is so much political economy white noise in Norway (when Norway stood before god and he asked "how much democracy do you want, Norway answered "all that you have"). Then those companies that do have export potential should gain incentives for bringing on foreign knowledge workers who can tackle those export markets just as the viking used to.

There is a long bucket list of industries to explore in Norway, what is needed to make those industries happen is the Norwegian sticks in the mud, the bureaucracy to be clamped down on and people with good ideas given the freedom to make them happen, ranging from single malt liquor production in the bible belt of Norway, to using Norway's horrible roads as an international test bed for cars that can drive themselves, to looking to clean nuclear, distributed manufacturing to solve Norway's logistical challenges and a resurgence in manufacturing overall, to creating the infrastructure to solve wicked problems with socio-technical solutions, which governments have a tendency to focus on the technical but the biggest gains are generally from the socio change. Norway, could implement more carbon taxes, (re)verticalize its oil industry by applying extended producer responsibility thinking, the list goes on and on.

Seans, book fits in on how to interact with Norwegians for the purpose of fitting in to their world views and to reiterate maybe extended their worldview slightly. The next book needs to be a book for Norwegians telling them of why they need to change for their own good and the good of the outsider that lives here.

[Alex Liannoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very easy to read, though does not contain much of information.
Can be easily shortened to a sort of magazine article.

[Momchil Atanasoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found it on quite annoying. Mr American’s attitude especially. There was some good info, but all in all I neither recommend it nor consider my time reading it well spent.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

leído por pura y absoluta curiosidad, el autor es un poco flipao

[Gedi௨]

This a book for those that came to Norway for work. In case of the author Sean, a laud American, there could not be a bigger contrast to land in Norway with their anti-bravado culture and Janteloven.

In a nutshell:

Pros:
- great summary of core Norwegian stereotypes & traditions
- book drawings suits the atmosphere & the writing style
- focus on Norwegian business traditions by American VC
- quick read - it should take you few hours

Cons:
- author just cracks the first layer of Norwegian culture not trying to dive deeper
- one does not get recipe how to tackle the 'Norwegian culture'
- unnecessary Norwegian character type presentation using animal examples, which is not used later in the chapter
- the guy is busy businessman/VC that does not have time for research, longer stories or thorough explanations

Summa Summarum:
It is good for those that just arrived, but if you have been in Norway longer, you'll be better off with https://afroginthefjord.com/

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, let me say that I’ve found the writing style and the pace excellent, which makes it very easy to read. While you can get a great summary of the Norwegian values & traditions from it, some parts of the book are definitely relevant only if your job involves making business deals with Norwegians (sales person, investor, etc.). Definitely worth reading if you just arrived in Norway, a bit less otherwise.

[Sacha Fortuné · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacha's Book Reviews Blog

This was my nineteeth book I chose via the Reedsy Discovery program, for which I am the single approved reviewer for this new book. I have always been intrigued by other cultures, and chose this book to learn more about Norwegians. Its brevity (it can be read under two hours) and easy-to-read style of writing drew me in. This review also appears on Reedsy.

If you're interested in becoming a Reedsy reviewer (and have the chance to get paid "tips" to review books!) check it out here.

The Premise
After experiencing failure when trying to translate his American work ethic to a Norwegian work culture, venture capitalist Sean Percival collected his thoughts to compile a reference guide for others to avoid making the same mistakes. Touching on some insights about the country’s history and belief system, he explains what makes Norwegians special — which can also make it difficult to work with them, if your own culture has a very different value system. With tips and tricks and a short glossary of terms, Sean outlines what can be done to improve business relations with Norwegians.

The Pros & Cons
This was a jovial recount of an unapologetically American outsider’s view of Norwegian business culture.

Norway is extremely egalitarian, economically prosperous, largely monopolistic, and known for its high quality of life. Norwegians generally have deep trust in their government, and their systems are greatly unmatched in other countries: they believe in self-care, selflessness, and fairness.

All of that, of course, is a stark difference to the loud, brash, show-off, “me-first” American culture that believes in “Move fast and break things”, a common saying that demonstrates the widespread belief that mistakes are a consequence of innovation in a competitive world.

In terms of business, however, this disparity results in limitations. With so much prosperity, there hasn’t been much pressure to “aggressively go global in business” — particularly when Norwegians seem quite content with the monopolies that exist.

There is also a low risk appetite, as the Norwegian way is to follow the rules:

Breaking the rules, especially in business, is not common in Norway. Those that do, regardless if the outcome is positive for their business, quickly lose respect in the public eye. […] Unlike in America, you’re not likely to get a second chance when your bad behaviour becomes known. The Norwegian’s memory of such bad actors lasts for as long as the fjords are deep.

We gain insight into the reservedness of Norwegian culture, where mindless chatting is frowned upon and the “water cooler culture” simply doesn’t exist. Even greeting someone exuberantly would garner suspicion and discomfort, and long stretches of silence are not rude, as they would be across the ocean.

There were other useful pieces of information about clothing, business vernacular, appropriate gifts, and attitudes to sexual relationships, as well as the only arena where Norwegians are known to “let loose” — drinking alcohol. Most importantly, Norwegians believe in “The Law of Jante”, which are cultural values that encourage Norwegians not to excel above and beyond their peers — quite a conundrum to deal with, from the business perspective of a capitalist, competitive, power-hungry country like the United States.

Fair warning: this is by no means a faithful representation of Norway, so parts may offend some readers. Nevertheless, as someone’s personal experience, a lot of it may ring true, and it would be useful for others to learn from the author’s mistakes. Also, while I enjoyed this book and found the style of writing engaging, it should be noted that it reads as more of a personal business memoir than a veritable guide, so it may not resonate among more diverse readers along the spectrum of race, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. or to non-American audiences, as other cultures/countries/readers from different backgrounds would also have their own nuances that may clash entirely differently with Norwegian culture.

Conclusion
Overall, I liked this swift, humorous read, and I’m glad I took a chance on it. I felt as though I gained valuable insight into Norwegian culture, and a deeper appreciation of Norway’s beautiful, unique, egalitarian society. I would recommend this book to others as a starting point, but note that it is a light-hearted recap to inform and entertain (and it does a great job at that!); by no means should it be the *only* “research” book one reads on the topic. That said, if you’re passing through Norway for a short stint, or perhaps embarking on a business venture with a Norwegian on your own soil, this book will save you in a pinch!

___________
This review also appears on my blog. Visit to read more of my reviews: Sacha's Book Reviews Blog

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[Thor K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. Not amazing, but enjoyable, especially after being mildly annoyed by Norwegian-isms for awhile. Had the experience, "you're not anything like me, despite your regular reference to embodying some extraverted American (nay, Californian) archetype; your writing is okay, but nothing to gush about, and your experiences are pretty isolated from mine, but I feel camaraderie in the resultant set of emotions" kind of way.
The animal illustrations were fun.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not very informative about Norwegian workplace culture. Not everything in the book rings true, e.g. that the value creation takes place in Oslo and the rest of the country more or less exists on subsidies from the state. It seems that they energy and fish industries are completely forgotten by the author who obviously has not spent much time outside of Oslo.

[Jackie Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can get over the occasionally questionable use of the English language, this book does offer a valuable insight into the cultural differences one might face when moving to Norway. Of course, not all of it is relevant to all sectors, but nevertheless it provides an insight into how people think and what values they hold. I would recommend it to anyone moving to or working in Norway.

[Sakhawat Sojib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sean tells a great story about the ups and downs of doing business in Norway.

[Anis Mahat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned much about the way Norwegians do business.

[Sayan Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sean did a nice job to share the nuances of working life in Norway.

[Dwee Andrea Nugraha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was gifted to me by my spouse and I really enjoyed it. Learned a lot about how things work here in Norway.

[Dk Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommend for foreigners coming to Norway.

[Rayan Rahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book about life in Norway

[Sk Jafaruddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for writing this book. It was a big help!

[Duke Bane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource for learning how to working with Norwegians.

[Bappa Bhakta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish this book was a bit longer and had more practical advice.

[Walter Obrayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently moved to Norway and this book was a great help.

[Nasrin Fatema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend!

[Edza Dil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this take on doing business in Scandinavia.

[Sultan Awais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book to be funny, actionable and a great help.

[Sultana Razia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just moved to Norway so this book was a great help adapting to work here.

[Susmita Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking to better understand Norwegian work life this is the book.

[Zohaib Shakeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious!

[Satish Kumar]

Even tho I've lived in Norway for years, this book was still a great help.

[Alaska Marandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes it's true, Norwegians are a strange bunch. This book told an accurate view.

[Mikele LcdRoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes it's true, Norwegians are a strange bunch. This book told an accurate view.

[Subir Madhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helped me to better understand my coworkers in a large Norwegian company.