As world economies reel from the US financial meltdown, there is one country impervious to the current downturn–Norway. Business schools are scrambling to invigorate their curricula with lessons learned and new models of entrepreneurship to infuse innovation (a healthy dose of morals and ethics could help as well) and produce better leaders for tomorrow. So what are the lessons from Norway? According to a NY Times article today, Norway’s Socialist finance minister, Kristin Havorsen’s free market skepticism was on the mark. Second, Norway maintained a healthy attitude of sustainability–those who get have a responsibility to give back. Anders Aslund, an expert on Scandinavia, identifies this virtue in the Norwegians whereas the US and UK have no sense of guilt and lack virtue. While the chasm between the rich and poor has grown ever wider globally, Norway has the second highest GDP per person at $52,000 behind only Luxembourg among industrial democracies. Norwegians acknowledge its favorite son, Henrik Ibsen, for its iconoclastic consensus to his famous line “The strongest man is he who stands alone in the world.” Yet the exact line from his play “An Enemy of the People” is “…when a man stands for truth, he stands alone.” For more on Norway see today’s NYTimes: http://bit.ly/lbKun
