A majority of the initial work I did in Norway consisted of fundraising capital: an incredibly difficult task in the country. Norwegians, despite their considerable wealth, are not overly eager to part with it, especially to a foreigner like myself. This is, of course, due in part to them being rather risk-averse. Another reason being the incredibly high wealth taxes of the country. If I was successful with their investment money they’d have the luxury problem of owing an incredibly high amount come tax time. It’s much safer to simply buy another house or cabin and leverage the tax benefits of such an investment. Finally, as a foreigner who just showed up into town asking for millions of dollars, I could see how this might not be the most effective approach. Although in my previous home of Silicon Valley I saw this happen on a daily basis. As we have already learned trust is earned, and it takes time in Norway.
Once, after a successful meeting I had done the impossible. I got a Norwegian to part with some of their money to support my project. We shook hands and parted our separate ways. I quickly, and somewhat frantically turned to my Norwegian colleague and said:
“We should get him a contract to sign ASAP to confirm his investment. Before he changes his mind!”
That’s when she told me to relax. She further went on to say that we didn’t need to worry. He shook on the deal and gave his word, something of significantly more importance in Norway than perhaps other business cultures.
In America, for example we shake on just about everything. But in terms of closing a deal, we often let the lawyers fight it out from that point. In America, and many other business cultures, a deal is never truly done until it’s signed, usually on some overly detailed legal document. Things are however different in Norway. One’s word and the handshake that accompanies it is incredibly symbolic.
This guide is a collection of personal experiences, Norwegian stereotypes, and friendly advice on how to survive life in Norway. It’s the ideal starting point for someone who is curious about life in Norway and for those already in the process of making the move. Learn how to adapt to life in Norway and better understand the sometimes-peculiar Norwegians themselves.
The book will ship in early December but you can pre-order it today:
Norwegians are notoriously allergic to overly verbose contracts and extensive legal agreements. I learned this hard way over my years of doing business here. Upon arrival here I started by using the same type of legal documents I was accustomed to at home in America. These, I soon found out, were incredibly offensive to Norwegians, who in general feel like too much fine print shows a lack of trust. Since trust is the key pillar to Norwegian business, too much fine print is thought to erode that trust. This is also because legal English or ‘legalese’ is difficult to understand even for native English speakers. Imagine how tough it is for those who have English as a second language.
Upon sending a rather simple consulting contract to a Norwegian business contact once:
“I’ll get back to you soon on this. It may take me some time to digest the ‘fine print’ here”. He passively aggressively replied in email.
The contract, especially by American standards, was rather light. It included two pages of the terms of our arrangement but also another two pages of the terms and conditions, aka the fine print. None of these terms would have been considered offensive in most other international business dealings but things are a little different in Norway. Since business is done on the basis of trust here, it’s not recommended to over burden your business partners with extensive fine print. To do so can start your relationship off without this foundation of trust, making closing the deal and building further trust much more difficult.
In Norway, it’s usually not required for a contract to be signed in person. As a fairly tech savvy population digital signatures are widely accepted. I have also received contracts that don’t even require a signature. It’s more of a statement of work between two parties. Once again, Norway is a country of trust so to not honor an agreement will quickly cause you to lose both authority and status in the business world here.
Right now it’s pretty confusing what are the rules for travel to and entry into Norway. So we created this easy to understand view with simple YES or NO answers to various questions regarding entry.
This is an unofficial view of the current situation so please also check official sources prior to travel. However if it’s hard to figure out your situation from the official Norwegian government pages hopefully this helps.
It seems American actor and comedian Will Ferrell doesn’t like Norway but what gives?
General Motors has released a few previews of their upcoming ad campaign to air during this year’s Super Bowl. The ads feature Will Ferrell sharing his dislike for Norway! How rude!
He hits upon several true albeit easy jokes at Norway’s expensive. The fact that pretty everyone is named Olav here for example and that Norwegians are well known for their love of both skiing and fish.
We’ll have to wait until February 7th to find out why he hates Norway so much. Although early guesses center around the fact that Norway has done so well with electric vehicle adoption, something GM also hopes to achieve back in America. So it’s probably more about jealousy than genuine hatred.
Until then, when we can see the full ads and their Norway trashing talking glory, enjoy these ad previews:
All Three Will Ferrell / General Motors Super Bowl Commercial Teaser Clips [2021]
Norway is a country based on trust, and this is significantly important in the business world here. Trust is extensively woven throughout the entire society. A very simple example of this that in a city like Oslo you can leave your bag, your phone, or other valuables out in the open for extended periods of time, while in most other major cities such items would disappear quickly, likely never to be seen again. In Norway, there is a high level of trust for each other. Very few would steal someone’s property or even disturb it anyway.
There is also a strong, and to some extent, blind trust for the government in Norway. As you can probably imagine, for an American this was difficult to adjust to. I mean, like any good American, I love my own country, I even love the government, but I absolutely do not trust them. Perhaps if you follow the news coming from America you can understand why. So, it has taken me some time to trust the government here in Norway. Although, one simply needs to look to the last few decades of how well the Norwegian government has taken care of its people. On top of that Norway was recently ranked the least corrupt country in the entire world. This is an incredible achievement when you consider that several other societies that have amassed their wealth from oil have not done so well to manage corruption. There’s reason to trust the government in Norway. You might even go as far as to say they’re worth every krone they get from those ridiculously high tax rates. It might also be why there is not much Bitcoin in Norway as the is such high trust in the economy as well.
Most shocking to a foreigner like myself is the trust that even large corporations have managed to build in Norway. I mean, trusting the government is one thing but a big scary corporation?! This is so counter to both American and other global markets where big companies do big, bad things. Not so much in Norway. Here, people even love local airline companies! How often do you hear people speak fondly of an airline? Usually, it’s more like complaints about rude service, delayed flights, and lost luggage. Having flown more miles than I care to admit between the US and Norway, I can tell you this is almost never the case. The planes are on time, my bags get where they should go, and the staff is not only nice but incredibly good looking. Corporations here operate differently. They care about their employees and customers. They won’t do something bad for either party even if it means making slightly more profit. For this, and their typically squeaky clean history, they have earned the trust of the people.
On an individual level, most Norwegians consider themselves to be very trustworthy. They will feel great disrespect if you question their trustworthiness. This is important to know in business as many other business cultures do not operate this way. Instead, in those cultures, as you do business you set up many walls for protection and backup plans. You get lawyers to spin up endless terms that protect you in every obscure way possible. Or, you are always looking for some type of advantage as part of the deal. These types of moves will only concern a Norwegian. They will assume you don’t trust them and as a result, they can’t trust you. This will put an abrupt halt to your business dealings with them. I had to learn this lesson a few times the hard way.
Building trust in Norway takes a long time, so one has to prepare oneself to be patient. This applies to both personal and business relationships you’ll make in the country. This can be one of the toughest things you’ll encounter while doing business in Norway. It’s common for outsiders to feel shut out or excluded while trying to build this elusive trust. This certainly doesn’t help make the cold and dark winters any easier to manage. Just know that once you do build that trust, you can make a friend, a lover, or a business partner for life. Getting there, however, will be a foreigner’s greatest challenge.
As a foreigner here in Norway, it’s going to be an additional challenge to build this trust. While Norway is a very equal and inclusive country there is some distrust for outsiders here. Perhaps not by society as a whole, but more specifically in the business world. This is not going to be a popular sentiment, but this was my experience at least. The best I can figure is, it comes down to a few things. First, with Norway enjoying 50+ years of economic prosperity, there hasn’t been much pressure to aggressively go global in business. Most businesses here do just fine selling only to the domestic market, especially where they have a monopoly position. So, the oil that has driven that prosperity is by far the largest export business. And since Norwegians prefer Norwegian products over, say, cheaper Chinese products, there’s not much desire to do extensive importing, aside from importing a lot from Scandinavian neighbor countries who share a desire for quality products and similar aesthetics appeal. As a result, Norwegian businesses can sometimes lack experience working with foreigners.
On the rare occasion when I could get a Norwegian to be open to the challenge of working with foreigners, I sometimes got an interesting response. It was along the lines of “Oh yes, another American once came here for business and ripped a few people off” – they would say. When I would press for the American’s name or which company they worked for, curiously the Norwegian could never remember. It’s almost as if the story of a scary foreigner coming to Norway for business is a ghost tale, passed along throughout the years and likely starting with the discovery of oil and increased international interest in Norway. These stories have been used to scare generations of Norwegian workers from opening up themselves too much once independence was firmly established. You can see this further in Norway avoiding joining the EU on several occasions for example. Norwegians would rather do it themselves than be overly dependent or worse, in debt to an outsider.
That’s not to say it’s impossible to get a Norwegian to trust you as a foreigner here. I’ve managed to make it happen a few times, but more often than not, I’ve failed to establish the trust needed in business. Common reasons include being too aggressive, too impatient, but in most cases, it simply comes down to failing to understand Norwegians and their culture. However, when you do establish this trust you’ll feel it. The typical Norwegian will start looking you in the eye and hanging on your words instead of shying away. I wish you the best of luck in this regard – you’ll need it.
I made a serious gaffe in one of my early visits to Norway. I had asked a colleague to assemble a dinner with influential players in my industry. My goal was nothing more than a casual setting to get to know each other and for me to explain the new work I was doing in the region. Even though I specifically said ahead of time the dinner would “be my treat”, panic ensued when the bill came I swiftly swiped my credit card covering the entire bill. Once finished I turned around to see a look of shock and uncomfortableness upon their faces. I had made a huge mistake and there was no going back now. A wonderful night of getting to know my new business contacts quickly turned into an awkward moment for everyone.
Before I could swipe my card with the speed of fine dining ninja there was some polite protesting and insistence on covering their own meals. However, I waved those off, assuming it was a general courtesy that one often does. You offer to pay once or twice and eventually relent, letting the other person pick up the tab. All the while I was not truly understanding the uncomfortable position I had put my dinner guests in.
You see, in Norway, there really is no such thing as a free meal. And that’s too bad, as you’ll soon find out that food in Norway is incredibly expensive! To buy someone a meal, even in a business setting, is often construed as you trying to win favor. You can imagine how this might complicate dating life in Norway for a foreigner! This is a culture that does not want debts or the feeling that something is owed to anyone. They value their independence and have fought hard (and fought off several invasions) to keep it. So, you have to be mindful of your wining and dining as you do business in Norway.
Additionally, there are even further tax repercussions in these scenarios. In a country where they love their taxes, there is little affordance for gifting, free meals or other questionable business expenses. One could easily get in trouble for accepting too many gifts and meals. And you, as the giver, are also limited to what is considered an appropriate business expense. For example, buying a colleague a glass of wine is probably OK, but an expensive dinner and several bottles of wine is probably not. This is contrary to many other Western and European business expense rules. In those markets, one might be more prone to going slightly overboard knowing that both the company is paying and probably writing it off as a business expense. In American business culture, it’s even a bit of a joke one might make while covering a huge bill. Proclaiming “tax write off!” as they eagerly swipe the corporate credit card. In Norway it’s not really a joking matter. And in the name of transparency, which this country loves, you may have to record who attended a business dinner and even what was discussed. Which makes me hope none of my bad or inappropriate dinner jokes made the official records.
When it comes to buying dinners or other business-related perks, I’ve come to learn that Norwegians have a very broad definition of corruption. This is for several reasons but primarily comes down to Norwegians not wanting to feel indebted to anyone. When they do, they’ll be eager to pay off any debts quickly, as having this debt hanging over them will create great stress and anxiety. One has to be super careful about not offering too much at first when building a new business or personal relationship in Norway, as you can literally lose them through your generosity, even if your intentions are not to win influence.
So, in Norway don’t feel an overwhelming pressure to buy business contacts dinners as you might feel in other business cultures around the world. As the waiter comes to your table they will typically first ask if they should split the bill. Instead of using this moment to show off your credit card prowess, take a moment to read the vibe from your dinner companion(s). If they insist on splitting, it’s better to offer little protest and avoid being overly insistent on covering the bill.
On a national average Norwegianswork about 37 hours per week. Although the total hours worked can be less in a corporate office. This is because many Norwegian organizations offer ‘flexible hours’ and there is great autonomy in managing your own hours.
Unlike in many other cultures in Norway, corporate foot soldiers don’t often brag about working more hours than their peers. This can actually be construed as being inefficient or bragging unnecessarily about your contribution at work. Or worse, clashing with Janteloven (the Law of Jante), a social construct where individual success is discouraged and, in many cases, considered inappropriate.
As a small country with a population of about 5M there are several industries that experience shortages of qualified applications. Currently, the most highly in-demand sectors are oil & gas, hospitality, IT (information technology), nursing, construction, and the fishing industry.
Loosely translates to “open-air living” is a big part of Norwegian culture and country heritage. It means a commitment to celebrate the outdoors and spending time outdoors. Even if the weather is not so great.
The famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen coined the term in 1859 but even today friluftsliv is still very much a part of Norwegian culture. In Norwegian society, it is encouraged to spend some of your free time outdoors. To enjoy nature is to be Norwegian.
And there might be something to this way of thinking. Many experts believe that spending time in nature boosts well-being and happiness. Perhaps this is why Norway is consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries.
So if you’re wondering why Norwegians have a borderline fetish over nature now you know why. It’s because of friluftsliv.
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