Danske Bank - The crisis you are in is very grave

Danske Bank has one mighty important and urgent challenge, which is to choose a new CEO, who - first and foremost - is able to provide leadership in order to make a necessary cultural change.

Danske Bank is at the center of a huge scandal, which in no way seems to stop unless urgent and drastic steps are taken!

It is absolutely critical - that the board seeks a new CEO from external ranks.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen (born in 1978), who currently is Head of Wealth Management at Danske Bank, and by many sources seen as the heir apparent for the top job at Danske Bank is first of all smothered in the existing culture in Danske Bank and secondly, Jacob Aarup-Andersen has during his career, voluntarily, decided to work for the investment bank, Goldman Sachs (according to his LinkedIn profile from Aug 2002 - Aug 2005), whose actions as a result of a culture of greed and lack of integrity, was a main culprit of the Financial Crisis in 2008

Impeccable professional skills is a commodity on the global stage and Jacob Aarup-Andersen, very likely has impeccable professional skills.

However, Danske Bank needs to find a person with the right leadership skills and not an internal man in a dark suit, whose professional past does not give the world any clues, whatsoever, whether he has the right kind of leadership potential and personality in order to make a necessary cultural change!

One thing is being well-liked by analysts and institutional investors - another is whether he's able to be on the same wavelength as ordinary customers.

Above all else - HIS CHOICE OF EMPLOYERS IS NOT IN HIS FAVOR - and nothing indicates that he has the right personality to be responsible for a cultural change!

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and The Danish Government should not accept and approve a recommendation from the present Board of Danske Bank regarding a new CEO at Danske Bank coming from the internal ranks of Danske Bank.

Approving an internal candidate, altogether, based on a recommendation from the Board of Danske Bank and very likely supported by a majority shareholder would be a very grave mistake!

It is important to remember, that Danske Bank is not operating under the same rules as any other normal corporation.

Danske Bank, the largest financial institution in DK, is a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) like 5 other financial institutions in mainland DK.

A SIFI is an institution that is “too big to fail” as a collapse would pose a serious risk to the overall economy!

Therefore, Danske Bank is deeply dependent on the goodwill of the Danish taxpayers and on the Danish State and therefore as I see - the role of the Board of den Danske Bank and any possible majority shareholders in deciding the future of Den Danske Bank should not be decisive.

CULTURE MATTERS WHEN THERE IS A PROBLEM!

Culture is composed of the unspoken rules that drive employee decisions, which is based on non-reflective (automatic-pilot) repeated behavior and such behavior can indeed create a toxic work environment.

Well, it is obvious that drastic measures must be adhered to when a company could very well be in an existential crisis.

Listen to Edgar Henry Schein (born – March 5, 1928 in Zürich), who today is a Professor Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a thought leader in the field of culture - shares his views & insights about what culture really is & how leaders should focus on resolving related problems (March, 2014)