1 year ago

Taking Pride in One’s Team: An Interview with Jotun Arabia’s Kjetil Urheim

Kjetil Urheim, General Manager, Jotun Arabia describes the need for taking an interest in the team’s growth, being accountable for environmental sustainability, and leading with compassion in his interview with Gulf Insider. What was the best lesson in leadership you’ve learned? Everyone should be given the freedom to do their job better. If I as a leader can inspire or motivate a team member to aim higher, by unleashing the inner energy and drive that we all possess, then I have done my job; be it through praise and positive feedback, through correcting fatal flaws, or by removing obstacles in our internal processes. What was the greatest challenge you have faced in your business? The last two years proved to be the toughest time and a time of exponential growth for us as a team and as individuals. We were dealing with a shortage of raw materials and peaked prices, potentially hurting our customers’ business as well as our reputation and profitability. To understand and analyse the situation, come up with solutions, and above all, change people’s thinking, enabling them to handle the situation with both suppliers and customers (who again had to push it to their customers) was a […]