Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg

Adjunct Professor of Leadership

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Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg is Adjunct Professor of Leadership. She is an authorized clinical psychologist who specializes in organizational psychology. Her professional and research interests include sustainable high performance, crisis management, ethical leadership, and creating strong bonds and shared identity in top teams.

As an executive advisor, she has more than 20 years’ experience developing executive teams, top leaders, and talents. She runs her own business psychology practice with industry-leading clients in Europe and the US in the financial, pharmaceutical, consumer products, and defense sectors, as well as family offices.

Wedell-Wedellsborg holds a PhD in business economics from Copenhagen Business School and an MA in Psychology from the University of Copenhagen. Her PhD dissertation, The Global Soldier, was written in cooperation with the Royal Danish Defence College and Copenhagen Business School. During her doctoral studies, she was a visiting scholar at SCANCOR, Stanford University.

She laid the foundation for her career at the Royal Danish Defence College testing fighter pilots, developing assessment frameworks for officers, teaching and training battle psychology with cadets, debriefing military units returning from international missions, and being deployed as a crisis psychologist to emergency and disaster situations.

Merete is the author of the book Battle Mind: How to Navigate in Chaos and Perform Under Pressure as well as a number of articles on the psychology of leadership, ethics and coping with COVID-19. She is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, a columnist on leadership at a major Danish newspaper and is frequently used as an expert in the business press and as a public speaker.

Insight for Executives
Seven ways to know when it's time to move on
Article
Seven ways to know when it's time to move on
Whether you are burned out or bored, deciding to leave a job is never easy. Here are seven reasons why young professionals might hand in their notice.
Published 27 January 2023
Why you should invest in rising stars as the economic outlook dims
Article
Why you should invest in rising stars as the economic outlook dims
Many younger talents are unprepared for a protracted economic slowdown. Here are three ways to stop your rising stars from sinking and help sustain performance.
Published 27 December 2022
Article
How to be a good leader in a bad economy
“My days are full of turnabouts. I have to go back on promises, reshuffle priorities, and I second-guess too much. It’s wearing on me, and I feel like I am spending hard-earned goodwill,” a member ...
Published 29 November 2022
Article
When crisis management becomes conflict management
“I don’t get it,” said a senior executive. “Things are looking brighter and our business is rocketing back. We should be fired up that our normal lives are just around the corner. But in many place...
Published 11 April 2022
Preparing for a “good enough” pandemic holiday
Article
Preparing for a “good enough” pandemic holiday
Even in normal times, the holiday season can be overwhelming. With the Omicron variant threatening to snatch away all festive cheer, here’s how to manage the tension.
Published 17 December 2021
Article
How to help your team get out of a lull
Leaders today are facing a challenge. While they need their employees to get up to speed, feel the competitive hunger to win again, and to rekindle collaboration, they’re facing an odd kind of iner...
Published 12 October 2021
Why worry about the wellbeing of winners?
Article
Why worry about the wellbeing of winners?
Success in business is normally an energizer, but everything changed in this era of pandemic fatigue. The pandemic has created winners and losers. For obvious reasons, we tend to give attention to ...
Published 17 June 2021
Article
How to lead when your team is exhausted — and you are, too
As we head into the second wave of Covid-19, you and your team may be feeling foggy, cranky, and fatigued. The adrenaline of the first wave is over and, while good news about a vaccine is on the ho...
Published 15 December 2020
Article
Leading into the post-Covid recovery
Every crisis has three phases: the emergency, a regression, and, finally, a recovery. And while the latter phase may seem like smooth sailing in comparison to maneuvering your business through Covi...
Published 11 August 2020
Article
If you feel like you’re regressing, you’re not alone
For some leaders, the Covid-19 pandemic was initially freeing: no longer tied down by budget constraints and market expectations, they were driven by a desire to act — fast and often. Priorities be...
Published 22 May 2020
Article
Kri­se­le­delse i en cor­o­na­tid
Published 14 March 2020
Article
Tjek dit eti­ske kom­pas
Published 29 September 2019
Article
The psychology behind unethical behavior
Leaders are often faced with ethical conundrums. So how can they determine when they’re inching toward dangerous territory? There are three main psychological dynamics that lead to crossing moral l...
Published 12 April 2019
Article
How women at the top can renew their mental energy
Managing your mental energy is challenging for anyone — but it can be particularly tricky for women in leadership positions. In this piece, the author offers three simple tactics to help these fema...
Published 16 April 2018
Article
Krise, karriere og modning
Published 25 September 2015
Article
Kunsten at få ledertalenterne med sig
Leadership talents are generally more ego-driven and cannot stand the idea of letting themselves be led. Therefore, it is important that they know that you trust them and stand behind them
Published 10 May 2015
Article
Kunsten at fejre fiaskoer som i Silicon Valley
When people dare to report their mistakes, stand by them, exhibit them and use them in their analysis of career and success, something very special happens in the room
Published 12 April 2015
Article
Kære leder, hvem er din wingman?
Published 15 February 2015
Article
Sådan får du mere mod
Published 18 January 2015
Article
Kunsten at sige nej til noget vigtigt
Published 21 December 2014
Article
Kunsten at rejse sig efter et nederlag
Published 22 November 2014
Article
Derfor fejler du under pres
Why do some leaders perform better under pressure while others lose grip? Part of the answer lies in the state of mind that psychologists call Battle Mind. The article presents five pitfalls that i...
Published 15 August 2014