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To most non‐Scandinavians Danes and Swedes are very much alike. The same language, the same social and democratic political system, and more or less the same history and culture. But there are differences which may be not observable to outsiders, but certainly are to the people involved. It is not the same managing an organisation in Sweden and Denmark. Based on personality tests data, this article confirm the perceived difference between the two groups. Swedish managers appear more organised, structured, and systematic, as they seek consensus through social processes. The individual strives for power and authority is on the group’s terms. The Danes are seen as more undisciplined and impulsive, with a tendency towards the anarchistic, because the individuals strive for power, authority and control more based on the individuals’ own terms.

Does the top‐level management team make the difference between a company’s success and failure? By using two different assessment tools (developed on the model of the Head‐Heart‐Leg work of the personality) to map the personalities of the members of two management teams, including the top executive managers, and by following the development in the companies’ results over a period of five years, it is shown that the personality of the executive manager and the team he is selecting is the key to understanding a company’s rise or decline in the market. Managers with an average level of cognitive skills tend to select managers with the same or lower level of cognitive skills and style. Therefore, when an executive manager is recruiting managers to his team, be sure that someone with authority is a part of the process to ensure that he is not selecting clones of himself.