Norwegian author and speaker, founder of businessMastering and the man behind the SMIA conference. Writes about employeeship, culture code and the art of listening.
Definition
Rune Semundseth is an author, speaker and founder of businessMastering AS. He is behind eleven books, among them 'Medarbeidersamtalen 2.0', 'KulturKoden' and 'Lyttekunsten', and works weekly as a speaker and workshop facilitator on culture, leadership and employeeship.
The centre of gravity in his writing is not the leader but employeeship: what happens between people when nobody has asked them to. A culture is the sum of what is actually done when the boss is not watching, and it cannot be decreed in a strategy document. That is why the regular, honest conversation between two people matters more than the strategy meeting, and why listening is a skill he spends an entire book on.
The Norwegian character of the approach is not incidental. Flat structures, trustTrust - one of Tvimenning's core values and foundation for long-term customer relationships in the energy sector. as the starting point and employee-driven development are features of Norwegian working life easily taken for granted by those inside it, and hard to copy for those who are not.
Semundseth also runs the SMIA network through businessMastering, with conferences at Byens Tak by Youngstorget in Oslo. The 2026 SMIA conference, 'I for Inspirasjon', is held on 27 August, with Semundseth on stage alongside Jan Ketil Arnulf.
We are going to the SMIA conference on 27 August 2026, and it is not a technical conference.
The reason is in our name. A tvimenning is a team of two, two people rowing together. How people work together is not one aspect of what we do; it is the starting point. Meeting the industry only where protocols and market processes are discussed would not be enough.
Semundseth's point that culture is what is actually done is also why our house rules are written as habits rather than as values. 'Talk to people, not about people' is an instruction. 'We value people' is a poster.
The art of listening is the hardest part to live up to in our field. A supplier who knows the domain quickly develops an urge to answer before the question is finished, because they recognise the problem. That is precisely when they answer the wrong one. Our first house rule says professional honesty is worth more than polished answers, and the precondition for both is having listened first.
In practice
We are going to the SMIA conference on 27 August 2026, and it is not a technical conference.
The reason is in our name. A tvimenningOld Norse meaning 'two bound together' - one who solves a task shoulder to shoulder with another. is a team of two, two people rowing together. How people work together is not one aspect of what we do; it is the starting point. Meeting the industry only where protocols and market processes are discussed would not be enough.
Semundseth's point that culture is what is actually done is also why our house rules are written as habits rather than as values. 'Talk to people, not about people' is an instruction. 'We value people' is a poster.
The art of listening is the hardest part to live up to in our field. A supplier who knows the domain quickly develops an urge to answer before the question is finished, because they recognise the problem. That is precisely when they answer the wrong one. Our first house rule says professional honesty is worth more than polished answers, and the precondition for both is having listened first.
