Strategy at the Danish Cancer Society

The strategy Milestones towards 2025 (Pejlemærker mod 2025) focuses on three areas:

• ‍One jump ahead of cancer with the ambition of increasing the survival rate of cancer patients and lowering the number of smokers. ‍
• Less inequality in cancer with the message of a broad engagement in reducing inequality in cancer.‍
• Nobody should be alone with cancer that aims to empower cancer patients in their daily life and work for a greater engagement in the fight against cancer.

What is the main challenge in your strategic work?

Strategic work is a constant balancing act between direction and flexibility. We attempt to navigate in unpredictable waters, and we must be able to survey the whole situation while being capable of focusing on individual parts and specific initiatives.

I try to aim for the future and ‘take a look’ at how the organization will look in five years, both regarding our finances, our members, and our research and counseling. I’m preoccupied with the task of making the organization more flexible, and I, therefore, seek to be in a constant dialogue with the world surrounding The Danish Cancer Society. We must understand the challenges to react to them swiftly.

How do you understand the term "strategy"?

Over the years, I have adjusted my approach to strategic work. In its first generation, strategic work was a technocratic tool. A strategy was a mechanical way of planning that did not allow for much flexibility – and it focused on the past. Then the second generation arrived, and it was centered around involvement. That was even worse. The entire organization was put to work, but the result was not good enough. Nowadays, I work in a completely different way. The third generation of strategic work concerns goals, direction, framework, and flexibility. We work with milestones that play an essential role for us. And they are connected to each other.

How do you manage your strategy realization?

I have evolved from working in a rather traditional fashion to working with milestones. This demands a different type of leadership: more attentive – and not very technocratic. As a chief executive, you must be able to listen in order to understand what is going on in your organization while also being able to take center stage and define a direction. You need to have an interest in human behavior and focus on relations. And you must lead by example.

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