Camilla Bergman: H&M wants impact – but not in its inner circle

I know, not everyone can be in the management team.

"She's included? But not me?"

There's always a great deal of fuss, and no matter what you do, someone will be disappointed. At best, you end up with an efficient, strategic group that helps the company reach the next level. At worst, it becomes a playground where no real decisions are made, but which keeps middle managers happy.

But however much I sympathise with CEOs who must select their management team, the news about Swedish clothing giant H&M's CEO Daniel Ervér's leadership board re-organisation left me gobsmacked. And concerned.

He has quietly formed a new group executive team, expanding it from seven to ten people. Of these ten names, Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reveals that neither the sustainability director Leyla Ertur nor the investment director Nanna Andersen made the cut, the latter being responsible for H&M's investments in impact companies.

What's worse: when I review the ten names that actually appear there, not a single one has sustainability experience on their CV.

I cannot interpret this reshuffle as anything other than sustainability being sidelined at H&M. A company that otherwise bangs on about being at the forefront of precisely that.

It doesn't matter that H&M's press officer Anna Frosch Nordin writes in an email to Dagens Industri that "Sustainability is definitely just as prioritised an area as before, and Leyla Ertur continues to report directly to Daniel Ervér".

Because the choice of people in the management team sends a clear message to both the managers and the outside world. What's important. Which areas the company plans to focus on. Who gets a seat at the decision-making table.

And Daniel Ervér's new group currently signals one thing: Sustainability is welcome – but not in the inner circle.

Instead, it's surprisingly similar roles that gather in Daniel Ervér's group. These are sales, marketing, finance, strategy and HR, where several appear to have similar backgrounds and titles.

I also sense another focus area: digitalisation and innovation. As competition intensifies from disposable fashion giants like Chinese Shein, whose success is partly based upon AI, H&M presumably doesn't want to be left in the dust. The new management team includes, for example, digital information director Ellen Svanström, and Johan Lundgren, strategy and innovation director.

I know, not everyone can be in the management team.

But a company that wants to be a leader in sustainability should probably have at least one person with experience in precisely that, right at the top table.