Ørsted's CEO identifies a period of "unhealthy" competition in offshore wind. This was caused by a perfect storm of rising costs, experimental government tender frameworks, and an influx of capital from oil and gas companies, leading to irrational bidding and failed projects.

An outside CEO's misunderstanding of a core business model can be catastrophic. The new CEO pivoted from a high-margin, recurring-revenue model to chasing large, complex projects. This mismatch resulted in a $12 million loss on $20 million in revenue, halving the company's EBITDA in just nine months.

Ørsted received a "stop work order" for a US offshore wind project that was 80% complete. This highlights the severe, late-stage political and regulatory risks in long-term infrastructure projects, even in developed markets, which turned a massive asset into a liability overnight.

Contrary to the belief that growth solves all problems, it often magnifies existing cracks in processes, hiring, and forecasting. Leaders must transition from managing by instinct to building structured, repeatable systems to scale successfully.

To rebuild trust during its turnaround, Ørsted's management announced a 25% workforce reduction that would take over a year to complete. The CEO believed providing this long-term clarity, despite the negative news, was crucial for restoring credibility with his team.

Businesses often fail not because their models are unscalable, but because founders impose arbitrary, aggressive timelines for growth. This self-inflicted pressure leads to cutting corners and poor decisions. The solution is not to shrink your dream, but to drastically extend the timeline for achieving it.

Prosperity breeds complacency, leading businesses to overspend and expand into non-core areas. This dilutes focus and creates vulnerabilities. In contrast, bad times force the discipline and process improvements that build resilient companies, exposing what's missing in the operation.

As a leader in offshore wind, Ørsted strategically pivoted *away* from floating wind. The CEO states that while the technology will mature, its levelized cost of electricity is currently too high to be competitive against bottom-fixed wind, onshore wind, and solar in most markets.

Corporate leaders are incentivized and wired to pursue growth through acquisition, constantly getting bigger. However, they consistently fail at the strategically crucial, but less glamorous, task of divesting assets at the right time, often holding on until value has significantly eroded.