Hávamál Leadership Lessons: Hospitality, Listening and a Good Name

What is the Hávamál?

The Hávamál, usually translated as "Sayings of the High One", is a collection of counsels in Old Norse verse. Britannica describes it as a heterogeneous collection of 164 stanzas of aphorisms, homely wisdom, counsels and magic charms, beginning with poetry about rules of social conduct. The sayings are framed as the words of Odin, the High One; for leaders, that is literary framing, not instruction.

The poem is part of the Poetic Edda, preserved in the Codex Regius. Britannica dates the vellum manuscript to about 1270 and notes that it was kept in Copenhagen's Royal Library until 1971, when it returned to Iceland; it is now at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. The material is older than the manuscript. Britannica notes that most Eddic poems are believed to have been composed in Norway in the 9th and 10th centuries, and scholars debate the dating of individual parts.

This article quotes Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation, published by the American-Scandinavian Foundation and now in the public domain, using his stanza numbers. Many "Hávamál quotes" online come from copyrighted modern translations or are modern rewordings, so it is worth checking a line before you use it.

What does the Hávamál teach about entering a new team?

The very first stanza is about a doorway: "Within the gates ere a man shall go, (Full warily let him watch,) Full long let him look about him" In plain words: before you walk in, look around carefully and for a long time.

For a leader taking over a team, joining a merger or meeting a new client, the modern version is a listening period. Promise that nothing changes for a set time without consultation. Ask everyone the same three questions: what should I keep, what gets in your way, and what happened before I arrived that I should know? Write down what people value, what they fear from you and the unwritten rules. Then set a date for your first proposal, because looking long is not looking forever.

The poem balances care with courage elsewhere: "I bid thee be wary, but be not fearful" Careful observation should make you better informed, not suspicious of colleagues.

What does the Hávamál say about welcoming guests and newcomers?

The second stanza turns to the host, whose first question is practical: "Hail to the giver! a guest has come; Where shall the stranger sit?" The next two stanzas list what a traveller needs, in order: fire for frozen knees, food and clothes, then "Water and towels and welcoming speech Should he find who comes to the feast".

The order is a good onboarding checklist. Practical needs come first: a place, working tools, a plan. The welcoming word sits beside the water and towel, as part of the basic kit. And the welcome runs both ways: the same stanza expects the guest to act wisely, which newcomers can only do if someone explains the unwritten rules.

• Track every newcomer, transfer, contractor and returning colleague against these needs.
• Flag anyone still missing a need after your target, often 30 days.
• Take extra care with remote joiners, whom nobody sees waiting.

How does the Hávamál describe good listening?

Its most practical stanza for leaders describes a wise guest at a feast: "The knowing guest who goes to the feast, In silent attention sits; With his ears he hears, with his eyes he watches, Thus wary are wise men all." In plain words: sit in attention, listen with your ears and watch with your eyes.

The poem is equally clear about the opposite habit: "The babbling tongue, if a bridle it find not, Oft for itself sings ill." And it gives a short rule for speech in stanza 19: "Speak to the point or be still". It does not praise silence for its own sake, though. It values the person who can "question, And also answer well".

In meetings, that becomes a simple routine: write what you hear before what you think, notice who is quiet and who is affected but absent, ask two questions before giving a view, put your point in one sentence, and speak last if you are the most senior person present. If you want a measure of where you start, a structured tool such as AssessAll's Workplace Listening Assessment can give you a baseline to compare against later.

What does the Hávamál teach about preparation?

The poem is full of a traveller's practical sense. On the working day it says: "Much remains undone for the morning-sleeper, For the swift is wealth half won." The stanza before it is about raiding, so the useful modern reading is narrower: start early on the work that matters, before the day fills with everyone else's priorities. It is not an argument for longer hours.

It also asks you to arrive ready: "Oft should one make an early meal, Nor fasting come to the feast; Else he sits and chews as if he would choke, And little is able to ask." The hungry guest can only chew and cannot ask anything. Before a board meeting, client review or hard conversation, that suggests six checks two weeks ahead: a clear purpose, knowledge of who will be in the room, the facts and documents you need, three questions to ask, a fallback if it goes badly, and arriving rested and on time.

Stanza 23 adds a warning about the alternative to preparation: the person who lies awake all night thinking of everything, and finds the trouble just as it was in the morning. A written next step and a date usually help more than another hour of worry. The feast stanzas make a related point about measure: "For the more he drinks the less does man Of his mind the mastery hold." Read as self-management rather than drinking advice, notice whatever clouds your judgement before it decides for you. If worry or sleeplessness is constant, talk to someone you trust or a professional.

What does the Hávamál say about friendship and relationships at work?

Its image for neglected relationships is memorable: "For brambles grow and waving grass On the rarely trodden road." Relationships with peers, sponsors, clients and partners grow over when the only contact is a request.

The poem also says how trust is kept: share your thoughts, exchange gifts and visit often (stanza 44). The gifts need not be large: "No great thing needs a man to give, Oft little will purchase praise". At work the gifts are help, credit, introductions and time, within your company's gifts policy.

A practical habit is a path map: list the relationships your work depends on, date the last real conversation (not the last email), set how often you want to meet, and visit overgrown paths with no agenda. The poem pictures a man in a crowd "Who few to speak for him finds", a reminder to speak up for colleagues who are not in the room.

What does "cattle die, kinsmen die" mean for leaders?

These are the poem's best-known lines, and they are widely misquoted. In Bellows' translation, where they are stanzas 77 and 78 (76 and 77 in the standard numbering), the first reads: "Cattle die, and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; But a noble name will never die, If good renown one gets." The second ends: "One thing I know that never dies, The fame of a dead man's deeds."

For a leader, the meaning is that possessions and positions pass, and what lasts is the memory of how you behaved. A good name is built from ordinary conduct: promises kept, credit given, confidences kept, slips owned. The poem ties it directly to work quality in stanza 126: "A shoemaker be, or a maker of shafts, For only thy single self; If the shoe is ill made, or the shaft prove false, Then evil of thee men think."

These stanzas, and Norse imagery generally, have been misused by some white-supremacist groups; the Anti-Defamation League's hate-symbol database documents such misuse of Norse symbols, while noting that non-racist people use them too. The responsible reading is the plain one: a good name is earned by deeds, and has nothing to do with blood, ancestry or group. The heritage belongs to everyone.

What does the Hávamál not mean for leaders?

It does not mean "Viking" leadership, toughness or revenge. The poem's best counsel is about hosting strangers, listening and keeping your word. It does not mean every stanza is good advice: some are cynical, such as the advice to speak fair to a doubtful friend while thinking falsely, and the sections about women reflect the prejudices of their time. It does not mean religious instruction; the rune and charm sections belong to a different conversation.

And "look before you go in" does not mean distrust everyone, just as "speak little" does not mean hide your view. Each counsel has a misuse, and naming it is part of using the poem well.

How can you start practising this week?

Start with three small habits. Each morning, ask: who is new or at the door today, and what do they need from me? In meetings, listen first and make your point in one sentence. Each evening, write one thing you did that you would be glad to be remembered for.

On Friday, spend twenty minutes on your paths, your newcomers and your open promises. Then, over the following weeks, map one new room before changing it, track every newcomer against the six welcome needs, and clear three overgrown paths. To turn the practice into goals with review dates, you can build your own development plan on Jobulary. If you want the whole system ready to use, Bodhih Training's Hávamál for Leaders kit includes the e-book, the Good Name and Guest Ledger, fillable forms, an onboarding pack, a 52-card deck and a 12-week programme calendar.