A quick glance through the job pages in the Norwegian newspaper AftenPosten on a Sunday, and you soon notice something similar about around 75% of the companies seeking new employees. They are all one of the largest or leading companies in their field.

There are some variations. They may be the largest in Norway, Scandinavia, Europe or the world, or the leading transporter, pipe producer for the oil & gas industry or IT consultants focused on the communications industry. But they are the largest somewhere or lead something.

These companies usually state this fact in the first line of their boilerplate text – and as a reader, you soon learn to ignore it. Because it’s boring. And because it doesn’t tell us anything about the company’s personality. Perhaps it’s time for communications people to rethink what people want to know about their company – and put that up front.

Here are some opening lines from boilerplates that I think connect with the reader, and give you an immediate idea of what the company is like:

“Innocent is the UK and Europe’s favourite smoothie company, selling natural healthy products in over 13 countries and employing over 220 people across Europe.”

“GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges.”

“Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh.”

FLSmidth has received a contract worth approximately Euros 30m (DKK 223m) from Russian Open Joint Stock Company Pervenets for the supply of equipment for their brownfield Verninskoye gold plant.  

World number three Caroline Wozniacki was sent crashing out of the French Open quarter-finals after a stunning display by Italian Francesca Schiavone.

Danish pharma companies Leo Pharma and Novo Nordisk are considering withdrawing products from Greece in protest at the government’s decision to cut the prices of medicines by 25%.

BBC has been covering the story.

FLSmidth has signed a contract worth Euros 32.1m (approximately DKK 239m) with Administración Nacional De Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland (ANCAP), a state-owned Uruguayan company, to supply equipment and supervision for upgrading the company’s Paysandú cement plant.

The plant is located in the Paysandú province, 400 km northwest of Montevideo near the Argentinean border.

Armadillo was not the only Danish film to win a prize at Cannes, however.

Director Helmer Daniel Joseph Borgman picked up the Canal Plus award for Short Film for his movie Berik. The Kazakhstan-based story follows the friendship between a handicapped man and a lonely boy.

USA Today runs yet another story about the “Happy Danes”.

Copenhagen bus driver Mukhtar probably won’t forget his recent birthday for a while. A surprise party captured on film and used as a part of the campaign “Bedre Bustur” (Better Bus Rides) made the unsuspecting bus driver’s day quite special.

Transport service organisations Arriva and Movia are behind the viral campaign, which has been shown on You Tube more than 330.000 times since the launch 13 May.

The overall purpose of the campaign is to show people that lots of stuff can happen on a random bus ride – it is more than just a ride from a-b! Mukhtar probably agrees!

Watch how more than 100 friends, colleagues, musicians and production people took Mukhtar by surprise.

Bedre Bustur campaign site (in Danish): www.bedrebustur.dk

This week Copenhagen is hosting yet another international summit conference. 400 delegates from 90 countries are meeting to apply the finishing touches to a global CSR standard – the ISO 26000.The objective of the ISO 26000 standard is to “provide harmonized, globally relevant guidance for private and public sector organizations of all types based on international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups.” The standard is meant to　encourage the implementation of best practice in social responsibility worldwide.

The development of the standard is being conducted under the under the auspices of the International Standard Organisation (ISO).

Read more about ISO 26000 and the conference in Copenhagen.