The Disruptor
Contrarian and drawn to the edge; challenges the settled answer.
Nicolai Tangen earns The Disruptor by taking charge of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, among the world's most conservative financial institutions, and immediately unsettling its conventions. He introduced radical transparency in corporate governance voting, publicly pressed portfolio companies on executive pay, and carried arts-world unconventionality from his Kistefos Museum background into institutional finance.
“Yeah, I think it was when I started at Wharton, which is a US university specializing in finance. Because that really was a different type of ambitions. You know, Norway is the kind of place where you're not supposed to be too ambitious, at least not overtly. Then you get to America and it's just like, hey, we want to conquer the world.”
“Yes, I do. And the thinking was you know what? We are a big fund. What is transparency taken to the extreme? Well, that's showing all Norwegian people what they own. I thought we potentially have access to all these fantastic CEOs. Not many other people have. And certainly not many other Norwegian podcast people had access to them.”
“Well, I think some companies and some products are not threatened by technology. I think, for instance, look at cosmetics. You know, women have painted themselves in the face for 2,000 years. Do you think they will stop? Do you think all women will say, listen, now we're going to have a level playing field?”
“Absolutely. So there is a ticker on the website. It shows the real-time value of the fund. And I thought before I joined, it's just like, you know what, this is not a good idea. This makes us very short-term in our thinking. We should get this away.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Nicolai Tangen”
LISTEN AT THE SOURCE ↗THE RECORD IS CHECKABLE