Bold and Brave Leadership for a New Economy
Halla Tómasdóttir’s Humble Vision for a Future that Benefits All Stakeholders
Did you wake up today feeling ready to take on the world? No, us neither. But keep reading. Perhaps this will make you feel differently.
Halla Tómasdóttir admits that she’s never done anything in her life with full confidence or entirely knowing how to do it beforehand—including her historic run for the presidency of her native Iceland. “I have just gone to my heart, dug up some courage and gotten going,” she says.
As the CEO and Chief Change Catalyst for The B Team, Tómasdóttir is also Co-Chair of Imperative 21, the global business-led network calling for a reset of our economy so that it works for everyone and for the long term. Earlier this month, on the 50-year anniversary of economist Milton Friedman’s declaration that business’s only responsibility is to its shareholders, the Imperative 21 coalition issued a powerful message that it’s time to end shareholder primacy and RESET our economy to benefit all stakeholders.
In the new episode of BBMG’s The Future We Want podcast, Tómasdóttir speaks with our founding partner Raphael Bemporad about this profound moment and what purpose-driven, gender-balanced and principled leadership looks like.
Tune in to our conversation with Tómasdóttir for her inspiring perspective on:
- Choosing to meet this difficult moment in human history (yes, we have a choice!).
- Realizing how leadership modeled by women affects the next generation.
- Confronting your imposter syndrome and learning the freedom that comes with failure.
- Offering humble leadership in the face of shifting paradigms.
- Envisioning a new economy.
- Taking lessons from youth-led climate movements and the promise of intergenerational problem-solving.
According to Tómasdóttir, creating the future we want starts with mustering the bravery to lead and being humble enough to admit that we don’t have all the answers and cannot do it alone.
“Leadership is all about waking up to the moment and choosing to be the leaders this moment calls for us to be,” she says. “I think it all starts with saying: Are we going to wake up? Are we going to answer the call from our own heart and from the next generation and be the leaders who choose to see that we have a world in trouble? And there’s nothing stopping us from having the world we want but ourselves.”
Taking on the world is daunting, but it’s much easier when we do it together. BBMG is proud to be a longtime ally of Imperative 21 and to have worked with leaders like B Lab to help create the brand, narrative and identity for the network. Now we proudly support the #LetsReset campaign and hope you will too.
Get more of The Future We Want from BBMG here, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
