Halla Tomasdottir: A feminine response to Iceland's financial crash

It sure used to be a lot easier to be from Iceland,

because until a couple of years ago,

people knew hardly anything about us,

and I could basically come out here

and say only good things about us.

But in the last couple of years

we've become infamous for a couple of things.

First, of course, the economic meltdown.

It actually got so bad

that somebody put our country up for sale on eBay.

(Laughter)

Ninety-nine pence was the starting price

and no reserve.

Then there was the volcano

that interrupted the travel plans

of almost all of you and many of your friends,

including President Obama.

By the way, the pronunciation

is "Eyjafjallajokull."

None of your media got it right.

(Laughter)

But I'm not here to share these stories

about these two things exactly.

I'm here to tell you the story of Audur Capital,

which is a financial firm founded by me

and Kristin -- who you see in the picture --

in the spring of 2007,

just over a year before the economic collapse hit.

Why would two women

who were enjoying successful careers in investment banking

in the corporate sector

leave to found a financial services firm?

Well let it suffice to say

that we felt a bit overwhelmed

with testosterone.

And I'm not here to say

that men are to blame for the crisis

and what happened in my country.

But I can surely tell you that in my country,

much like on Wall Street and the city of London and elsewhere,

men were at the helm

of the game of the financial sector,

and that kind of lack of diversity

and sameness

leads to disastrous problems.

(Applause)

So we decided, a bit fed-up with this world

and also with the strong feeling in our stomach

that this wasn't sustainable,

to found a financial services firm

based on our values,

and we decided to incorporate feminine values

into the world of finance.

Raised quite a few eyebrows in Iceland.

We weren't known

as the typical "women" women

in Iceland up until then.

So it was almost like coming out of the closet

to actually talk about the fact that we were women

and that we believed that we had a set of values

and a way of doing business

that would be more sustainable

than what we had experienced until then.

And we got a great group of people to join us --

principled people with great skills,

and investors with a vision

and values to match ours.

And together we got through the eye of the financial storm in Iceland

without taking any direct losses to our equity

or to the funds of our clients.

And although I want to thank

the talented people of our company

foremost for that --

and also there's a factor of luck and timing --

we are absolutely convinced

that we did this because of our values.

So let me share with you our values.

We believe in risk awareness.

What does that mean?

We believe that you should always understand the risks that you're taking,

and we will not invest

in things we don't understand.

Not a complicated thing.

But in 2007,

at the height of the sub-prime

and all the complicated financial structures,

it was quite opposite

to the reckless risk-taking behaviors

that we saw on the market.

We also believe in straight-talking,

telling it as it is,

using simple language that people understand,

telling people about the downsides

as well as the potential upsides,

and even telling the bad news that no one wants to utter,

like our lack of belief in the sustainability

of the Icelandic financial sector

that already we had

months before the collapse hit us.

And, although we do work in the financial sector,

where Excel is king,

we believe in emotional capital.

And we believe

that doing emotional due diligence

is just as important

as doing financial due diligence.

It is actually people

that make money and lose money,

not Excel spreadsheets.

(Applause)

Last, but not least,

we believe in profit with principles.

We care how we make our profit.

So while we want to make economic profit for ourselves and our customers,

we are willing to do it with a long-term view,

and we like to have a wider definition of profits

than just the economic profit in the next quarter.

So we like to see profits,

plus positive social

and environmental benefits, when we invest.

But it wasn't just about the values,

although we are convinced that they matter.

It was also about a business opportunity.

It's the female trend, and it's the sustainability trend,

that are going to create

some of the most interesting investment opportunities

in the years to come.

The whole thing about the female trend

is not about women being better than men;

it is actually about

women being different from men,

bringing different values and different ways to the table.

So what do you get? You get better decision-making,

and you get less herd behavior,

and both of those things hit your bottom line

with very positive results.

But one has to wonder,

now that we've had this financial sector collapse upon us in Iceland --

and by the way, Europe looks pretty bad right now,

and many would say that you in America

are heading for some more trouble as well.

Now that we've had all that happen,

and we have all this data out there

telling us that it's much better to have diversity

around the decision-making tables,

will we see business and finance change?

Will government change?

Well I'll give you my straight talk about this.

I have days that I believe,

but I have days that I'm full of doubt.

Have you seen the incredible urge out there

to rebuild the very things that failed us?

(Applause)

Einstein said

that this was the definition of insanity --

to do the same things

over and over again,

hoping for a different outcome.

So I guess the world is insane,

because I see entirely too much

of doing the same things over and over again,

hoping that this time it's not going to collapse upon us.

I want to see more revolutionary thinking,

and I remain hopeful.

Like TED, I believe in people.

And I know that consumers

are becoming more conscious,

and they are going to start voting with their wallets,

and they are going to change the face

of business and finance from the outside,

if they don't do it from the inside.

But I'm more of the revolutionary,

and I should be; I'm from Iceland.

We have a long history

of strong, courageous, independent women,

ever since the Viking age.

And I want to tell you when

I first realized that women matter to the economy

and to the society,

I was seven -- it happened to be my mother's birthday --

October 24, 1975.

Women in Iceland took the day off.

From work or from home, they took the day off,

and nothing worked in Iceland.

(Laughter)

They marched into the center of Reykjavik,

and they put women's issues onto the agenda.

And some say this was the start of a global movement.

For me it was the start of a long journey,

but I decided that day to matter.

Five years later,

Iceland elected Vigdis Finnbogadottir as their president --

first female to become head of state,

single mom,

a breast cancer survivor

who had had one of her breasts removed.

And at one of the campaign sessions,

she had one of her male contenders

allude to the fact that she couldn't become president --

she was a woman, and even half a woman.

That night she won the election,

because she came back --

not just because of his crappy behavior --

but she came back and said,

"Well, I'm actually not going to breastfeed the Icelandic nation;

I'm going to lead it."

(Applause)

So I've had incredibly many

women role models

that have influenced who I am and where I am today.

But in spite of that,

I went through the first 10 or 15 years of my career

mostly in denial of being a woman.

Started in corporate America,

and I was absolutely convinced

that it was just about the individual,

that women and men would have just the same opportunities.

But I've come to conclude lately

that it isn't like that.

We are not the same,

and it's great. Because of our differences,

we create and sustain life.

So we should embrace our difference and aim for challenge.

The final thought I want to leave with you

is that I'm fed up with this tyranny

of either/or choices in life --

either it's men or it's women.

We need to start embracing the beauty of balance.

So let's move away

from thinking about business here and philanthropy there,

and let's start thinking about

doing good business.

That's how we change the world. That's the only sustainable future.

Thank you.

(Applause)