Travelling. Like it or loathe it? I am firmly in Team Like. What do I like about it? I like, weirdly enough, being uncomfortable. No, not my clothes but the whole thing. Being in places that I wouldn't ordinarily be in. Speaking to people who are totally different to me. Doing things that I wouldn't ordinarily do. Visiting places that aren't accessible to me at home. Eating local delicacies or in local hostelries. All of these things, and more are exactly what I love about travelling. One of the reasons why I have taken myself to a country this week that I am totally unfamiliar with – Iceland – is for this very reason.
I do not know very much about Icelandic culture and customs apart from the following: Björk is Icelandic. Iceland is (apparently) very expensive. Iceland is beautiful. The Northern Lights are stunning (I'd love to see them). Iceland has a population of approximately 370,000 people. I also know that Iceland has an extremely progressive track record for gender equality, race relations and LGBTQ+ rights. I know that the Icelandic language is one of the oldest in the world.
What I didn't know, when I landed: the Icelanders I met were among the warmest, most direct, and most quietly confident people I have encountered anywhere.
And I found myself thinking – what does this have to do with leadership?
More than you might expect.
There is something about a culture that has had to build resilience – literally, against volcanic eruptions, financial collapse, and extreme weather – that creates a particular kind of groundedness. People who know what actually matters. People who don't perform certainty they don't have.
Iceland is also a country that made deliberate, structural choices about equality. Not because it was easy, but because those in power decided it was important. Quotas for gender representation on boards. Active policies to close pay gaps. A legal framework that actually has teeth.
Which raises a question I keep returning to: how much of the progress we want to see in our own organisations is actually a matter of will, rather than complexity?
Because Iceland didn't just talk about gender equality. It built systems for it.
The gap between intention and action is a leadership gap. It's the space between the values statement and the budget decision. Between the inclusion strategy and the promotion panel.
I'm bringing a lot home from this trip. Some of it is geographical wonder. Some of it is really good fish.
But mostly, I'm bringing back a question: what would it look like to lead with the same directness and structural commitment that I saw here? Not just to aspire to better – but to build for it.
