Finnish president Alexander Stubb on the power of listening in leadership | ReThinking

Before Alexander Stubb became the president of Finland, he left his position as prime minister thinking he’d never return to politics. But after returning to academia and writing his book The Triangle of Power, public service eventually called him back. In this episode, Adam asks Alex about his path to leadership and the relevant lessons from his days as a political scientist and an athlete. Alex shares what he learned from golfing with Donald Trump and meeting Vladimir Putin, and makes the case for listening as an underrated skill in leadership. Follow our podcasts! ReThinking with Adam Grant: https://link.mgln.ai/kdYcyx The TED Podcasts is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Podcasts videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

Alexander StubbguestAdam Granthost

Jul 2, 202640mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 2, 2026
Duration: 40m
Channel: Re:Thinking with Adam Grant
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Before Alexander Stubb became the president of Finland, he left his position as prime minister thinking he’d never return to politics. But after returning to academia and writing his book The Triangle of Power, public service eventually called him back. In this episode, Adam asks Alex about his path to leadership and the relevant lessons from his days as a political scientist and an athlete. Alex shares what he learned from golfing with Donald Trump and meeting Vladimir Putin, and makes the case for listening as an underrated skill in leadership. Follow our podcasts! ReThinking with Adam Grant: https://link.mgln.ai/kdYcyx The TED Podcasts is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Podcasts videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

SPEAKERS

Alexander Stubb
guest
President of Finland and former Prime Minister, focused on foreign policy, diplomacy, and leadership.
Adam Grant
host
Organizational psychologist and host of the Re:Thinking podcast.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Alexander Stubb and Adam Grant, Finnish president Alexander Stubb on the power of listening in leadership | ReThinking explores president Stubb on listening, authenticity, and relationship-driven modern diplomacy today Stubb argues that informal settings like golf or jogging can accelerate trust-building and information exchange among leaders in ways formal diplomacy often cannot.

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