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Worklife with Adam Grant

Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on leading with strength and sincerity

Worklife with Adam Grant

TED

Management, Worklife Podcast, Worklife With Adam Grant, Work Life Balance, Ted Talks, Podcast About Work Life, Ted Adam Grant, Adam Grant Podcasts, Ted Podcasts, Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist, Business

4.89.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kaja Kallas is the current Prime Minister of Estonia – and the first woman to hold the position. Her perceptive communication and bold action against the threat of Russian authoritarianism has bolstered her reputation as a leader we should all be paying attention to. The Prime Minister talks to Adam about what we can learn from the past when thinking about future consequences, the risks of being inauthentic, and what qualities distinguish the best leaders from the rest. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts

Transcript

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0:00.0

Ted Audio Collective

0:07.0

Hey everyone, it's Adam Grant. Welcome back to Rethinking, my podcast on the

0:13.1

Science of What Makes Us Take. I'm an organizational psychologist and I'm

0:16.6

taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and

0:20.3

new ways of thinking.

0:24.0

My guest today is Kaya Kallas. She's the Prime Minister of Estonia, the first

0:29.2

woman ever to hold the role. Previously she was a member of European Parliament

0:33.6

and a partner in a law firm. She's gained international recognition for her

0:37.7

strong stance against Russian aggression and she's also one of the wisest, most

0:42.1

unscripted leaders I've ever met inside or outside politics.

0:52.2

What should I call you during the conversation? Prime Minister?

0:55.8

You can call me Kaya as well because we know personally. We are very equal

1:01.8

society so you can call me by my first name. I don't need any titles.

1:07.5

That's very egalitarian of you. Yeah, it is. This is how we function here but

1:16.4

if it is for you, what is more convenient? Well, I'm happy to do whatever you

1:22.4

consider comfortable and respectful. Yeah, because I think the topic is not

1:28.1

it's on one side or so the work but it's more like the leadership issues.

1:33.9

So it's okay if you call me by my first name. All right. Well, I appreciate

1:40.1

that and if you want to restate anything or clarify anything we can do

1:44.5

multiple takes. No, it's better when we do it spontaneously as it comes.

1:50.1

Normally, I feel like most of the political leaders I've interviewed over the

1:53.8

years have been very scripted and very on message and I love your candor.

...

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