Where data ends, leadership begins.
LanguagesEnglish · Icelandic
FormatsKeynote · Workshop · Sparring
TopicsDecision-making · Attention
ReachYale · WEF · UN · Netflix · HarperOne · Amazon Prime
A short, accessible introduction to the work. Hrund explores why intuition is fundamental to our intelligence and well-being — and how leaders can train it to navigate uncertainty, see the bigger picture, and act with conviction when the data runs out.
Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir started out at the United Nations after the war in Kosovo and later worked in Geneva. The experience showed her what overload, hierarchy and a permanent crisis mode do to judgement — and what they cost. She left the UN, returned to research and various entrepreneurship and leadership roles, where she applied research to practice in areas ranging from education and business transition, to innovation, investment and leadership development in Europe and Asia. She has spent over two decades studying intuition.
Her book InnSæi has been published in multiple languages in all continents, including by Rowohlt in Germany, Bonnier books UK and HarperOne. The accompanying film InnSæi – the Power of Intuition (2016) was shown worldwide on Netflix and is still available on streaming services globally, including Amazon Prime. She serves on boards in innovation and sustainability, and works with executive teams on decision-making in volatile environments.
Senior leadership has long
been deciding where
the models stop.
Volatility is no longer a phase. It is the baseline. AI is shifting what machines do better than humans on a monthly clock. At the same time, the decisions that matter most have moved out of reach of the data: strategic direction, board-level personnel calls, M&A under information asymmetry, negotiations without a reliable benchmark.
Pure analysis arrives late to those decisions. Dismissing intuition means dismissing part of your own intelligence. Leaving it untrained means leaving it to chance.
Yale International Leadership Center
The Spirit of Humanity Forum
Alibaba and Tezign’s Horizon 2050 Shanghai
Inspirational Speaker Series St Gilgen school in Austria
Spirit of Humanity Forum as Speaker
Casa Firjan
NPR (TED Radio show)
ESCP Business School
Design Talks Reykjavik
Huiput Creative Festival Helsinki
Reykjavik Global Forum
The Federation of Icelandic Industries
The Business Council Iceland
The Association of Industries Rio de Jainero,
ARD, Brigitte and ZDR in Germany, RUV Iceland, WNPR, CBS news, ttt Germany, Twój Styl magazine Poland, TVN Poland, RMF Classic Poland, PLUS Radio Warsaw, Jedynka – Polske Radio, Morgunblaðið Iceland.
Hrund’s research has been carried out with scientists, artists and senior leaders. The work rests on a well-documented finding: the brain processes a continuous stream of sensory and cognitive information that conscious thought never catches. Intuition is the access path to that knowledge.
Across this work, including interviews with Nobel laureates, a consistent pattern emerges. Breakthroughs do not come from analysis alone. They come from the deliberate alternation between analysis and intuition. Senior leaders have a structural advantage here — intuition gets sharper with experience, knowledge and expertise.
The Icelandic word for this kind of intelligence is InnSæi. The book of that title develops the concept; the keynotes and workshops translate it into the questions a leadership team is actually working on.
WHAT YOUR LEADERSHIP TAKES HOME
Awareness of when to trust your own intuition and when it is reflecting back what you want to hear. The central question in every strategy retreat, every senior personnel call, every acquisition.
Direct your attention deliberately instead of having it directed for you. Attention journaling, a practice Hrund uses with senior leaders, makes visible where your best decisions actually originate — and under which conditions.
Train the eye for patterns that sit across the silos of your own organisation. Exactly where strategic advantage forms before the market catches up.
Formats
Choose by occasion, audience size and depth. All formats are delivered in English. Icelandic on request for Nordic and Icelandic audiences.
For strategy conferences, executive summits, congresses and annual kick-offs. Pairs research findings with concrete examples from the practice of senior leaders and scientists.
For boards and senior leadership teams. Concrete tools, attention journaling and structured reflection formats. Translates the concept into routines that fit a leadership calendar.
One-to-one or small group. For CEOs and managing directors in decision-critical phases: strategy shifts, succession, crisis, acquisition. Discreet, topic-open, outcome-focused.
Topics that connect to your event
Decision-making under uncertainty
AI and human judgement
Attention as a leadership resource
Board and executive development
Resilience at the top
Sustainability & long-horizon thinking
Voices
Inquire
Send a short note with date, format, audience and the question your room is working on. You will get a first read on fit within 48 hours, followed by a call if the brief connects.
Grow your intuition through the lens of InnSæi. Find insights, inspiration & tips on intuition that you won’t read anywhere else.
Grow your intuition through the lens of InnSæi. Find insights, inspiration & tips on intuition that you won’t read anywhere else.
