Time is money, or so the saying goes, and the CEO of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund is making sure every day counts—He even has a countdown on his office calendar to prove it.
Nicolai Tangen He leads the Nordic giant Norges Bank Investment Management, which regulates revenues from Norway's oil and gas resources, with the aim of ensuring that its benefits are distributed fairly between current and future Norwegian generations.
Similar to a presidential cycle, the $1.6 trillion CEO role The fund operates on a five-year contract, which can be renewed.
As a result, Tangen knows until the day his term will end and added a large countdown in his office that moves forward every day.
“I have 580 days left,” Tangen told the '20VC' podcast at the beginning of this year. “Now why do I have that? Is it because I don't like my job? No. I love my job..
“But the thing is, when someone in my office says to me, 'Yeah, we can do this for the next three months,' I say, 'Hey, look at this. I have 580 days left, we have to hurry.'”
Tangen said this tool “completely changes the mindset” of his colleagues, adding: “They say, 'Oh yeah, oh God, you only have 580 days left; we have to do it immediately. This urgency is achieved by thinking.”
The official, who took over the top job in 2020, has indicated in the past that he wants to get more out of his European colleagues. Tangen told the Financial times in April: “We are not very ambitious. “You should be careful when talking about work-life balance, but Americans simply work harder.”
Tangen, Norway's so-called “billion dollar man”added 20VC that having a dynamic workforce is the difference between success and failure. “Organizations that make quick decisions are generally better,” she added.
Work-life balance
Norges Bank Investment Management is one of the most powerful financial vehicles on the planet: it is the largest individual owner of global stock markets and controls 1.5% of the shares of publicly traded companies worldwide.
As a result, its leader has access to some of the biggest names in the business, including Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
The head of the AI chip maker and Tangen discussed work-life balance, and the former…who is a notorious worker and perfectionist—Saying that he practically never stopped working.
Tangen explained: “[Huang] said: 'Nicholai, there is hard work and there is incredibly hard work… I do incredibly hard work.'I asked but when do you relax? [Huang] He said: 'I relax all the time, because I love what I do.'
“I think if you really love what you do, it won't feel like work. I reserve time for [my wife and kids]”Tangen added. “But I work because I love what I do.”
Move fast but think long term
Despite Tangen's clear work drive and drive for operational speed, as the gatekeeper of Norges Bank Investment Management, the CEO has to think long-term about the vehicle's performance for generations to come.
“Time is really interesting and I think it's a lot of fun,” Tangen said. “Let's say you're 20 years old and you're in a big hurry. Three months is an eternity.
“You get older… suddenly I'm so patient. Because? I don't have as many years left compared to a 20-year-old, but I'm much more patient than these young people. Has no sense.”
Tangen continued: “Why are you more impatient when you're 20 years old? “Three months is a larger percentage of your life than when you are 50 years old.”
At age 50, “you've seen that it pays to be long-term,” Tangen explained. “If I could say anything to my 20-year-old self… it would be, 'You have plenty of time. Think more long term.'”
In fact, Norges Bank Investment Management has been implementing a longer-term measure for the past 10 years: leaning more toward the U.S. After all, the United States is home to the 'Magnificent 7' stocks that have provided the backbone of the stock market boom and, according to analystswill continue to do so.
Investments in the United States now represent 46.9% of Norges Bank's portfolio, while a decade ago the United States represented just under 30%. Ten years ago, in 2003, the organization's investment in the United States represented only 26.3% of all investments.
By contrast, in 2003, 59.5% of Norges Bank's portfolio was invested in European countries, a figure that, in 2023, had fallen to 28.7%.