Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir
Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir is a sustainability leader, visionary, writer and a film maker, educated in anthropology, development and complex emergencies and executive leadership.
Biography
Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir is an award-winning entrepreneur, and sustainability leader in how to bring about transformative change. She has worked in areas ranging from post-conflict reconstruction and development with the UN, to innovation, investments, film making, writing, and the arts, and executive management and various other roles in the private sector. A firm believer that change starts from within, she is passionate about finding balance between the creative and rational, intuitive and analytical in a world in flux. In her late thirties, after having designed and directed a university program based on the interplay between reason and analysis, InnSæi, theory and data, she wrote and co-directed a documentary film about the topic. It was created to reach as many people as possible who would start to talk about and relate to the world within for the first time, or in a fresh way.
InnSæi – the Sea Within (the Power of Intuition in the US) was shown worldwide on Netflix and other streaming services, and has been available since 2017. She has been recognised for her work as a Yale World Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a World Economic Forum Cultural Leader. She is currently director of Festa, a centre for sustainability in Iceland, a managing partner at the Nordic Circular Hotspot and a Nordic Ignite Angel Ambassador. She sits on the Advisory Council of the International Leadership Centre at Yale University (ILC) and is a board member of Eyrir Invest. She has qualifications from Yale, Stanford, Harvard Kennedy School, the LSE, Oxford Business School and the University of Iceland.
Books
Hrund’s first book, The Art of InnSæi: The Icelandic Way to Harness Your Intuition was published in March 2024 by Bonnier. It explores the art of flourishing, leading and innovating in an age of distraction and transformation.
'Hrund's book is truly a gift to the world. I am grateful to her for writing it. It's a practical guide on how to become your best self and lead with purpose and authenticity in an increasingly disorderly world.'
- Emma Sky OBE, founding director of Yale's International Leadership Center
