The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Nicolai Tangen is the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. He is responsible for managing $2.1 trillion. That’s roughly 1.7% of every listed company on earth.
In this episode, we explore the intersection of massive wealth, high-speed decision-making, and the psychological traits required to survive the AI revolution.
—–
Approximate Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:09) What Are You Leaning Against?
(03:17) Tech Sector Evolution
(04:15) The AI Bubble
(05:44) Will AI Replace Humans in Investing?
(06:24) Lessons on Listening
(09:15) American vs. European Mindset
(12:09) Prime Minster For a Day
(14:27) Most Important Data
(16:00) Speed and Agility
(17:05) Ad Break
(18:35) Using Urgency as a Tool
(20:12) Can You Teach People to Change Their Minds?
(22:14) Positive and Negative Comments
(22:56) Testing Assumptions Before a Big Investment
(25:07) Attitude Towards Risk
(28:33) What’s Gotten Harder in Investing?
(29:07) The Rise of Passive Investing
(33:42) Why Did You Take This Job?
(35:04) Ad Break
(36:14) Sovereign Wealth Funds
(38:24) Voting Against Elon Musk’s Pay Package
(39:08) Building Long-Term Thinking
(43:17) Slowing Down Decisions
(45:13) Seeking Out Disagreement
(48:08) Hiring Checklist
(49:15) 140 Conversations To Prepare For A Huge Role
(53:33) CEO Evaluation
(01:01:25) What is Success For You?
——
Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter
——
Follow Shane Parrish:
X: https://x.com/shaneparrish
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/
Follow Nicolai Tangen:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolai-tangen/?originalSubdomain=no
Learn More: https://www.nbim.no/en/about-us/leader-group/leadergroup-persons/nicolai-tangen/
——
Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:
+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane
Check out the Granola Notes
+Download The League App today and find your perfect match!
+Shopify: https://shopify.com/knowledgeproject
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katharine Graham: The Woman Who Took Down a President (Outliers)
When Katharine Graham took over the Washington Post in 1963, she was a shy socialite who’d never run anything. By retirement, she’d taken down a president, ended the most violent strike in a generation, and…
Daniel Kahneman: Algorithms Make Better Decisions Than You
Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for proving we’re not as rational as we think. In this timeless conversation we discuss how to think clearly in a world full of noise, the invisible forces that cloud our…
Les Schwab: Why Real Ownership Outperforms Experience, Capital, and Credentials (Outliers)
They weren’t employees. They were partners. Les Schwab didn’t build a company. He built a culture. This episode reveals how one small-town tire dealer scaled to $3 billion by turning customers into evangelists and employees…
#236 Harley Finkelstein: Why You Must Requalify for Your Role—Every Year
What does it mean to live—and lead—with intention? Shane sits down with his friend and Shopify President Harley Finkelstein to explore what happens when you treat every role in your life—father, husband, leader—as something you…
#235 Outliers: Jimmy Pattison — Building a $16B Empire Without Connections, Capital, or Credentials
At 96 years old, Jimmy Pattison still runs his $16 billion empire personally. He’s built it over 63 years without outside capital or a college degree. He owns 100% of car dealerships, billboards, radio stations—even…
#234 Indra Nooyi: Lessons from the Top of PepsiCo—and the Cost of Getting There
On her first day as CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi fired her general counsel. Then rehired him before dinner. It wasn’t a stunt. It was a signal. She ran a $200 billion empire the same…
#233 Outliers: Anna Wintour – Vogue
The job was editor-in-chief. The goal was to become the platform. And she did. Once she made it to the top, she didn’t just edit Vogue. She reinvented the power structures beneath it. This episode…
#232 Netflix Founder Reed Hastings on Scaling High-Trust Culture & Bold Judgment
How do you build a high-performance culture without turning your company into the Hunger Games? Reed Hastings, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, shares lessons from a career spent rewriting the rules—from severance as a…
#231 Outliers: Harvey Firestone – Men and Rubber
Most people fear a $43 million debt. Harvey Firestone called it “invigorating.” When his company faced collapse in 1920 and his executives panicked, Firestone seized control. He fired the sales manager, slashed prices 25%, and…
#230 Bill Belichick: 8x Super Bowl Champion on Winning, Leadership, and Discipline
Eight Super Bowl rings. Six with the Patriots. And a mindset that goes far deeper than football. In this rare, wide-ranging conversation, Bill Belichick breaks down the invisible factors behind sustained excellence: discipline, preparation, and…
