HIGHLIGHTS: Adena Friedman - CEO of Nasdaq

0:01Hi, everybody. Tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday. for the long version. Tune in on Wednesdays. Hi everyone, I'm Nikolaj Tangen, the CEO of the Norwegian So-and-Wealth Fund, and today we are thrilled to be joined by Adina Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq. Now, Adina transformed Nasdaq into a global tech powerhouse, and she's now one of the most influential leaders in global finance. So, Adina, welcome. Well, it's great to be here. Thank you so much, Nikolaj, and welcome to Nasdaq. Well, exactly, because I'm visiting you, so I'm sitting here with a Nasdaq mug, and feeling kind of part of something pretty big.

0:34Could you start with the basic here? So what is Nasdaq? Sure. Well, Nasdaq, of course, is a world-class market operator, and we're extremely, extremely proud of that foundation. But as you know, we have expanded our business to become a global technology provider to the financial industry. And we focused on expanding our business in three key pillars. And they all kind of form the foundation of a good market. So we've got our liquidity pillar, transparency, and integrity. And if you think about it, you need all three of those things to make for a world-class capital market. But as we've kind of become a technology provider partner to our clients, we've used those themes to really expand our business.

1:12So, you know, you want to buy shares in Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, you basically do it on Ashtonk. But you also have a lot of people in Sweden. We do. How come? Yes, in fact, we own and operate the markets in the Nordics other than Norway. So Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and the three Baltic countries, we own and operate those markets. And we also have a market technology business where we provide technology to the world's markets. So 130 markets rely on us for their technology to run their markets, and that's also operated out of Sweden. Sorry, why haven't you got Norway? You know, we wanted to have Norway.

1:48And why did you get it? You probably remember. Well, we decided to take a friendly approach with the Norwegian exchange, And unfortunately, there was another exchange operator that tried to take a less friendly approach. And they unfortunately won. But we did try very hard to come in as a friendly partner to the Norwegian exchange. Does each country need a stock exchange? I would say in today's modern capital markets, capital flows are global, money moves seamlessly around the world. But there are very local elements to exchanges where they appeal to local innovators, local market participants, local investors.

2:20And so there is a benefit to having a country have its exchange, but having it connected into a global ecosystem to allow for more capital flows is what we think is the future of markets. If I start up a company and it gets really big, are you going to call me and ask me whether I want to list on NASDAQ? Is that how it works? I would say that if you start a company and it doesn't have to get really big, we will call you up and ask if you want to list on NASDAQ. So we list companies of all sizes on NASDAQ. And we're very happy to have a startup come earlier in their life and choose to make their stock available to everyday consumers and everyday retail investors and then grow up as a company.

3:00Like, you know, when Amazon went public many, you know, a couple decades ago, they were worth$300 million. And they've grown up as a public company and done remarkably well in the public market. So that's a great success story. Do all their exchanges try to steal them away from you? You know, it used to be that there was kind of a view that Nasdaq was the home to smaller companies. But today, Nasdaq is home to the largest companies in the world. And what happened was these companies would come to Nasdaq as small companies, but then they'd stay. There are more private companies than before. Now, it's partly because of private equity, but it's also because many companies choose to stay private.

3:38So why should companies go public and have a listing instead of being private? I think that there are structural and cyclical reasons why the public markets are more or less attractive to companies. But cyclically, of course, it's just a matter of are public investors ready to underwrite risk in a time when you have changing interest rate environment like we're having right now? But more structurally, the question is, is the burden of being a public company such that it makes it so that it becomes more attractive to remain private? And that's where we have to work with the government to think about the balance of the regulatory balance between the responsibility of being a public company and making your stock available to everyday consumers and everyday retail investors, but also the ability for you to continue to drive your strategy, change, you know, and make changes and continue to progress in a way that is still attractive to institutional investors.

4:34The fact that there is so much concentration in the market now, you know, a few companies account for a huge proportion of the value of the stock exchange. Is that a worry? I mean, I would have to say that's just the nature of the economy as it's kind of been progressing. Right? You have these huge companies that have really defined the future of our economy, really, in terms of the technological innovation that they're underwriting, the risk they're taking, the scale that they're providing to really underpin the future of technology. And they have therefore become very large parts of the economy because the entire economy is becoming technological.

5:07And so, it's really the natural progression of economy towards these technological phenomenon, really. I think that at the same time, there are still 5 ,000 companies listed on NASDAQ. So it's not like there are many, many companies that are innovators and change agents and people who are in every single sector of the economy, creating change, driving new things, bringing new ideas into the market, and or just very mature companies operating in every sector of the economy. So I don't actually agree that it's a bad thing. So, Adina, you became CEO in 2017. Yes. What does one do when one becomes the CEO of a big company?

5:49How do you approach it? Well, I think first, it's important to understand what you're walking into. So I started it now as an intern 31 years ago. So I knew the company very well. Well, so you were at university. Right after. Yeah. So I knew the company very well coming into the role of CEO. But you also have to make sure that you're looking at it with fresh eyes and understanding kind of where is the company at the time. The second thing is that I came into a company that was very well managed and had a great foundation. So I had the fortune of coming into the seat and playing offense from day one.

6:24So my first year as CEO, we really focused on driving our strategy. Do you think you're a better leader now than when you were 30? Oh, definitely. How are you different? Well, when you're 30 and you're taking on, you know, you kind of want to think that you know everything for one thing. And second of all, you're trying to figure out how not to do everything, but to make it all get done the way that you want it. Okay? That's like, if you know what I mean, I mean, there's a scalability to that that has some limitations. So, when you're 30, you're trying to learn new skills, learn how to manage, learn how to lead, and obviously drive a business forward.

7:00And so there's a lot that you're learning that you probably are not doing perfectly along the way. So how do you do differently now? So when you go from being a manager to a leader, it's the difference between directing people in their activities to empowering people so that they can be empowered to do a better job at their job than you can do at their job. Isn't that just amazing? And that is a total difference in skill set. Isn't it just amazing you ask people to do something without setting any limitations or defining it to kind of accurately, and then they just come up with things which is beyond what you could do.

7:33Beyond what you could do. So what does that require? I love it. It requires a lot of trust. Do you think kindness is underrated in this society? I think that there's a reputation within certain industries that kindness is a weakness. I think kindness is a strength. Our business, we are a technology business, but we are founded on the notion of relationships. I always say that even in the trading business, where it is a very analytical decision as to whether we go first in your routing tables or not, that relationships break ties. And so at the very least, relationships break ties. But at the most, they drive trust.

8:13And if you are the trusted provider, clients naturally want to do more with you. And that trust is the most important thing that you can gain. And I think kindness is a big part of building that trust. I think the concept of kindness is quite funny because when you are 20, the cool people, they were not kind. They were the least kind, okay? And so nobody wanted to be kind because then you were just like a loser. Now you fast forward until you're 50. And if I were to pick one trait, which I would really love to have in my partner or colleague, it's kindness. Of course. Because at the end of the day, kindness is generally a reflection of confidence too.

8:49And I think those things go hand in glove with each other. and I you know at the end that's what you're really looking for is that kind of kind confident humble leader a person who can relate to other people who can get the most out of another person and who cares about those other people and their success that's a great leader and that's what we look for now finally we got tens of thousands of young people listening to this what what is your advice to them? I would say first always stay curious. Always you know make sure that you when you have the opportunity to say yes you say yes. You know early in my career I was asked to do a lot of things that were outside the scope of my job and I would always just say okay I'll do that and then you go back to your office and you go hmm I wonder how I'm gonna do that but you know you have to figure it out and that's the great thing if someone's trusting you to give you that projects they think that you're gonna be able to figure it out so take it.

9:47Thank you.