Daring Creativity. Daring Forever.
Episode: Dare to act now (Today is the best day there is)
Guest: Haraldur Thorleifsson
Host: Radim Malinic
Release Date: October 20, 2025
Episode Overview
In this inspiring episode, Radim Malinic welcomes designer, entrepreneur, and creative polymath Haraldur "Hali" Thorleifsson. Hali shares his journey from Iceland’s unique creative culture to agency leadership, music, profound loss, and living with muscular dystrophy. The conversation centers on the universality of creativity, the importance of adaptability and resilience, and the philosophy of acting now—because today is always the best day there is.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
The Universality and Process of Creativity
- Everyone is creative: Hali challenges the myth of the "non-creative person," emphasizing that creativity is inherent and universal.
- “I've met a lot of people who believe that they're not creative, but I've never met a person who's not creative.” (00:00, Hali)
- Stages of the creative journey: All creative work shares a common path—uncertainty, self-doubt, iterative progress, and the unpredictability of the end result.
- Detailed at both the start (00:00) and closing reflections (48:17).
Early Influences and Icelandic Generalism
- Iceland’s creative culture: Iceland’s small population breeds generalists, making it easy to participate in creative fields and fostering media visibility for new ventures.
- “There's a lot of opportunity to create in Iceland, partly because of the size of the population. You're able to get involved in all sorts of creative ventures without really knowing anything, because they just need people.” (06:36, Hali)
- Growing up creative: Early experiences with LEGO and his mother’s costume design work instilled a belief in making things from nothing and understanding that everything is invented.
Coping with Loss and Finding Expression
- Loss as a catalyst: Hali lost his mother at age 11, navigating grief in a time and place with little support.
- “One of my main coping mechanisms was just burying everything...the music was maybe a more healthy way to deal with this.” (14:32, Hali)
- Music as catharsis: Initially uninterested in music, Hali took to songwriting as a teen, finding expression for love, loss, and sorrow, though performing remained a challenge due to shyness and reliance on alcohol.
Escapism, Curiosity, and the Leap into Design
- Digital discovery: Exposure to early web development at university provided not just an income, but empowerment—a way to create and share with the world from home.
- From freelancer to agency founder: After freelancing and a stint in New York, Hali returned to Iceland and, following years of experience, founded his own digital agency. The journey required rapid learning in people management as the agency grew.
The Challenge of Leadership
- Managing growth and admitting limits: Hali candidly discusses the difficulties of leading people versus projects, his naive early assumptions about others, and the investment in executive coaching.
- “I just assumed that everyone was like me and so everyone needed the same things that I did...And so that took me a long time. And at one point, I had three executive coaches.” (23:20, Hali)
- Key management lesson: It's vital to meet people where they are, align values, and recognize when someone simply isn't the right fit—without blame.
- “Meeting people where they are, working from there I think is very important.” (27:01, Hali)
Navigating Growth, Selling, and Regret
- Operational shifts and struggle for creative connection: As the agency scaled past 100 employees, Hali strove to stay involved in creative direction, even as management consumed more of his time.
- Selling to Twitter/X: The transition to a global tech company presented a “very hard transition,” especially around culture, role specificity, and reduced influence, but Hali reframes this as an opportunity for learning, not regret.
- “Regret can drown you and you can become bitter. That's a very bad place to be.” (33:42, Hali)
Public Exit and Resilience
- High-profile departure: Hali discusses his infamous exit from Twitter, which became public and media fodder. He reflects on composure, perspective, and the resilience built from life’s prior challenges.
- “Even though it got a lot of attention, this was very far from being the most important thing in my life.” (34:41, Hali)
- Host reflection: Radim notes this as an illustration of adaptability and resilience as a lived skill, not a desirable state.
New Chapters: Physical Spaces and Tribute
- Designing a restaurant in tribute to his mother: Returning to Iceland, Hali designed and opened a restaurant as a love letter to his late mom. The project was both fulfilling and fraught—beautiful in its creation, challenging in business practice.
- “I wanted to create a place that had the feeling that I had when I was in her presence and when I experienced the things that she made and so created this restaurant.” (37:33, Hali)
- Reflection on regret and closure: Hali ultimately closed the restaurant, recognizing the difficulty of turning emotional tribute into business, but feels proud for having dared to create it.
Life with Muscular Dystrophy: Motivation and Urgency
- Living with the condition: Hali describes his slowly-progressing muscular dystrophy as a daily reminder not to postpone meaningful endeavors.
- “The current state is always the best there is, then I felt I should use my opportunities while I have them...Should I do this later or should I do it now? It's always I should do it now, because who knows?” (43:55, Hali)
- Radim summarizes: “Today is the best day there is. Do it now, don't wait.” (45:04, Radim)
Ongoing Creativity and Advice
- Continued projects: Hali is always working on something new, launching a walking podcast (“Let’s Walk”) and continuing to create, but prefers not to discuss ideas until they’re real.
- “One of my fuels is...I try not to talk about the things that I'm about to do.” (46:04, Hali)
- Advice for next generations: Everyone is creative, all creativity is interlinked, and perseverance is key—“If you don't quit, you will end up with something that you're proud of...the ultimate expression of being human.” (48:17, Hali)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
“I've met a lot of people who believe that they're not creative, but I've never met a person who's not creative.”
– Hali Thorleifsson, 00:00
"Adaptability and resilience is the main thing that you want to make sure that people have in a future that's so uncertain.”
– Hali Thorleifsson, 10:13
“One of my main coping mechanisms was just burying everything...the music was maybe a more healthy way to deal with this...”
– Hali Thorleifsson, 14:32
“Meeting people where they are, working from there I think is very important.”
– Hali Thorleifsson, 27:01
"You can't change the past, so you can't really go back. And there was no point in me thinking a lot about, should I have done this? ...Regret can drown you and you can become bitter. That's a very bad place to be."
– Hali Thorleifsson, 33:42
"Knowing that there was always the current state is always the best there is, then I felt I should use my opportunities while I have them. Not knowing I will be able to do in the future, but knowing what I can do right now."
– Hali Thorleifsson, 43:55
“If you don't quit, you will end up with something that you're proud of, and that's pretty much a guarantee...the ultimate expression of being human.”
– Hali Thorleifsson, 48:17
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Universal creativity and its process: 00:00, 48:17
- Icelandic creative generalism: 06:36
- Early creative influences & LEGO: 04:15
- Impact of mother’s loss: 14:32
- Finding music as expression: 11:04
- Leap into digital design: 18:10
- From freelancing to agency founding: 20:34
- First lessons in leadership: 23:20
- Executive coaching and management philosophy: 24:53, 27:01
- Balancing scale and creativity: 29:19
- Selling to Twitter and adapting to change: 31:42
- Public Twitter exit and resilience: 34:41
- Restaurant tribute to mother: 37:33
- Muscular dystrophy and philosophy of urgency: 43:55
- Advice for future creators: 48:17
Episode Summary & Takeaways
This is a powerful episode about daring to create—not despite, but through, loss, adversity, and imperfection. Hali Thorleifsson’s story illustrates that creativity is innate, interconnected across disciplines and lives, and that the key to meaningful achievement is to act now with what you have. It's not about waiting for the perfect conditions, but about refusing to wait for permission. His outlook, honed by living with muscular dystrophy, is clear: Today is always the best day there is.
For Further Listening
- Hali’s walking podcast: Let’s Walk
- More from Radim Malinic: radimmalinic.co.uk