Yup. They don’t say too much but when they do - they do not pull any punches. You are expected to preform too.
They are crazy smart and very studious. I remember having a few of them in college classes. When you realized it you would think “oh s**t I am going to have to work hard cause there will be no grade curve cause these Finns were getting A+’s.” It takes a bit to lower the barriers but when they do they are great people.
You’re absolutely right! Finns are very smart but very quiet and unassuming.
I remember when the CEO of Nokia held a townhall meeting (via live telecast from Finland.) The announcement was for a new board member. I can vividly remember his words, “The company has decided to add another board member. We decided to choose an American white male...” Every in the US was quiet, especially the colored folks.
Also, my boss at Nokia was from Denmark. His staff was located in the US, while he was in Findland. On a visit to the US, he called our admin (who was Chinese) a Chink, and called one of the product managers (who was an overweight black dude) and overweight epic failure. Since that happened in the US, the HR in US was called and my boss was essentially demoted to appease the two wronged employees.