The father died already in 1923 after which the widowed mother could afford a decent living standard for the family and education for the three sons through hard work by running her own café.

[1] For a short time Hästö worked as lawyer, but in 1948 he started as delegate in the Finnish Engineering Industry Employers' Association.

By time Hästö, who was grown in rather conservative environment, learnt understanding the opponents' point of view and appreciate many union leaders.

The area was new to Hästö, and he went through a thorough introduction given by Sadi Sandell, the long-term manager of the company, and travelled to United States for excursion.

After Finland signed associate membership agreement with EFTA in the 1960s, the company managed to maintain its position in the domestic market and increase exports through modern design.

Hästö modernised the organisation structure dividing it into independent units according to product categories, but this did not bring the desired results.

In 1976 Hästö started to be again increasingly involved in employers' associations, and became selected STK chairman in 1976, although he resisted his nomination at first.

Although the new role presumably limited his possibilities at focusing on overcoming problems which Finlayson experienced at the time, the company started to recover.

When Kekkonen resigned in 1981, some industrial leaders wanted to promote Ahti Karjalainen as his replacement because he was believed to guarantee the Soviet trade which was vital for the country, and sought for support from TKL.

Although Hästö took a neutral and reserved approach, he did not resist joint statement of TKL which was given as indirect support to Karjalainen.

[1] At the end of his term investigated possibilities for improving co-operation between STK and TKL and he suggested merging the two associations.

[1] After his retirement Hästö held some positions of trust in Unice and Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) of OECD.