Sustainable Human

Could investing in brain health be one of the most important investments corporates and society make this century?  In this episode, Linda Jarnhamn sits down with Pawel Świeboda Founder, NeuroCentury; Co-Founder, Brain Capital Alliance; Senior Fellow at European Policy Centre and Centre for Future Generations and Co-Director, Brussels Economic Security Forum. They discuss how neuroscience is enter...

How can we design workplaces that stay both technologically advanced and human-centered? In this episode, Linda Jarnhamn sits down with Lena Abrahamsson, Professor in Human Work Science, Luleå University of Technology. They discuss how workplace and production systems should be designed around people, not just technology. Lena explains that when automation improves physical safety, it can create n...

What’s holding leaders back from embracing brain health at work? In this episode, Linda Jarnhamn sits down with Patricia Earhart Lewis for a role-reversal conversation exploring a major shift, from traditional people and sustainability frameworks to a sharper focus on brain capital and brain health. While awareness is growing, Linda highlights a critical tension: leaders are both fascinated by and...

''So.. with all technologies there are pros and cons. I think we’ve gone way too far into the camp of saying ''some of this data is too dangerous'' versus ''let's utilise some of the data to actually improve the lives of everyone'' In this episode host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Anders Rodenberg , Founder & CEO of Denominator , a global leade...

''Until our robot overlords take over, it’s really humans who are creating value within organizations. So those humans will be more effective at creating value for your clients and even better team members when we understand the underlying need for human connection, for trust, and for psychological safety.'' Host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Paul Zak , Professor, Speaker, Co-Founder...

''The issue is, you're not taking breaks, you're just switching tasks. You're trying to multitask, or you're just trying to distract yourself. But, you know, I think that that is a symptom of our modern productivity-focused world, that it has set us up for failure" Host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Nikolas Williams, head of Research at Emotiv about measuring brain hea...

''If we're successful with all the longevity research, you will close the gap between years of good health and death. You'll live a great life with very minimal chronic conditions. So that's kind of like the holy grail, I think, for a lot of researchers now, reducing multimorbidity, achieving really good and long healthy life expectancy, and to die a quick death from a ver...

''A few years ago, wellbeing in the workplace was seen as a nice to have. Now it's become a must have. We are recognizing that the healthy workforce is not just beneficial for employees. It also reinforces their reputation, long-term resilience, overall success. In other words, it's also good for business'' Host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Ömer Döne, Global Head of Workpl...

''Leaders in organisations, I think, are fearful to measure the wellbeing of their people. And by the way, there are now plenty of measures out there — and they are fearful because they kind of intuitively know that the results are not gonna be good. I really do believe that organizations today have a hugely negative impact on the overall health and wellbeing of their people” Host Linda...

''When you tell people that we can make people’s lives better, there’s some segments of society and decision makers where that doesn’t move the needle for them. What moves the needle for them is the economic consequences. So for us, Brainomics is a little overlay. I call it the 1% overlay on the flourishing or thriving story about better brain health and better brain performance. We can...

''Just because you're diverse doesn't mean that your workforce is well and that they perform well, right?   That's completely true, to work well together, to feel you're part of something bigger, to feel connected, to feel respected, feel trust, and to feel secure. All of this, that you talk about now, the vulnerability to be able to create, to be connected, to feel e...

''Ultimately our work, hopefully, is beginning to educate corporate leaders that corporate culture matters, and it matters not just because you're going to attract and retain better talent. It matters because it's going to drive performance in the equity markets. If you're measuring and optimizing the right things, it can actually drive the ultimate metric that we still ca...

''Our financial system has failed us on so many fronts.  Why do we have the scale of the climate change challenge? Why do we have the health challenge that we are facing? In order to finance innovation we need to innovate the financial system. Money is not always going where it is most needed. There is a lot of hoarding mentality. There is, as you say, a lot of short-termism. The risk re...

''So I said to Dan (Ariely), look, if people are the most important asset, do you think there’s a chance that we could measure the connection between employees and their employer? And if that connection was predictive, and this is predictive of performance, do you think we could make it investable? And by predictive and by measuring what we were talking about was the ultimate measure of...

“The way that we think about this in economics is around the notion of externality. That’s one of the long-standing concepts in the discipline of economics and finance, and this is still one of the most important issues that we deal with today. Externalities relates to ''what do my actions generate for others''? This could be positive or it could be negative.'' In thi...

''We tend to think of health as a risk, which it is, but what about thinking about health as an asset? Then it will become our duty to also understand that we have an opportunity to account for everything that provides an opportunity to a business, not just the risk''. In this fourth episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnhamn and Elizabeth Bachrad , Head...

“A lot of people think that sport is a nice analogy. It’s really an outstanding analogy. World-class athletes have natural breaks in their schedule. Corporate athletes don’t. I mean, look at the HR data on executives taking vacations. They don’t do it. And if they do, they keep working. So there’s no downtime. And then when you do have downtime, what are you doing with that downtime?'' I...

''From an ESG perspective, we're looking at the environment, we're looking at social aspects, and we've got increased level of reporting requirements and regulations that have come in. But we've sort of forgotten about the most critical part that sits at the core of every organisation - that's the human being''. In this 14th episode of the Sustainable H...

''What may hurt somebody, or what somebody may find unacceptable, might not even bother me. We’re all very subjective in that way. But I think coming from a neuroscience point of view, it's the damage that we know that it (bullying) does to the brain. However it manifests itself, however people experience it and whether they call it out or they don’t, there is really serious damage...

''Are we making enough progress when it comes to the social elements of sustainability? I don't think we are because we're overly stressed, we're burnt out, we're anxious, we don't spend enough time in nature, with our families, with ourselves really. And from an economic point of view, I also think we're far from where we'd like to be. I think we only...

''From an investor's perspective, it's hard to identify intangible benefits from the financial statements. So, when we talk about human sustainability, we need to be clear, because investors pay more attention to actual numbers than whatever term we put those numbers under. The key challenge for evaluation is that we sometimes have to rely on economic theories to turn intangibl...

''Air quality is periodically horrible. Periodically, when needed to be good, it's horrible. When the office is empty, it's pretty good. When you put people in a meeting room, close the door and ask them to start thinking about problems and investments, that's when air quality starts getting really bad. That's when it starts affecting their cognitive skills. So, the a...

''You need to realize that if you're 40 years old and if you want to live to be 80, thinking, you know, I'll eat healthy when I turn 60, 70, let me live my life now. It doesn't work like that. One of the biggest risk factors for developing dementia later in life is how you lived your life in your midlife. So we have to realize that actually we have to make those changes ri...

''Businesses that take a people first approach, do better when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. They perform better financially. They're more resilient. They bounce back faster. Their people are healthier... So I think many executives that I speak to intuitively understand this, but I also think that they are completely disoriented. That's almost generous to say tha...

''As a leader, you have the ability to write your company's brain story for the first time. That's your job as a leader. You need to have a compelling vision that makes sense to as many of your employees as possible. So write your brain story for your company. Talk about mental health, talk about neurodiversity, talk about dementia issues, to boosting creativity... and develop...