''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 health and performance through neurotechnology. Together they explore questions around e.g.: The meaning of cognitive load, stres...

''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 very good life, which sounds pretty good to me" Host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Tina Woods, Social Entrepreneur and System Archi...

''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 Workplace at Sanofi about the journey of corporate wellbeing and the role of workplace design in embedding a culture of wellbeing Tog...

''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 Jarnhamn holds a conversation filled with energy with Geoff McDonald, global advocate and leading voice for...

''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 show there’s no conflict. People can flourish and your organization can do better economically'' Host Linda...

''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 empowered and lifted by your fellow work colleagues. This is completely lost in translation''. Our host Linda Jarnham...

''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 care most about in the capital markets, equity value creation'' Our host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Bart Houlahan, Partner at I...

''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 return metrics are built around a rather flawed economic system. Metrics used are actually outdated''. Our...

''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 performance, could it have impact on a public company’s future equity value? Its stock price.” Listen to th...

“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 this 16th episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Juan Palacios, an assistant professor at Maa...

''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 of Programme Strategy at Business for Health in the UK go broad and deep into the topic by discussing The need to re...

“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?'' In this 15th episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Jack Groppel, a wor...

''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 Human Podcast, the host Linda Jarnhamn is interviewed by Patricia Erhardt-Lewis a seasoned executive coach and organisational development prof...

''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 that’s actually going. It’s not like you hurt your leg and you can see that it’s sore. When our brain is damaged...

''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 get greedier'' In this 12th episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Julion Gallagher, sustainability profe...

''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 intangible benefits (such as a more productive human brain, or overall satisfaction of employees), into a dollar amount so tha...

''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 air quality, when it needs to be good, it's bad'' In this tenth episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnha...

''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 right now.'' In this ninth episode of the Sustainable Human Podcast, our host Linda Jarnhamn talks to Burcin Ikiz, &n...

''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 that. I think that they are mystified by how to measure their performance when it comes to social sustainability''. In ...

''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 a framework - because you can do that now''. To find out how, listen to this seventh episode of the Sustainable Huma...