I packed two weeks worth of finds in one update because a LOT has happened - since I last wrote to you - just 14 days ago, we have: hopped on a train from NYC to Boston - to jump on a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark - to jump on a train over to Lund, a lovely town in Sweden, delivered two keynotes/talks about how to fight strategic jetlag within your company, advised a climate think/do tank, spent a few days in sunny Copenhagen eating copious amounts of ice-cream, helped a large hospitality company shape their bets, spent two nights in a secluded cabin in the Swedish wilderness, maximized our time in Stockholm, attended a Fridays For The Future climate strike in front of the Swedish parliament. So, yeah…a lot.
But there was still time for art! This is a cute bakery in a small town called Trosa in Sweden:
I could get into so much. How there’s a whole other “vaseline” sold just in Scandinavia. Why are all Scandinavian flags similar? They all have that cross, only in different colors. Copenhagen vs Stockholm debates. But I’ve curated the five finds that taught me something interesting about the Scandi-world:
- FOODTOWN How not being 'bound by history' helped Copenhagen become the world's number one city for food. Loosely grouped under the term “New Nordic” and focusing on Scandinavia’s seasonal larder, foraging and fermenting, Copenhagen’s restaurants have been in the ascendancy since 2003, when René Redzepi’s world-beating Noma first opened and began smashing accolades like an establishment possessed.
- CLIMATECH Spotify remains Sweden’s crown jewel but the next best thing from the whole region is probably going to be Climate solutions. While everyone else is either distracted or absorbed by AI, maybe the Nordics will figure out what really matters.
- EAT UP You’ve obviously heard of Ozempic and Wegovy by now - diabetes drugs that also help with weight-loss are a global phenomena now. Novo Nordisk - the manufacturer - has become Europe’s most valuable company. And this is literally changing everyone’s lives in the whole country of Denmark.
- ORIENTED Camping is quite common in the Nordics but it still terrifies me. Not just about things that go BOO! in the dark but also for way-finding. All my favorite horror stories are about losing your way and being moored away from civilization. A lot of this is apparently cultural. Turns out the ability to navigate is something people from the Nordics are better at than all of us! People from Nordic countries tended to be slightly better navigators, perhaps because the sport of orienteering, which combines cross-country running and navigation, is popular in those countries.
- LAND DEFENDERS Standing next to the admirable young people at the school strike for the climate in front of the Swedish parliament, I kept thinking about the voices we (citizens, companies, governments) don’t give enough weight to. And that’s what got us here. This interview with the Sámi Land Defenders of Scandinavia opened my eyes - for example it’s easy to have a simplistic view of renewables.“I see this narrative everywhere now whether it’s in Scandinavia or South America. Rarely does the world think about at whose cost this green transition is happening.”