How to become a futurist ? | A Global travel technology evangelist and futurist Johnny Thorsen|PART 1
Release Date: 09/29/2020
Multi-talented chef and foodie |Kati Turkia, Founder, NordiChef Kati
Nordic Insights
Kati Turkia is a young, super talented chef based in Sydney. Her love for food started while learning to cook with the seasonal ingredients from her Grandmother’s garden in Finland. Kati has gained great experience in working with multicultural cuisines in Finland, Spain and in Sydney.
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Can Australia benefit from adapting Nordic policies? |Professor Andrew Scott, Nordic Policy Centre, the Australian Institute
Nordic Insights
The Nordic Policy Centre is a think tank formed by the Australia Institute. It investigates the effective, progressive social and economic policies of the Nordic countries and how they might work in Australia. My guest, the Inaugural Convenor of the Nordic Policy Centre, Professor Andrew Scott has co-authored a new book titled the Nordic Edge. We discuss the topics in the book including climate and energy, work/life balance, the high Nordic taxes, gender equality, media diversity and more.
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Multi-talented artist and leader |Satu Vänskä, the Principal Violin of the Australian Chamber Orchestra
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Multi-talented Satu Vänskä, a fellow Finn, is the Principal Violin of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Her destiny was decided when she started playing the violin at the age of 3 while living in Japan. She studied and worked in Europe with world-leading classical musicians before moving to Australia in 2004.
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How COVID inspired a pivot from travel to recycling second-hand fashion|Minna Monaghan & Satu Raunola-Spencer
Nordic Insights
My guest is my friend and business partner, Minna Monaghan. COVID made us pivot from travel aviation consultancy business to open a recycling retail fashion store in Sydney. Minna and I set up our travel-aviation consultancy in 2017, representing AIRHELP air passenger rights company in APAC. The idea of VENLA was born at the end of 2020 to help to reduce fashion waste. We talk about the success of VENLA MOSMAN which has now enabled us to open VENLA BONDI, in Sydney.
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Pandora's box - insights of a multi-award winning business leader|Karin Adcock, Business Owner of Winmark Wines
Nordic Insights
Danish Karin Adcock has become a very successful award winning business leader and entrepreneur. Karin has gained in-depth knowledge of branding, marketing, distribution and franchising. This includes founding Pandora, a Danish jewellery brand in Australia and New Zealand. Karin has since transformed her career and runs Winmark Wines in the Hunter Valley. We discuss Karin’s journey to success, her vision and determination.
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How to prevent and/or cure diabetes|Dr. Miina Öhman, Scientist, Longevity Scout, Singapore
Nordic Insights
Diabetes has a long history in my family. It has made me curious to learn more about it and to research recent encouraging developments. I came across Dr Miina Öhman, a Singapore based Finn who has a strong desire to prevent and/or cure chronic diseases, including diabetes. We discuss her strong track record in academic research. She also gives us guidance on how to prevent, manage and even cure diabetes in some cases. We discuss her challenges as a Finn in working in multicultural environments.
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Building bridges between Nordic start-ups and South-East Asia|Sami Jääskeläinen, Community Director, Nordic Innovation House, Singapore
Nordic Insights
Sami Jääskeläinen runs Nordic Innovation House, a community platform for accelerating Nordic start-ups in the Singapore and South-East Asia region. Sami’s colourful career included being a professional chef and a team lead in a leading advertising company for iconic global brands. Sami now has a successful career as a Nordic start-up Community Director in Singapore. We discuss Sami’s experience of cultural differences working as a Nordic in Singapore and in collaborations with other Nordic colleagu
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Bringing Danish flair to Australia|Michael T Hansen, MD Nilfisk Pacific
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How has little Denmark able to bring over 600 brands in Australia? My guest, Michael T Hansen, the former Trade Commissioner of Denmark talks about why he thinks Danish design, cuisine, food products and livability concepts are now well known and desired in Australia.
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Solving problems that help people live better lives|Ari Tulla, Serial Entrepreneur, CEO, Board Member, Dad
Nordic Insights
Silicon Valley based entrepreneur Ari Tulla made a big jump from Finnish Nokia and the gaming industry to the healthcare industry in the USA. In 2011 he co-founded BetterDoctor, a comprehensive doctor data engine that powers the healthcare market to help people to navigate the complicated US healthcare system. BetterDoctor was very successfully acquired by Quest Analytics in 2018. We discuss Ari’s journey from a teen tech gig in Northern Finland to becoming a serious entrepreneur in SFO.
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Create your happiness in a Swedish way |Kajsa Humphreys, Health and Wellness Coach, The Swedish Solution
Nordic Insights
Nordics are well known to be some of the happiest peoples in the world. What do they do to make themselves happy? Kajsa Humphreys is a Sydney based Swedish Health and Fitness coach. Her business The Swedish Solution was born after she was feeling unhealthy and unhappy about her own life. She made some dramatic changes and decided to quit her successful corporate job and leave her marriage - at the same time. Kajsa talks about her journey as a single mum to become a very successful and happy entrepreneur. �
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It would be fabulous if you could predict the future, don't you agree? My guest Johnny Thorsen is a Global travel technology evangelist and futurist in the corporate travel and mobile world. He is a Dane and fellow Nordic based in California. Johnny has had an extremely impressive career within the travel, procurement and mobile world after living and working in 5 different countries in EMEA, APAC and now USA. He has been named twice as one of the 25 most influential people in the travel industry by Business Travel News (BTN). Firstly in 2010 as CEO and co-founder of conTgo, a UK-based startup acquired by Concur technologies and again in 2018 as VP of Strategy and Partnerships for his Mezi start-up. Johnny is also a strategic advisor for multiple other startups.
We talk about his successful journey to becoming a startup entrepreneur and industry leader. Johnny also talks about the process he uses to construct his predictions for the future of travel.
You will learn from Johnny how he
- created his start-up expertise
- built conTgo from a two man start-up to a global success
- has used Nordic characteristics to help him to be successful
- has built his know-how and experience to become a sought after futurist for the travel industry
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