Conversations That Inspire

Today I talk with Hjalmar Ståhlberg Nordegren, co-founder and CEO at Karma Life, digital platform where restaurants, cafés and grocery stores can sell their surplus food and to customers for a discounted price before it expires. Picture a nice late lunch from a local restaurant for a nice discount. That's what Karma does to your mind and tummy. Hjalmar did not always work in tech. We discuss his change of direction from medicine doctor. I personally appreciated the openness of our conversation, with wide ranging topics covering deeper business insights, personal topics and other things dear to Hjalmar. Find more about Hjalmar and Karma on: karma.life Among other things, we discuss: - Description of the company Karma - How the company pivoted (identification, testing, deployment) - Removing pain points for their clients using their service - Current company status (numbers) and what numbers are important to the company - Karma’s target groups - What it’s like being CEO, learning skills on the go - The benefits of working with active investors - The benefits of crowd funding and how relevant it is for Karma - What he valued as a medical doctor - Why he has decided to work in tech for now - His first tech product, many years ago - The support he received from quitting medicine, and what that did for him - His stubborn mentality, and how it can benefit him - How to become good at public appearances - Being confortable saying silly things in front of others - What keeps him motivated - His long-term vision and crazy ideas - How he keeps up with tech trends (podcasts and tech sites) - The start-up ecosystem in Stockholm and Sweden. - Discussing SUP46 Startup house in Stockholm - The benefits of working in shared space offices - The benefits of the Swedish culture within startups - Shifting responsibilities within the company - Giving away areas of responsibility - Work – Life balance, “work is life balance” - The challenges of attracting talents. “Talent attracts talents”. - How they compete for talents with other companies. - The presence of stress in his life - Cherish boredom. - Crazy idea: watch a clock for one hour. Why? - What holds the Swedish healthcare back - Medical technology pitches start-ups and pitches - Common pitfalls of medical technology companies - The mystics of board meetings, what happens in there - The role of oversight of the board at that stage - Who gets to sit on the board - What they look for in board members

Today I talk with Ulla Munch, Danish lyric mezzo-soprano. I first got to know about Ulla as a strong women who overcame a terrible accident and found a new career, new meaning in life. We talk about many aspects of being a professional performer, her career, current projects and general life advice. Ulla today runs a coaching business in the area of public performance. - Her first time singing in front of a large audience - Using sport psychology in art performance - “You sing beautifully, but you look so boring!” and how she solved that - The components of a good performance - Passing emotions from the singer to the audience (including worry) - An audience also can get very stressed - Smiling cheats the brain - Book “Upward Spiral” by Alex Korb PhD - Research “The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation” by Amy Cuddy - Body language - Practicing owning your personal space in the street - Being an introvert/being an extrovert - A week in the life of a musician - Practicing alone with one’s instrument - Being on stage in from of a large audience - Building the bridge from being alone to being the center of attention at a concert - The pressures for musicians at key points of their career - Strategies for mental training - The role of talent - Talent and competition - How winning an audition is different from winning at sports - Artists are judged on some subjective criteria - Being in the moment Vs being with your phone at a concert - “You are lucky as a musician if you love to practice” - The purpose of deadlines and concerts as motivators - How she got into music. Her family wanted something else for her. - Living in the USA - Her first auditions - The role of practicing in community - The role of mentors - The compatibility between mentor and singer - The American approach to being a professional performer - Her whiplash accident, an how it changed her life - How whiplash limited her capabilities - Identity crisis when she could not sing anymore - Low points, depression - Her strive to being an independent worker - What practical steps she took to get out of depression - The benefits of walking and cycling - How walking enabled successes in her life - Meditation - Power naps - Calming her “electric” body and the mind - Deliberate practice: look back and identify things to improve for the future - Using mentors, hiring mentors - Benefits of working with younger professionals - Finding middle grounds, not be black an white - Getting back control on life - Improve a little every day goes a long way - Doing now what she thought she would do at 60 years old

Today I talk with Ashley Scrace, great British singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist (seriously, check him out again if you have not yet. Links are at the bottom). In this episode that we recorded last year, we also talk about the EP (music album) he was working on. It is now out (links below) Among other things, we discuss: - The challenges of producing his record - His creative process - Adversity in life has fuelled his creativity - Inception of the EP (album) - The artist community, network and how it is self supporting - Who he primarily writes for (spoiler: himself) - Is being true to oneself compatible with pleasing an audience? - Motivation for working on his EP (album) - His first steps in music at a young age - Self-confidence and shyness as a singer getting on stage - His recipe to deal with stage fright - Healing through writing and singing Find more about Ashley on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/45MYSPvIWnaa2onzdU4U7g Bandcamp: https://ashleyscrace.bandcamp.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyscracemusic/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-nqBe7HnA01QFh9cruYI2A