Mindfulness at the office and working with sustainability in the new Hanken Magazine

Mindfulness and yoga have become popular methods today for people to find tranquility amidst the hectic tempo of everyday life. Now this meditation technique has entered Finnish working life.

In the USA, the application of mindfulness in the corporate world is more common, and it was there that Catarina Ahlvik discovered the phenomenon in 2012 whilst visiting Stanford University as a scholar. Ahlvik got to know Chade-Meng Tan, who developed a mindfulness programme for Google.

– It was like a glimpse from the future – I realised that this is where we are going, says Ahlvik, who defended her doctoral thesis at Hanken in August.

Also read an interview with Hanken alumnus Päivi Koivisto, who has been working with sustainability for over 20 years. Sustainability needs to be part of the strategy, she says.

– There are several studies showing how sustainable companies generally outperform those with less sustainable behaviour. Usually you need a longer-term perspective to see this, but it’s there. Today, investors typically look into environmental, social and governance matters, so more disclosure is required. For instance, investors often want to know how a company sees climate change affecting its operations 10 or 20 years in the future, says Päivi Koivisto.

The new issue of the Hanken Magazine will come to the readers after the postal strike. You can read the magazine online here.