Hi Ola, welcome to the team!
Why do you find working with sustainability interesting?
To me, there really isn’t a more important issue. Without a functioning environment, we risk not only our survival, but also losing so much beauty and so many things that can only truly be experienced in real life. I also believe that, as humans, we are quite hardwired to need a relationship with nature.
Of course, it’s about future generations, but if I’m honest, there’s also a certain selfishness to it. I want to be able to keep skiing, hiking, and swimming in clean seas. I simply don’t want the world as it is to disappear.
With my background in marketing, I’ve also seen how communication and sludge can be used to sell rubbish, or things no one really needs. That’s why it feels so meaningful to instead use that same knowledge for the opposite, to help people make the right choice.
What made you interested in nudging and behavioral science in the first place?
Over the years I’ve worked at the intersection of technology, product, and communication, and seen how much human behaviour is shaped by how choices are designed. The step to nudging therefore felt close.
I’ve realised that sustainability is too complex to be solved by laws, politics, or individual choices alone. We need to work on several levels at once, and I often feel this is where the debate gets stuck and turns into “whataboutism”.
Nudging makes complete sense to me as a tool, because it’s based on how people actually function, our habits, instincts, and drivers. I believe it’s easier to create long-term change when you work with human behaviour rather than against it.
What do you bring to the organization?
I think I can help connect the whole chain, from user needs, through product and service development, to solutions that ultimately lead to more sustainable behaviour. I can also contribute creative and technical problem-solving, where I enjoy turning challenges over to find smarter ways to develop the platform. As a colleague, I think I bring a clear can-do attitude, someone who likes to drive things forward and solve problems.
What’s your favorite nudge, and why?
I’ve only just started, so I have a lot more to learn, but spontaneously I’m drawn to the nudges that make the right choice the easy one, without much deliberation. One example I’ve found striking is setting green electricity as the default option when signing an energy contract, you have to actively opt out if you don’t want it. In a German study, this increased the share of people choosing renewable energy nearly tenfold.
It’s fascinating when you only realise afterwards that you were influenced to do something differently than you normally would have. When a nudge makes the right behaviour feel natural, that’s when it works best.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Lately, a lot of my free time has gone into renovating together with my wife, so it feels really good that everything at home has finally just been finished. It’s been more than one renovation project over the past few years.
Now I’m looking forward to having more time for the things I enjoy, being with family and friends, taking our Labrador Kite for walks, working out, cooking, going to concerts, and, whenever the chance comes, skiing and snorkelling.
Welcome to Nudgd, Ola!
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