Henri Hyppönen

Culture still eats strategies for lunch, and it's hungrier than ever

Henri Hyppönen more popularly known as "Henkka" in his home country Finland is a creative director, entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker and also a well known media personality in his native Finland.

He has been awarded the best comedy show in Finland (2014), science communication award (2015), radio host of the year (2000), and speaker of the year (2013).

But the awards are just the end results of something more interesting to him: the continuous exploration of ideas and strategies that make business and life interesting, inspiring and successful.

The passion Henkka has for challenging conventional thinking has been with him since he can remember. Whether writing a book, doing a television show, a keynote speech, article or whatever, his objective is to combine story telling, scientific research, creative thinking and engaging life-case examples to inspire, influence and challenge people to think differently.

Henkka has leveraged the broad experience he has gained through his life and work, whether it be as a TV and radio host, a business coach, a keynote speaker, an entrepreneur or a husband and a father, to gain insightful perspectives on many of the aspects that affect us daily. And give the premise to start this mind-set shift.

With his endless curiosity and intensity Henkka finds himself in demand as a keynote speaker and in helping companies challenge their thinking and change their behavior. He has become widely known for his ability to inspire, influence and challenge audiences to think differently and to acknowledge the "surprising truth".

Some of his more popular Keynotes include:

The Cost of Fear – and how to dismantle it
"Fear is so misunderstood that it makes me angry. So I spent 2 years and tried to dismantle this great emotion. Fear makes us stupid; it collapses group intelligence, prohibits explorative behavior and shrinks our personal and professional lives to an absolute minimal. I have a ‘bag' full of unexpected stories and strategies backed with facts and scientific research and findings, that anyone can use in their own life and business to succeed, especially when it is hard and when it counts the most."
Volatile times – and how to benefit from great change
"We have forgotten one thing; when the old rules of business were burnt, all the closed possibilities that were not there during predictable times, are open again. We get to (and it is our responsibility to) create what the future will be like. Never in business have small companies had the opportunity to fight with giants. Never before have we had the opportunity to go global, basically from our own sofa. There are unprecedented possibilities to big corporations too. They finally get to use their muscles to try out something new, to change and to face the next era of experience and people driven business."
Imagined vs. true limitations in life and business
"I have had an opportunity to work with one of the most original authors in Finland. Actually I know many original authors, but now I am talking about Miika Nousiainen, the author of the novel Hallonbåtsflyktingen. There is a character in one of his books that has come up with mathematical formula that proves that nothing is worthwhile, because the expected benefit is no better that choosing nothing at all. Even though I believe that this is true (try for yourself, do something unconventional and new, and see the first results), I want to challenge this thinking with every bone in my body. Yes it is true, that we still don’t have the statistics, best practices, history and certainly not the critics to back up our idea, it does not prove that it is impossible. We fall pray to a thinking that everything has been done already, or if it hasn´t been done, than it must be impossible. But there is a huge space yet to be discovered; full of ideas, resources and opportunities in between our imagined and true limitations, both personally and in the business world. I have been ‘unearthing' since I was 11 years old. And I have never stopped doing it."
Culture eats strategy for lunch
"I am a big fan of customer experience design. That is exactly what we do at ‘+1 Agency’, the company that I co-founded. Everything we do begins with the main character, the customer. But I´m also a big fan of employee experience. We´ve noticed that most of the time, it is impossible to deliver outstanding customer experience, if employee experience is more like Zappos and less like Mordor. Employee experience is based on the company culture. And it takes a hell of a strategy to surpass that. As an entrepreneur and company coach, I have built and crafted company cultures and strategies the way, that there is a real pull effect and a real chance of beating the competition."
Conventional is for dead people
"We have enough time to be over conservative and still when we are dead. You can ask this from people who are in the last stretch of their lives. Even if it is a cliché, they really do not regret the things they have done, but the things they did not do. All the opportunities they missed, all the original thoughts they kept to themselves, all the risks they did not take and all the life they chose not to live. To avoid the self-help discourse, I have been interested in what the individual people and companies do in order to push boundaries, find new territories and doing something unconventional. This is the best time in human history to apply new strategies like radical experimentation, intuition based projects, artistic approaches and really going beta."

Additional information:

Henkka has written four books. Sehän on ihan hyvä (2001), Kuinka se tehdään esiintyjänä (2005), Nautintaan raakana/Best enjoyed raw (2011), Pelon hinta/The Cost of Fear (2014)

He has founded several companies: including a production company, a research company and a concept store. After selling his production company, he worked as the creative director at Finlands biggest training and marketing company from 2005 to 2011. Where he helped clients with ideas and strategies to lead better, live better and do better business.