Summa & Friends: Recent Episodes
Summa Equity
This is Summa & Friends, the podcast for people with the courage to care for a wiser future.
Listen to unique leaders and experts exploring the challenges we are facing and revealing their stories about the solutions and how to get there.
Food is the medicine we put in our mouths everyday, yet on average, we all cook just 12 recipes per year, says Kees Kruythoff, former President for the Global Home Care division for Unilever, former CEO of LIVEKINDLY Collective, now Thematic Chair for Sustainable Food for Summa Equity. But if we want to build a sustainable food system, one that works for everyone, globally, we should start by changing at least one of our recipes to something plant based.
The world's biggest hunger, says Kees, is currently for climate change and inequality, but there's one system which desperately needs our attention, and the moment you see it, you can’t unsee it, and that’s our food and agriculture system.
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Kees, Reynir and Vesna discuss the very real need to transform the global food system, and why the ultimate force to address these challenges is through business.
To find out more, download and listen to this latest episode.
On today’s podcast:
- Our food system is destroying the planet
- What we can learn from Paul Polman
- The evolution in the food industry
- Food is our medicine
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If you really want to form a high-performing team, says Stefan Beiten, entrepreneur, lawyer, film producer and public speaker, one that’s normative, collaborative, and takes accountability on all levels, you need conscious leadership.
“To move consciously from the I to the We and utilize the collective wisdom and collective intelligence that gives us, whether that's in your own organization or in the local community, or on a high level, if we are able to do that, we can solve a lot of the problems we are facing today.”
To find out more about conscious leadership, download and listen to this latest episode of Summa & Friends.
On today’s podcast:
- Become the awareness behind your thoughts
- How to create a conscious organization
- Finding your Argonauts
- It all starts with trust and purpose
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We're not formed as one individual with no ability to change, says Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at Wharton and best-selling international author, we can retrain, we can all grow and change, we can all find our hidden potential. The question is, what do we need to do to bring out the best in ourselves and those around us?
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Adam discusses boundary setting, why we need a network of disagreeable givers, why we need to ask for advice rather than feedback, and why his ultimate passion is self improvement.
“Steve Jobs understood the value of a challenge network, he surrounded himself with disagreeable givers who saw a better way to advance the mission, even though it conflicted with Jobs’ vision, and, hey, if you could challenge Steve Jobs, you could probably challenge anyone.”
To find out more, download and listen to this episode today.
On today’s podcast:
- The importance of setting boundaries
- How to create a culture of radical transparency
- Build a network of disagreeable loyalists
- How to elevate yourself and others
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If your workplace is all love and hallelujah, says Gianpiero Petriglieri, Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, and one of the 50 most influential management thinkers in the world, then it’s a cult. If you want your organization to be high performing, you need some friction and debate, because we can’t always be real and feel good.
“My passion is this idea of humanizing leadership, of making space for all that is messy and contradicting and complicated in people and in the systems they inhabit.”
Real leadership, says Gianpiero, is caring about people and bringing them to life in a way that isn’t just efficient, but is sustainable. How can we help each other? How do we hold each other up? How do we support and challenge each other as we build the kinds of organizations that we want to build, not just to invest in, but to live in.
To find out more, download and listen to this episode of Summa & Friends.
On today’s podcast:
- Put your people before purpose
- The need to be able to shift pace
- What makes a leader in our times
- How to become a better leader
- Don’t let anyone call you a future leader
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Norway plans to be a low carbon economy by 2050, but the transition to get there keeps getting delayed, says Martin Skancke, Chairman of the Norwegian government's commission on transition to a low carbon economy, and Chairman of PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) and board member in several companies.
We’re thinking too short term, says Martin, we aren’t looking at a long time horizon and therefore we’re increasing the risk as we run out of time. What needs to happen is for all stakeholders to connect the bigger picture with their plan for how to get there.
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Martin discusses where his passion and deep commitment to help resolve the climate crisis came from, what managers of listed equities can learn from managers of private equity in terms of addressing corporate governance issues, before delving into his work around Norway’s transition to a low carbon economy.
“We started at the opposite end, we started by incentivising everyone to buy their own electric car, and we'll find that policy will be difficult to reverse. But if we had thought more systematically about a solution that has a natural place in 2050, we would have maybe thought about it differently.”
To find out more, download and listen to this episode.
On today’s podcast:
- Developing a passion to resolve the climate crisis
- Norway’s transition to a low carbon economy
- The global institutional failure to find a solution
- The risk side of transitioning too late
- Why the world needs more climate policy action
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We need strong private equity leaders to tackle the current challenges in the private equity investing space, says Tanya Carmichael, systems thinker, private equity investor, and return-on-impact advisor for ESG in PE & Pension Funds. And that leadership has to be authentic and genuine, inclusive and open.
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Tanya discusses how investment leaders can amplify their impact, how they can leverage holistic systems thinking to embed ESG initiatives in their private equity investing, and how they’ll be rewarded for their efforts both now and in the reimagined future.
“People love being part of the solution and being part of this. A lot of leaders I see are worried about this uncharted territory. It's important that leaders just admit: ‘I don't know how to get there and we need to do this together’.”
To find out more, download and listen to this latest episode, and read more about Tanya here: www.tanyacarmichael.com
On today’s podcast:
- The convergence of challenges
- How leaders of a reimagined future will be rewarded
- How to navigate unchartered territory
- Global problems need collaborative solutions
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Over 20% of Europe’s CO2 emissions are a result of a linear economy, a number which can be reduced by 55% if we transition to a circular economy, says Bertrand Camus, former CEO of French multinational utility company SUEZ, now partner at Summa Equity.
But that’s not the only reason to make the change… Moving to a circular economy has a potential value creation opportunity of between EUR 1-2 trillion, not to mention all the jobs that go along with that.
And given the size and magnitude of what needs to be achieved to get there, there is room for anyone who wants to play a role in this great journey we need to embark on. So, how can you get involved?
To learn more about Summa’s work in waste management, and to hear Bertrand discuss the theory of change, and reveal the massive opportunities that lie in the circular economy, download and listen to this episode today.
“It's one of the most fantastic investment opportunities that I've seen, where you can really invest to create value and create jobs, and address the resource problem that we have, and the climate change issues and CO2 emissions that we have.”
On today’s podcast:
- What the future looks like
- Understanding the theory of change
- The opportunities in a circular economy
- What needs to be done to make circularity a reality in Europe
Links:
- https://summaequity.com/readings/eu-circular-markets-could-be-worth-eur-1.5tn-by-2040-and-save-650-mt-co2e-per-year
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The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted 17 broad problem areas for which the world needs to find solutions.
Investors that don’t recognise that they should look at the macro picture, who don’t have an idea about how these 17 problems will develop, and factor that in both on the risk side of their investing but also on the opportunity side, will underperform as investors going forward.
So, says Carsten Stendevad, co-CIO for sustainability at Bridgewater, if you really and truly care about sustainability, have you considered rethinking the way you invest, and starting again from scratch in order to create sustainable portfolios you can be proud of?
To find out more, download and listen to this latest episode of Summa & Friends.
On today’s podcast:
- Starting again from scratch
- Setting net zero targets into the macro picture
- Do sustainable portfolios deliver the same returns?
- How Bridgewater chose their key ESG metrics
- What does the sustainable future hold?
How do you make your money? Does your business have morals? The world is changing, says Alison Taylor, Clinical Professor at NYU Stern School of Business and Executive Director at Ethical Systems. People care, consumers care, employees care, everyone has started caring more. And if you want to futureproof your organization, you need to put morals back into it.
It's not about how much money a company makes now, it's about how you make your money, and who wins and who loses while you’re doing that.
A company needs to grow and make profit to survive, says Alison, that is not a debatable point. Just as human beings need a beating heart to survive. But a human being does not exist solely to be a vehicle for its beating heart, in the same way your company can no longer solely make profit to survive, you need to find another reason to exist.
To find out more, download and listen to this episode of Summa & Friends.
On today’s podcast:
- Why ESG and sustainability are not the same thing
- Is ESG a moral issue?
- How to do governance - best practice advice
- The future for ESG
- The problem of ethics and morals with ESG
Imagine playing a video game where data about you in the moment is being collected with sensor technology, performance metrics, emotional responses, body movements, brain activity. And this is all used in real time to guide the environment you're experiencing, personalizing both the challenges and rewards to improve your cognition.
No, this isn’t the plot of a sci-fi movie.
We’re in the midst of a cognition crisis and experiences are a powerful way of changing our brain, says Adam Gazzaley, neuroscientist, neurologist, inventor, author, photographer, entrepreneur, investor, and creator of the first ever digital medicine, and the first ever FDA cleared digital treatment for children with ADHD.
In this incredible episode of Summa & Friends, Adam explains why the cognition crisis is getting worse on a global scale, especially for our children, and why his digital medicine was born out of a frustration at the lack of research and treatment that we as a species should have developed by now.
To find out more, download and listen.
On today’s podcast:
- What is digital medicine and who is it for?
- What is the cognition crisis
- Why we need a multi-modal approach to improving cognition
- The enduring nature of experiential medicine
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Sir Ronald (Ronnie) Cohen, a preeminent philanthropist, venture capitalist, private equity investor, and impact pioneer is driving the global Impact Revolution. Ronnie's nearly two decades of initiatives in impact investment have catalyzed global efforts towards social and environmental good, through business and investment.
With advances in technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, Ronnie says the impact revolution has never been more possible. The fact that technology allows for granular measurement of a company's impact in monetary terms, is truly a game-changer for impact transparency.
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Ronnie explains why the impact revolution will see a huge acceleration in the coming years, and how businesses can optimize to ensure risk, return, and impact are balanced.
To find out more, download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
- What is the impact revolution?
- How to accelerate the translation to impact economies
- From social investment to impact economies
- Don’t confuse impact investing with philanthropy
- Make impact the center of your focus
Why does it matter that we learn to navigate failure? Because, says Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School and author of global bestseller, Psychological Safety, and soon, her upcoming book The Right Kind of Wrong: The science of failing well, the only mistake we make in this life is not trying.
“We live in a time of increasing uncertainty and interdependence. Either one of those factors creates the inevitability of some failures along the way. So we have to learn to manage them and navigate them.”
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Amy explores the difference between mistakes and failures, the importance of failure for innovation, the value of honest feedback, and more importantly, the need for humans to be open to failure.
Not a single one of us is infallible, says Amy, it is possible to thrive as a fallible human being.
To find out more, download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
- The difference between mistakes and failures
- Why failure can be strategic
- Navigating the ladder of inference
- How to increase organizational psychological safety
- The importance of a growth mindset
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Collaboration is key to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says John W McArthur, co-founder and co-chair of 17 Rooms, an innovative method for advancing helping people take the Sustainable Development Goals into their own hands, driving action through cooperation at all scales of community.
Right now, says John, while positive progress is being made on some of the SDGs, elsewhere others are going sideways, and some are even going backwards.
“The only way to make them go positive is to get all the stakeholders together into the same room and discuss the theory of change, how to get there, and how we collaborate to get there.”
To learn more about the 17 Rooms initiative, a partnership between the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and The Rockefeller Foundation, or to find out how you can get involved, don’t miss John, Reynir and Vesna on this episode of Summa & Friends.
On today’s podcast:
- The basic essence of 17 Rooms
- Why businesses should lean in and lead on SDGs
- How to end extreme poverty
- Why the world needs trust and hope right now
How do you lead despite ambiguity in the world of sustainable investing? That’s the question Zoe Bulger, Impact Manager at Summa Equity is discussing on this episode of Summa & Friends.
With more traditional actors entering the Impact ESG space, and lots of regulatory movement as well, Zoe shares some of the challenges and shifts defining this moment
With a background in the social sector focused on supporting mission-oriented founders and organizations, Zoe’s role at Summa is all about integrating impact ESG across the investment process and across portfolio companies, as well as the reporting side of it.
On today’s podcast:
- The challenges and shifts defining this moment in impact investing
- How do you stay the course despite the ambiguity of regulation?
- What’s the impact of Article 9?
- What is a theory of change and how does it work?
If you focus on trying to change the lives of just five people it will bring you meaning, says Roberto Verganti, Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics, and Design Theory and Practice at the Harvard Business School, but you won’t bring about much change on a large scale.
But, if every one of the eight billion humans living on this planet changes the lives of five people, we can change the world.
“I really believe that change is connected to human relationships and especially intimate human relationships. A few people who interact well can give you a lot of meaning.”
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Roberto explains why reframing is the most advanced leadership skill we can possess, and how learning this skill can not just improve us as individuals, but it can enhance organizations, and it can even change the world.
To find out more, download and listen to this latest episode.
On today’s podcast:
- Why reframing is the most advanced leadership skill
- The myths of leadership
- How to connect reframing with sustainability
- How AI is helping people create new things
- Making choices to design your life work
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Are you paying enough attention to the future needs of your children? Your grandchildren? That is the question driving Conor Kehoe, Chair of the IIRC Council, Senior Adviser and former Senior Partner at Mckinsey & Company.
Striving to make integrated reporting and accounting practices mainstream, Conor is concerned that while Millennials are in the driving seat, demanding corporations have a positive purpose, are they themselves doing enough to influence politicians.
On this episode of Summa & Friends, Conor joins Reynir and Vesna to discuss why we urgently need a common standard on sustainable reporting. Because the only way you can be certain change is happening, and that we’re heading in the right direction, is if you measure and report on it and keep everyone accountable for it.
To find out more about Conor’s work with creating this common standard for integrated reporting and accounting, and the work of the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS), download and listen to this episode.
On today’s podcast:
- Why integrated reporting and accounting needs to become mainstream practices
- The benefits of impact investing and sustainability reporting
- How to create a global set of standards
- Why younger generations need to get more politically involved
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With COP 27 just around the corner, what really is sustainable development and what does the world need most right now to achieve it?
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway, and chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, known as the Brundtland Commission, which produced the The Brundtland Report, explores this very topic on Summa & Friends.
From how she achieved full consensus with the Brundtland Commission, to why we need to focus on the social aspects of sustainability, and what’s holding us back from reaching sustainable development, Gro is frank and honest about how we as individuals, as companies, as nations, need to unite and collaborate to save the world.
This is a truly inspirational episode with an incredible woman. Download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
- Achieving consensus with the Brundtland Commision
- The social aspect of sustainability
- The lack of mandate at the World Bank and IMF
- Why the speed of change is slow
- What the world needs now is unity
Having taken over the helm of the family business, LGT, in 2006, H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein founded LGT Venture Philanthropy in 2007 and subsequently Lightrock, a pioneering impact investment firm.
But what drove this prominent member of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, a family that has been entrepreneurial for centuries, to focus so heavily on impact investing?
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Prince Max shares his passions, his transformational moments, and how he’s progressed LGT in so many ways on its broader journey to sustainability.
So, if you’re curious how impact investing can help make the world a better place, and what one small thing you can do today to bring about change, download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
- The values of the princely family
- Integrating sustainability into LGT
- Transforming philanthropy through a venture capital model
- Lightrock - sustainable capitalism
- The world needs a win-win mindset
They say be the change you want to see in the world. And one year ago, Tariq Fancy, a former Wall Street investor turned nonprofit founder, wrote an essay sharing how he had gone from evangelizing sustainable investing for the world's largest investment firm, BlackRock, to actually criticizing sustainable investing as a dangerous placebo that harms the public interest.
In doing so, he challenged business leaders to prove him wrong.
In this episode of Summa & Friends, Tariq, the CEO of Rumie Initiative, an education tech company using innovative mobile based micro learning to bring free digital learning and to close learning gaps, explains why he did this. He shares why he sounded the alarm. What reactions he got from those in the investment community. And what impact his manifesto actually made.
So, if you’re curious how we might reform capitalism to address important environmental and social challenges with concrete action, download and listen today.
On today’s podcast:
- Calling investment firms’ bluff on ESG efforts
- The need for government regulation
- Sparking the debate and rocking the boat
- Difference between ESG and impact
- Changing the narrative
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Conscious capitalism is the new way of doing business. But how can it create better leaders, better business, and a better world?
In this episode of Summa & Friends, founding member and global leader of the Conscious Capitalism movement, and author of The Healing Organisation, Raj Sisodia, shares insights on what conscious capitalism is and how it can help us build a better world.
So, if you’re looking for a way to improve your leadership, improve your organisation, and take people to a better place, download and listen to this episode.
On today’s podcast:
- Building a better world that works for all
- The difficulty of shifting mindsets
- Examples of companies performing conscious capitalism
- Business as a place of healing
- What the world needs most
Summa Equity has multiple points of differentiation from other private equity firms, not least in that they deliver great returns in a sustainable way, powered by the right cultural values.
But what are the right cultural values, and why is it so important to define behaviour?
On this episode of Summa & Friends, early investor in Summa, Mirja Lehmler-Brown, founding Managing Director and Partner at Hayfin Capital Management Private Equity, explains why values, behaviour and culture build better private equity businesses.
But more importantly, she shares advice for how you can create the culture you want.
Download and listen to find out more.
On today’s podcast:
- The decision to invest in Summa
- Why values, behaviour and culture build better businesses
- Creating a fun culture at work
- Why diverse mindset delivers value
- Do culture due diligence
Righting everything that’s going wrong in the world isn’t one person’s responsibility, says Harvard Business School Professor, George Serafeim, the rockstar of ESG. We all have a responsibility to try to bring about good outcomes for society, both environmentally and socially.
So how can purpose and profit in business go hand in hand? And what can large companies and publicly listed firms do to instill a sense of purpose in every employee across the corporation? What actually is ESG? And why did Elon Musk recently debunk it?
To find out all this and more, download and listen to Summa & Friends.
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Private equity firms aren’t renowned for helping solve some of society’s most pressing problems: extreme weather events, acute food and water insecurity, biodiversity loss, and economic and social instability, but then most companies that operate in this industry aren’t global investment firm, EQT.
Don’t miss CEO and Managing Partner of EQT, Christian Sinding, on this episode of Summa & Friends, discussing how EQT are actively working towards closing the saying/doing gap by setting their purpose to help future proof companies and make a positive impact.
To find out more, download and listen.
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Climate change, social inequality, resource inefficiency - these aren’t the problems a select few individuals face… These imminent global challenges are going to impact all of us, if we don’t act now.
So, asks Reynir Indahl, founder of private equity firm Summa Equity, do you have the courage to care about a wiser future?
In this inaugural episode of Summa & Friends, Reynir invites listeners to join him in addressing the most pressing of challenges. We need to stop thinking in terms of ‘me’, says Reynir, and start thinking in terms of ‘we’. Because we’re all in this together. And you don’t have to suffer financially or socially to optimize for the planet.
How can a private equity firm make a difference to climate change? And what can you do to play your part? Download and listen to find out.
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