Episode 61
Redefining Professional Identity: Jøril Korperud Johnsen on Leaving IKEA & Embracing New Paths
Meet Jøril Korperud Johnsen, a seasoned leader with 25 years' experience in leadership, innovation, and sustainability. Discover her journey from being the head of sustainability at IKEA Norway to establishing her own company, Fremvekst.
Join us in this conversation where Jøril raises important questions like:
What kind of world could we co-create, if each of us felt more nurtured, more part of rather than disconnected from ourselves, organizations and systemic communities?
What kind of community could we weave together if we were all more present, felt more whole, seen, heard and loved?
How do we reclaim nature within us and around us in our modern urbanized life?
Key Highlights:
- A Female Perspective: Continuing the trend of featuring influential women who are making a mark in their respective fields.
- The Origins: Jøril's background, including her significant contributions at IKEA Norway and her evolution as a fifth-generation citizen of Oslo.
- Transitioning from IKEA: What prompted Jøril to make the leap? The inspirations and challenges faced during her transition.
- Regenerative Leadership with Laura Storm: Delving deeper into her association and learnings from this global network of leaders.
- Identity Beyond Profession: Jøril's take on professional identity, and how she navigated her personal evolution post-IKEA.
- Sustainability - Inside and Out: The growing focus on inner sustainability, its significance, and Jøril's views on the Inner Development Goals.
- The Magic Wand Question: What Jøril would change instantly in the business world, given the chance.
- Additional Resources:
- Learn more about the B Corp Movement
- Inner Development Goals Catalysts: Delve deeper into this transformative approach to personal and professional growth.
- Laura Storm's Regenerative Leaders Network: Understand more about this global initiative and its impact.
Connect with Jøril:
- LinkedIn: Jøril Korperud Johnsen
If you're looking to make a shift in your own career, go ahead and book a chat, and I'll help you in every way that I can!
Transcript
Jøril Johnsen
[:and I'm trying to figure out how we can all live good lives, have exciting jobs. And at the same time, take good care of the planet and everyone living here. I want to unlock the superpower. So everyday people so that together we can, co-create a future. We're all excited about. So come join me on this journey. The future is up to us, and I know that we can make it a good one
ny, I call repurpose you. It [:Microphone (HyperX Quadcast)-6: But now. Let's get to know this week's guest
n with another woman who has [:Jøril has 25 years of experience in leadership, innovation and sustainability. And she was previously head of sustainability at Ikea Norway. Today Jøril runs her own company, Fremvekst, a change agency that strengthens businesses on their journey of responsibility individually and collectively. As a chief ecosystem facilitator, she's on a journey searching for new meaningful assignments. She is an associate partner in corporate good and board member of the startup company. We, me facilitators and of the association relate to change. Yeah. It has a strong commitment to both internal and external sustainability. She's trained as a B leader by B Corp Nordics and is one of the first in their development goals catalysts in [00:03:00] Norway. She's also part of Laura storms. global network of regenerative leaders.
Veslemøy: So finally, welcome to Stories for the Future Jøril. It's so great to finally have you here and we had some hiccups, uh, leading up to the, with planning, but finally we're here. So welcome.
Jøril: Thank you Veslemøy. It's, uh, super, uh, exciting and, uh, honor to to be together, uh, with you and, uh, the important matters of, uh, capturing stories for the future.
le have made in order to get [:Jøril: Hmm.
Track 1: How did you do the leap?
Jøril: Oh, that's a long story. Uh, it's uh, it's almost a lifetime. You could say 25 years. I'm, uh, at the stage now where I'm standing midlife. So if you look back, uh, in the call of being an active, stubborn optimist, also being very driven of doing better, uh, creating better with people and for people 25 years is sort of, uh, A long line of, uh, uh, work life, um,
Track 1: Hmm.
Jøril: and for me, uh, meeting ikea.
[:And, uh, then you can say, why did I take a leap? I think that, uh, having the opportunity to really then, uh, create a better everyday life for the many with people, and also being part of a retail industry that had changed enormously, uh, uh, through those. 25 years also now standing on a leap where you meet both an environmental, social, and economical challenges from, from a worldview, but also from a, from a human view.
[:Choices. That also made me consider why, uh, I would change, uh, or close, uh, a door or go, go out of the revolving door, uh, in the Ikea, uh, assessment, so to say.
Veslemøy: Mm-hmm.
Jøril: I think there are many reasons of that. Ikea have had a, I have had a privilege of working both nationally and globally with, um, huge, um, responsibility.
f actually then working with [:Throughout the whole pipeline in the industry, but also inside and outside the company. So, so finding out, uh, after a huge transformational process to, to understand should I stay or should I go, um, is also bringing me back to the choices, as you say, uh, but am I thankful of being able to contribute with, and if I leap, uh, 20 years, uh, forward, where would I then continue to be thankful for, for making changes? And I think that were my. My [00:08:00] moral ground or breaking point to really understand now it's time to also close one door, to open a new chapter to see also how can I actually contribute with the wisdom and knowledge that I have so when it became clear, really clear that now time to to, to close that door,
Track 1: so I have this image that I use all the time that when you, you kind of, you Close that one door, and then you have, you stand there in a long corridor with a lot of doors. So then you're in no man's land for a while. So what did you do? What did you spend some time thinking? Uh, did you jump into something? What did you do then?
-:But we made a clear stand together. So when it were clear, it were, uh, Kind of celebrating moment. Say that it has been a long, uh, relationship and I wish you good luck and we wish you good luck and we supporters of each other, uh, as a brand, as, um, Uh, as an individual and when that were clear, said, uh, I were really then ready to conquer the world again, sort of because I had the super grounded feeling, uh, that I were safe, I were protected, but I was also ready to take the next.
, my goal, sort of. Uh, so I [:Uh, who am I, uh, in the new territory, uh, where do I belong and where I, where can I really then contribute with, uh, My experiences and I, my belief system. So that's where the strategy of, of consciousness that I also made as a permission or a, um, commitment to myself that don't rush.
Time, uh, to actually pause and then sense into, to what is happening, why is it happening, and.
and commitment and passion, [:Track 1: Yeah. So be, because this is . And, and this is of course, very different for different people that, uh, often it's so easy to to think about, oh, I, I see that is my place to be like, oh, I should be there. But you, you, you rush into it without kind of thinking through just the practical things. Also, what does that job really entail?
What, what would I do from day to day? So I, I think it's, um, we should allow ourselves to test a
little bit or to scout
at, as you said, so, but that's of course often a financial
question for people like you
have to go. That's how society is build up, unfortunately. But uh, yeah.
-:Track 1: Yeah.
-:Is it based on what you do or who you are? And I think here also if you say that we need to re um, raise the human consciousness, we cannot. Solve the problems with the same thinking as we created them. As Albert Albert Einstein said
Track 1: Hmm.
-:And one of the greatest challenges is mass consumption. And I have also been, even though if my . If [00:13:00] my parents. Lived today, I would prob they would probably be seen as quite sustainable, pioneer, sort of how they capture the value of their family life. How I also were able to grow up.
Track 1: Yeah.
-:So I believe that this chapter, Where I also took a conscious choice as a employee, as a mother, as a citizen. To also see that is there other ways, is also a learning exercise to, to understand what this mean to fully live life centered and what is life centered based on also being more. Close to your inner [00:14:00] nature in connecting it with nature as such, and what does actually means.
Me and them. So there are many, and it's not to say it's easy, it's super hard, it's super frustrating. Uh, I've been part of, in one hand you need, I'm a safety rider, and in the one hand I'm a super challenger provoker that, that create new path. And in that Alchemist dance, You also need or has, I have been used to being part of a big crowd or, or a nurturing culture with a lot of people, stakeholders.
But suddenly you are, or I am in a territory now where I consciously have chosen to go out in a field where I'm not part of a tribe sort of.
Track 1: Yeah,
-:Track 1: yeah. And that, that is a very good, uh, segue into my next question because Uh, I'm very, uh, focused on, or I think a lot about our professional identity because I feel that when people, uh, change careers,
that is all . Often a, a, hindrance, I think. Uh, and I, I use myself an ex as an example, when I left oil and gas and thinking that the paralyzing thought of, okay, if I'm not a geophysicist, who am I?
um, it's very scary you came [:So how did you deal with that?
-:Track 1: Mm-hmm.
-:Uh, and uh, in that sense you build credibility and also the, the possibility to to influence, uh, people and business transformation. Uh, and closing that door and opening a new door, entering the sustainability arena, were the first [00:17:00] encounter where I also then had to consider the identity.
Track 1: Mm.
-:I wear the new kid in black.
Track 1: Yeah. Yeah.
-:All patterns, new patterns in terms of leadership, and I [00:18:00] think that also, uh, enabled me to also, uh, feeling more safe when I also then, uh, close the door and encounter a new territory outside ikea, even though that. I'm now in a consultant business and also in a, in the sustainability era. Um, you can say that I'm a, I'm a sustainable enthusiast or imperfect sustainability, uh, enthusiast, but I am also an inner, so I encounter both the inner dimension and the outer dimension.
say that I have a integrity [:Track 1: Mm.
-:Track 1: Yeah.
-:We also need to invite, uh, the diversity or voices in.
Track 1: Yes.
-:Track 1: Hmm.
-:I invite in, but I also probably need to invite myself in, not for my own sake of my own ego to be recognized, but in the sake of creating for the society or the systems. I believe that we need to change.
Track 1: , I think it's so important you bring in with your Your experiences, uh, and the whole, um, you, the professional and the personal, you from IKEA and from your experience. Uh, background. And I think a lot about that when it comes to people, for instance, transitioning out of fossil fuel industries that we're not, we're not to say that, okay, now you go from that. And then you become this because we, we love putting people in these boxes,
but instead, like [:from fossil fuel being an engineer for instance. And then you go into this and you bring with you all your experiences and your skills and knowledge from where you come from.
So it's not like you, you put yourself into a new box. You kind of integrate everything that you are
from before.
-:Then you have a huge motivation then to transition to a new, uh, niche or a new arena, that it's not based on the same knowledge matter, I think in the world we live today, we need to understand which skills and capabilities do we need.
[:Track 1: mm.
-:And then it's back to skills that are more generic. Uh, that, that for me also became clear that. I have skills matter and experience leading in both people and business transitions. I've done it in several knowledge matters, and I have a motivation and drive to create better
Track 1: Yeah.
-:Track 1: [00:23:00] mm-hmm.
-:Track 1: Yeah. So I know that you focus a lot about both outer and inner sustainability and there is, luckily, or it's a good thing that it, there is a growing attention around the inner part
and many initiatives are, are Coming, coming up, like the inner development goals,
for instance. So maybe you can just share a little bit around this and, and your views
on the importance of this.
-:Being a caterpillar, piglet replied. You mean to die? Who said yes and no? He answer. What look like you will die, but you will really live on
Track 1: So true.
-:Track 1: Yeah.
-:Track 1: Yeah.
-:Track 1: Mm
-:Track 1: hmm.
-:I think that's beautiful.
Track 1: It's, it's all, it's all about changes,
I think, and embracing change.
Yeah.
-:Track 1: Hmm.
-:if I am in the world. As the world are today that we have, we have never been more stressed. Psychological illness has never been, uh, a world disease as it is today.
Track 1: Yeah.
-:Track 1: Hmm.
-:Uh, as we decided for, what kind of skills and capabilities we need? On the inner and a collective individual and collective led level to really then, reach the sustainable development goals.
e, the need for these skills [:j-ril-korperud-johnsen_1_09-13-2023_100914: Hmm, that's a good question. I think we are on the learning path where we, where we as both individual consultants, businesses are exploring, um, uh, and learning as we go to, to bring clarity into the, to arenas where really need change. Uh, I think. One of the activities that have we have done is then to also establish a catalyst on the local market.
So I can say now you have a network correlation that, that with individuals that, that find the cause of being. Inspir in our local, uh, on the local soil or on the local ground, to, to invite people in to understand what is this really about to explore? Uh, what does inner development means?
Track 1: Yeah.
-:Track 1: Mm.
-:Um, I think only the six last months where there has been a lot of, uh, awareness building, but also engagement of and learning that has also brought new opportunities. Uh, in existing businesses. So you have and, uh, as an example now, uh, individuals that work in bigger organization that have looked at their d n now to, to find out, okay, uh, what is this really and how can we actually then integrate it in existing systems?
Track 1: Hmm.
-:And I think there is one interesting, and they have a D N R that is also built on Cocreation. So there, so there is a, as a global cocreation, movement, you can say,
Track 1: Mm
-:So you have to work on both, both sectors sort of.
Track 1: Mm.
-:If you don't have the being power, How are you then capable of the caring power?
: Hmm. True.[:j-ril-korperud-johnsen_1_09-13-2023_100914: Oh, that's advice. Uh, it's a big question.
Track 1: Yes.
-:Track 1: Mm-hmm.
-:So in that dialogue, uh, in Arnold, I also said that, that the busyness of Arnold is super busy. So with the curiosity to say that if you pause Arnold and then enable individual to stand like this, To look each other in the eyes and to read, then say, what is the inner piece of R? Or what is the inner piece of Oslo?
Or what is the inner piece of Norway? And what capacity would we have if we raise human consciousness? So what if we placed all of us in a circle, leaving our um, Uh, power structures
Track 1: Yes,
-:Track 1: Hmm. So listening, listening and pausing. Yeah. It's a busy world out there in, in businesses, so it's, uh, it could be a, a good thing for many companies to
think more about, I think.
-:Track 1: yes.
-:Track 1: Mm. True. That's, uh, some, uh, wise, uh, final words. thank you so much [00:36:00] for your time, uh, yare. It has been wonderful. And, uh, yeah, and best of luck with everything that you're working on, and I have no doubt it'll be amazing.
-:Microphone (HyperX Quadcast)-9: So that's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much to your. For her time and for her really interesting story of change. And as always, I will share the contact information. Um, Relevant links. In the show notes so that you can get in touch with you. If you went to. I will be back in two weeks time. So I hope you will join me then. And until then, remember, it's never, never too late to find the impactful work that you really enjoy. Remember that and talk to you soon. [00:37:00]
