202: How Nordic Capitalism Prioritizes Profit and Climate for A More Sustainable Future

What if the key to creating a more sustainable future lies not in reinventing capitalism entirely, but in looking at how it already works elsewhere?

In this episode of Nordic Visionaries, a special series inside the Innovation Storytellers Show, we welcome Dr. Robert Strand, Executive Director of the Nordic Center at UC Berkeley and Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. With one foot firmly planted in American academia and the other deeply connected to Nordic thought leadership, Robert offers a compelling comparison between American and Nordic models of capitalism highlighting how the Nordics are approaching profit, climate responsibility, and long-term societal well-being.

Drawing on his research, leadership courses, and real-world corporate experience, Robert shares why many of the assumptions embedded in American business culture deserve to be challenged. He explains why sustainable capitalism is desirable and necessary and how it can be built on models already in practice across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Whether it’s universal childcare, patient capital, stakeholder-driven innovation, or strong democratic institutions, Robert walks us through the policies and cultural mindsets that allow Nordic companies to be both competitive and conscientious.

We also explore how sustainability can drive innovation and how American business leaders might need to rethink their relationship with speed, growth, and quarterly returns. Robert calls for a shift in leadership priorities, urging executives to act as advocates for society as much as for their bottom line. From planetary boundaries to AI, from corporate structures to childcare, this conversation challenges long-held ideas about what makes capitalism work.

Can we borrow from Nordic approaches to shape a more resilient and just economy? And are American businesses ready to reimagine their role in a changing world? Tune in and share your thoughts.

About Dr. Robert Strand

Name: Robert Strand
Title: Executive Director of the Nordic Center
Company: UC Berkeley
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Dr. Robert Strand is the Executive Director of the Nordic Center at UC Berkeley, Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business, and a Lecturer at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. He is also an Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. His research and teaching focus on comparing U.S. and Nordic approaches to sustainable business and examining American and Nordic varieties of capitalism with the aim of contributing to realizing sustainable capitalism. Robert teaches the suite of courses “Sustainable Capitalism in the Nordics?” which leverages his forthcoming book Nordic Capitalism: Lessons for Realizing Sustainability Capitalism with Cambridge University Press.

Before joining Berkeley Haas in 2014, Robert was an Assistant Professor at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, following a decade in Corporate America, where he held various roles in manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, strategy, and investor relations at IBM and Boston Scientific. 

Strand holds a Ph.D. in corporate social responsibility from the Copenhagen Business School, an MBA in international business from the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin. He was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Norway hosted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

With his wife, Sarah, he is the proud parent of two wonderful children, Jonas (9) and Mikkel (11). He values a good sense of humor and kindness above all else, and when that obituary is eventually written, Robert hopes those qualities could potentially be said about him.