Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Data reveals patterns. People give them meaning!
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Data reveals patterns. People give them meaning!
Hello friends,
In this episode of Fika Friday at the Office, my guest Katja Larsen traces a geography of work across cultures and decades: what makes Scandinavian “hygge” feel at home in India, why coffee corners beat conference rooms for building trust, how data and behavioral signals are quietly reshaping offices, and where AI belongs when the brief is still profoundly human. If you build workplaces, lead expansion, or translate global standards into local truth, Katja’s map is a practical one.
“Don’t transplant culture. Translate it. Ten kilometers can change the answer in India.”
The playbook for crossing cultures
* Don’t flatten difference. India is not “one” market, any more than Europe is. Ten kilometers can change the answer.
* Translate, then design. Importing equality frameworks or office rituals wholesale rarely works. Start with local truth and build up.
* Make wellness tangible. Air, materials, acoustics, light. People notice what they breathe and hear long before they read a policy.
* Protect the informal. Coffee corners, festival briefings, and yes, bathroom sari pins. Culture scales in the small places.
The last word
From a dataset in Brussels to a coffee corner in Hyderabad, Katja’s arc argues for a simple posture: be rigorous with information and generous with people. The future of work will have better sensors and smarter models. The best offices will still feel like someone lit the candles before you arrived.
Do take a listen 🎧 & show your appreciation and love by clicking subscribe button, like, comment. Ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of FIKA Friday At the Office.
You can also connect with us on LinkedIn:
* Katja Larsen : https://www.linkedin.com/in/katja-larsen-founder/
* Ram Puranam : https://www.linkedin.com/in/puranamram/
Cheers, Ram
Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ramtherocket.substack.com
View all episodes
By Ram PuranamHello friends,
In this episode of Fika Friday at the Office, my guest Katja Larsen traces a geography of work across cultures and decades: what makes Scandinavian “hygge” feel at home in India, why coffee corners beat conference rooms for building trust, how data and behavioral signals are quietly reshaping offices, and where AI belongs when the brief is still profoundly human. If you build workplaces, lead expansion, or translate global standards into local truth, Katja’s map is a practical one.
“Don’t transplant culture. Translate it. Ten kilometers can change the answer in India.”
The playbook for crossing cultures
* Don’t flatten difference. India is not “one” market, any more than Europe is. Ten kilometers can change the answer.
* Translate, then design. Importing equality frameworks or office rituals wholesale rarely works. Start with local truth and build up.
* Make wellness tangible. Air, materials, acoustics, light. People notice what they breathe and hear long before they read a policy.
* Protect the informal. Coffee corners, festival briefings, and yes, bathroom sari pins. Culture scales in the small places.
The last word
From a dataset in Brussels to a coffee corner in Hyderabad, Katja’s arc argues for a simple posture: be rigorous with information and generous with people. The future of work will have better sensors and smarter models. The best offices will still feel like someone lit the candles before you arrived.
Do take a listen 🎧 & show your appreciation and love by clicking subscribe button, like, comment. Ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of FIKA Friday At the Office.
You can also connect with us on LinkedIn:
* Katja Larsen : https://www.linkedin.com/in/katja-larsen-founder/
* Ram Puranam : https://www.linkedin.com/in/puranamram/
Cheers, Ram
Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ramtherocket.substack.com