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ONLINE PROCESS

Understanding ourselves and the world:
The human mind and the systems we shape

Originally developed in collaboration with IKEA, this program is now available more broadly.

It was created to build a common understanding of the world, and why meaningful change often feels far more difficult than it should.

Many of the challenges leaders and organizations face today are not caused by a lack of ambition or intention. They are shaped by how human beings perceive complexity and respond to uncertainty. The brain does not passively observe reality. It interprets it. It simplifies. It protects. And when many individuals operate from similar cognitive patterns, those patterns scale into culture, structure, and system.

This program explores that connection.

Grounded in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral research, it examines how individual perception becomes collective behavior, and how collective behavior becomes the world we are trying to navigate and improve.

The first part of the program is self-paced. Participants move through three modules that combine Erik Fernholm’s lectures with written summaries and applied reflection exercises. The aim is to create a deeper understanding of the human dynamics that shape organizations and societies.

Part 1: The Foundation

Part 2: The Sensemaking

After completing the content, participants are invited into a second phase: three live sessions with Erik and others who have gone through the same material. Conversations to deepen understanding, test perspectives, and explore what these insights mean in real contexts.

Next sensemaking session:  

For all participants who have joined Part 1 before 

March 20, 2026  

Participants who join and work through the program before the deadline will enter the same dialogue cycle, building on a shared foundation of insight and reflection. A separate invitation to the live sessions will be sent in the days leading up to the start of the cohort.

New dates will be announced for future groups. Those who join after the current deadline will be invited to the next scheduled cycle.

Erik Fernholm is one of the leading voices on human behavior, inner development, and change. For more than fifteen years, he has worked with leaders, teams, and communities to build the human capacities needed to navigate today’s world.

With a background in cognitive neuroscience and happiness research, Erik connects science with everyday life. His work makes it easier to see how our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors shape the systems we are all part of.

He is known for turning complex ideas into something anyone can relate to. Over the years, he has collaborated with governments, philanthropists, and some of the world’s most influential companies, always with the same purpose: to help people see themselves and the world with greater understanding.

Erik is the co-founder of 29k Foundation and Aware, initiator of the Inner Development Goals, and chair of the Ekskäret Foundation. Across everything he does runs a simple idea: lasting change in the world begins with a shift within ourselves.

About Erik Fernholm

  1. Understand how the brain shapes experience
    Learn why much of what feels obvious in daily life is the result of prediction and interpretation, not objective reality.

  2. See why change is harder than it seems
    Understand why willpower and good intentions are often not enough, and how underlying biological systems can work against change.

  3. Recognize patterns that drive behavior
    Become better at noticing the patterns behind stress, habits, reactions, and decision-making, in yourself and in others.

  4. Connect individual behavior to larger systems
    See how everyday human behavior scales into organizational cultures, societal dynamics, and the world we collectively create.

  5. Learn what supports real, lasting change
    Explore practical ways to work with human systems rather than against them, supporting wiser choices and more sustainable outcomes over time.

Five key takeaways from the program:

A program about how the human mind shapes the world we live in. By combining science, reflection, and practical tools, the course helps you make sense of change and offers powerful ways to grow as a person and as a leader.

JOIN PROGRAM

Understanding ourselves and the world:
The human mind and the systems we shape

With Erik Fernholm

A program about how the human mind shapes the world we live in. By combining science, reflection, and practical tools, the course helps you make sense of change and offers powerful ways to grow as a person and as a leader.


• Personal notes from Erik

• Three recorded lectures (approx. 50 minutes total)

• Written summaries + guided exercises

• Three live sessions with Erik and others from the program

• An introduction to Aware, with unlimited access to all exercises

890 SEK