Erik Fernholm

Erik Fernholm has a background in Cognitive Neuroscience and Happiness Research. He is an award- winning keynote speaker and CEO and co-founder of several change-making organisations. Erik´s calling is to help us in understanding of and thereby change our inner perspectives in order to profoundly deal with our major and pressing external challenges.

Erik believes that today's systemic crises of meaning, mental health, climate change and populism are symptoms with a common root cause - our story of self and society. The inner maps and value-systems of individualism, rationalism and our search for independence have led us to disconnect in a reality that is undeniably connected. 



Erik has been implementing new research insights to contribute to conscious and connected shifts of values and meaning for a decade. He regularly works with transforming perspectives of senior leadership at the Swedish Armed Forces, H&M, Spotify and the Swedish Government. 

Erik is further CEO of the non-profit tech start-up 29k.org which he co-founded with philanthropists Niklas Adalberth and Tomas Björkman. 29k is a non-physical, global retreat centre that gives millions of people evidence-based tools and processes to build their skills as resilient and responsible change agents in a complex world.

Erik has been on the Board of Directors at Ekskäret Foundation since 2013. In 2009 he founded Bättre Skolor. It was the first organisation in Sweden to work with transforming educators’ perspective's and giving researched tools to over 10.000 teachers on the topics of intrinsic motivation, mindset, values, resilience and emotional intelligence.

Erik lives in the woods of Stockholm with his fiancé, son and Mali - a giant Alaskan Malamute. He is passionate about gardening, extreme sports, wood-work and fishing. Erik has, further, sailed across the Atlantic three times, lived in a Buddhist monastery, competed in the world championships in Kitesurfing and honours spiritual practises and rites such as the Vision Quest.