Hi, I am
Hanna Lakkala
FUTURIST, SPEAKER, COACH
THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE INThe futures we can imagine are shaped by the way we see the world. That question is at the heart of my work.
Living and working across cultures has repeatedly challenged things I once took for granted. Ideas about progress, a good life, knowledge and even time can feel self-evident until we encounter people who understand them differently. These ideas also shape the futures we consider possible and worth pursuing.
Looking back, I realise this curiosity began much closer to home. Growing up on both sides of the Finnish-Swedish border just below the Arctic circle, I was already noticing how different languages and cultures offered different ways of seeing the world. I did not have the words for it then, but what seemed obvious on one side of the border was not always so on the other.
Later, studying in Canada and Germany, I became more aware of how distinctly Nordic my own perspective was. In Laos, Nepal and Colombia, I encountered ways of understanding the world that challenged my assumptions more deeply. I began to question the foundations of my own thinking: why did certain things seem credible, normal or desirable to me? And how did those beliefs influence the futures I could imagine?
This connection is at the heart of my work as a futurist. How we interpret the world shapes both the possibilities we see and the choices we make - both as individuals, organizations and collectively. Whose ideas about progress shape the futures we pursue? And what different futures might we imagine and create if we questioned what we take for granted?
Exploring change and possible futures
During my 13 years at the Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku, I designed and led foresight and development projects with businesses, public sector organisations, universities and NGOs.
My work took me from energy and environmental questions in Southeast Asia to food systems in Latin America and the futures of the Nordic Arctic. Across these contexts, I worked with people trying to understand change, explore alternatives and find a direction amid uncertainty.
This experience taught me to connect broader patterns of change with the realities of particular places, communities and organisations. It also deepened my interest in how people define the future: what they consider possible, what they hope for and what they assume cannot change.
Today, I bring together futures research, systems thinking and an interest in the worldviews and narratives that shape our choices.
I work with leaders, boards, organisations and events to examine assumptions, make connections between changes and explore alternative futures. My aim is to help people develop their own thinking and recognise where there may be more room to act than they first imagined.
Global perspectives. Arctic roots.
After twenty years living and working away, I returned to my roots on the Finnish–Swedish border in the Arctic North.
I wanted space to think, write and build my work close to the landscapes and communities that matter to me. Here, the connections between global change and everyday life are tangible: global questions about resources, security, climate change, culture and livelihoods meet in the same places.
The North is home and a place from which I explore questions that reach far beyond it. Even in the future I want to work both internationally and in the Nordic Arctic.
I work in English, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian.
Recent keynotes
Photo by: Vilma Sanaksenaho, Reindeer parliament 2026.How are futures created? Perspectives on understanding change (October 2026)
We create the future before we even realise we are doing it. Through our values, beliefs and ideas about what is possible.
In my talk, I invited participants to look at change in the Arctic region from a new perspective. What assumptions guide our choices? And do we dare to imagine futures that differ from what we know?
The talk challenged participants to reflect on the future we are creating – and the future we would like to create.
Event: ACCESS Conference, Arctic Regions in Times of Change. Kirkenes, NorwayAlternative Futures for the Nordic Arctic – Why Do We Need Shared Visions? (May 2026)
I explored the forces reshaping the Nordic North, from climate change and the green transition to growing geopolitical attention and global competition for resources.
Drawing on a global perspective and a deep connection to the Nordic Arctic, I challenged the dominant narrative of “green growth” and asked what a broader cultural sustainability transformation might look like.
The keynote explored different possible futures for the region and posed a fundamental question:
Do we want to shape the future of the Nordic Arctic ourselves — or risk becoming a resource periphery shaped by others?
Event: Annual Conference of the Cross-Border Services Sweden–Finland–NorwayThe Futures of Reindeer Herding (June 2026)
What happens to one of the oldest livelihoods of the Nordic North when the world around it changes?
Drawing on my own roots in reindeer herding, I explored the future of reindeer herding through the lens of global and regional change. Climate change, the green transition and growing competition for land are reshaping the conditions for reindeer herding, while questions of cultural sustainability raise a deeper question:
what does it mean to transform without losing what matters?
The keynote explored different possible futures for reindeer herding - and what it might take to keep those futures open in a rapidly changing world and Arctic.
Event: Annual Conference of the Reindeer Herders’ Association (Poroparlamentti)How Can Futures Research Promote the Protection of the Bay of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea? (August 2026)
How do we related to a world in profound transition and what if we are not only witnessing the end of an era, but the emergence of a new one?
In this keynote, I placed today’s global transformations in a longer historical perspective, reflecting on how societies and civilizations have changed, declined and given rise to new ways of living.
Rather than viewing our multiple crises only through the lens of collapse, I explored another possibility: what if we are already building a new world, shaped by emerging values, cultures and ways of living?
Looking at the future of the Bay of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea, I explored how the values and choices of the societies around the sea ultimately shape the future of the sea - and how futures thinking can help us make those choices more consciously.
Event: Save the Baltic Sea Day 2026 / Oulu 2026 European Capital of CultureFutures Thinking as an Entrepreneurial Skill (February 2026)
How can entrepreneurs prepare for a future in a rapidly changing world? Drawing on my international experience, including working as an entrepreneur in Colombia and in international consultancy, I introduced futures thinking as a practical entrepreneurial skill.
I challenged participants to look beyond current assumptions, recognise emerging change, explore alternative possibilities and turn uncertainty into a source of opportunity and strategic choice.
Event: MATCH MADE Mentoring Programme
Hanna in podcasts
In this episode of Future of Business, hosted by American futurist Kevin Benedict, Hanna explores the key forces shaping the future of the Far North and the trends that have placed the Arctic region at the forefront of global interest.
Hanna appears as a guest on Future of Business, the podcast channel hosted by American futurist Kevin Benedict. In this episode, she reflects on different perspectives on international happiness rankings, discusses Nordic societies, and explores how coaching, positive psychology, and futures thinking are interconnected.
