FIKA Friday At the Office

Ram Puranam

Welcome to FIKA Friday At the Office. I'm your host, Ram Puranam, and I'm thrilled to host this Season2 for you. Every fortnight, I'll be catching up Workplace Leaders & Thought Leaders on the Future of Work from around the globe and share stories, insights, and perspectives aimed at enhancing our work lives. From fostering collaboration to boosting employee engagement, we'll cover all the intricacies of workplace experience. But here's the twist, we're not just diving into the nitty-gritty of corporate jargon. Instead, we escape the daily grind and appreciate a small break called FIKA. Because, let's face it, the best conversations at office happen over coffee. ramtherocket.substack.com

  1. FEB 19

    Culture, Coffee & Keeping it Lagom

    Hej friends, It’s been a few weeks since the last episode went on air. Some conversations just flow. This was one of them. I recorded this towards end of last year! For this episode, I sat down with Rupa Thakrar Bagoon, Market Manager Bangalore at Business Sweden — and honestly, I could have kept the recorder running for hours. Born and raised in Sweden with Indian roots via Uganda - Africa, Rupa brings a perspective on culture that is as layered as it gets. We talked Swedish Fika, Lagom, Påtår, multigenerational workforces, and why culture will always eat strategy for breakfast. Oh, and I got some specialty coffee from a brand new spot. Great start to the day! What stood out Culture is not a soft topic. Rupa put it plainly: people massively underestimate how much culture shapes the way business actually works. She shared the story of helping a Swedish pharmaceutical company run cultural workshops — one for their India team at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence in Delhi, and another for their European counterparts. The result? Teams that actually understood each other. “Not to say that any culture is right or wrong — but understanding, respecting, and being open to each other’s cultures. That is the key.” Fika is connecting with people on a deeper level. As someone who named a podcast after the concept, I loved hearing Rupa’s take as a Swede. She described Fika as the moment when titles disappear and real conversation happens. You can learn more about a person during a ten-minute Fika than you would over five formal meetings in a conference room.” At Business Sweden, she made it official — every Thursday, the whole team gathers, and whoever’s turn it is brings the surprise. They’ve worked through cinnamon buns, cardamom, pistachio, and saffron. Princess cake is apparently still pending. Rupa, we’re watching. Lagom is a life philosophy. Not too much, not too little. Rupa described how she never really noticed how lagom she was until she married someone who absolutely was not. Her words, not mine — but it made for one of the best explanations of the concept I’ve heard on this show. The office isn’t going anywhere — but neither is hybrid. Coming from someone who genuinely loves being in the office (”I like the vibe, catching up with colleagues”), Rupa was clear that hybrid is here to stay, and for good reason. Especially in a city like Bangalore where commute times can swallow your day whole. “For some of the new generation, no hybrid is a deal breaker. We are not signing. And I think that makes sense.” Her take? More tech-enabled workplaces, yes — but with a stronger pull toward human connection on the days people are in. People over places. One thing I’ll keep thinking about Rupa mentioned that when she takes Swedish companies to meet Indian conglomerates, the message she hears back is simple: be open to learning from us. Don’t walk into emerging markets assuming you’re ahead. In many ways, you’re not. That’s the kind of thing that’s easy to nod along to and hard to actually practice. Worth sitting with. Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share it with a friend, and if you haven’t already — go get yourself a proper Påtår. Tack Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

    29 min
  2. Data reveals patterns. People give them meaning!

    JAN 9

    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

    31 min
  3. Why Focus Spaces beat Flashy Perks!

    12/12/2025

    Why Focus Spaces beat Flashy Perks!

    G’day mates, When Eve Wilkinson-Bell describes her office, she does not start with headcount or floor plans ! She starts with coffee & the hum around the coffee machines in Amsterdam. I caught up with Eve on a quiet Friday in her Eindhoven office when the occupancy was just about okay and people deliberately chose the office for focus work. Eve is the Workplace Regional Manager for Western Europe and the Nordics at HERE Technologies, responsible for a portfolio that just secured Leesman+ certification in four locations, including Amsterdam office that ranks in the Top3 out of more than 10,000 workplaces surveyed worldwide. She trained as an architect at the University of Liverpool, managed high-end residential projects in Notting Hill, led fire safety projects at London’s Natural History Museum, and then shifted into corporate real estate. In this episode of Fika Friday at the Office, Eve talks about coffee culture, focus spaces, Leesman data, and why the future of workplace design depends on both sensors and human judgment. “I think AI will play a role in analyzing data and working out the trends and the occupancy and all these different things that will then help us make decisions around our real estate.” Listening to Eve, a few themes repeat. * Focus is non‑negotiable. Collaboration matters, but most people still spend a majority of their time in focused work or calls. Offices that ignore this reality will struggle, no matter how Instagrammable their social spaces are. * Communal hubs need intention. The Nexus in Amsterdam works because it was designed as a true center of gravity, not an afterthought. One good space beats several half‑used corners. * Leadership space must earn its keep. Private offices that sit empty are not just a cost problem; they undermine fairness and flexibility. Models like “offices for a day” retain privacy without locking in unused square meters. * Tech should be felt as ease, not surveillance. Sensors, booking systems, and AI only create value when employees can see and use the outputs in ways that make their day smoother. L𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 🎧𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 and show your love by clicking the subscribe button, like, comment & ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of ‘’FIKA Friday At the Office’’. You can connect with us on LinkedIn: * Eve Wilkinson-Bell : https://www.linkedin.com/in/eve-wbell/ * 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. Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

    32 min

  4. 11/21/2025

    Finance, Strategy, and the Power of Compounding Curiosity

    Hello friends, When I listened to Anshul Agarwal talk about his morning routine, I expected discipline. What I didn’t expect was how seamlessly he’d connect tennis footwork, coffee conversations, and CFO strategy into a single coherent philosophy. Anshul is Chief Financial Officer and Board member of Akkodis in India, a global digital engineering company and part of Adecco Group, Switzerland. He’s a chartered accountant by training, but his versatility runs deeper than credentials. Over thirteen years in Bangalore, he’s evolved from tracking balance sheets to architecting business strategy, proving that modern finance is much more about foresight, not hindsight. “The CFO’s role has moved from running the scoreboard to running the playbook. We are no longer sitting on the sidelines. We are in the huddle deciding plays.” We recorded this episode in Bangalore, where Anshul has traded his hometown lemon tea for a strong South Indian filter coffee. What emerged was a masterclass in how curiosity, consistency, and strategic thinking compound over time. Do take a listen 🎧 & show your 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: * Anshul Agarwal : https://www.linkedin.com/in/anshulagarwal26/ * 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

    27 min
  5. Progress over Perfection

    11/07/2025

    Progress over Perfection

    Hello friends, Sometimes the most powerful workplace insights come from someone who’s seen the industry from every angle. Bex Moorhouse has managed serviced offices before WeWork made coworking cool, shaped the culture at Nike where “progress over perfection” was more than just a slogan, and now leads global workplace strategy at WPP, one of the world’s largest advertising & creative agencies. In this episode of Fika Friday at the Office, Bex and I talked over coffee about what actually makes workplaces work. Not the surface-level stuff, the gym that nobody uses or the wellness room that’s just an empty box, but the experiences, behaviors, and leadership approaches that create environments where people want to be. “A lot of those boring or repetitive tasks drain energy. If we had AI agents doing those bits, it would free us up to really listen to people.” We covered: → Why Mark Dixon, legendary Founder of Regus deserves more credit than WeWork → How taking care of yourself makes you better at your job → What Nike taught her about speed, trust, and valuing every voice → Why activation matters more than amenities → AI as a workplace ally, not a threat → The security guard who gave her a dopamine kick when she needed it most 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 🎧𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 and show your love by clicking the subscribe button, like, comment & ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of ‘’FIKA Friday At the Office’’. You can connect with us on LinkedIn: * Bex Moorhouse : https://www.linkedin.com/in/bexmoorhouse/ * 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

    28 min
  6. The Goldilocks Office & Why Empty Spaces Harm Culture

    10/17/2025

    The Goldilocks Office & Why Empty Spaces Harm Culture

    Hola amigos, Que tal !..Como estas!! When Ricardo Chacon talks about office space, he doesn’t mention square footage first. He talks about the Energy. About the low vibe of an empty floor. About what happens when companies overspend on real estate and still fail their people. Ricardo’s path from Costa Rica to Singapore reads like a case study in cross-cultural workplace evolution. Trained as a civil engineer, he’s worked through the full stack of corporate real estate: from construction materials supplier to global portfolio strategist at Standard Chartered and HP. Today, he runs Common Blue, a consultancy focused on making workplaces work better with less. “Even if you spend all that money, you have more space than you need. That also harms the employee experience. Not because the office is too crowded, not because it’s too noisy, but because the office is too empty.” We recorded this conversation over morning coffee, Ricardo’s daily ritual, a non-negotiable inherited from Costa Rica’s coffee culture. What emerged was a clear-eyed view of what companies get wrong about workplace strategy, and what they’ll need to fix. The Goldilocks Problem Ricardo recently published an article on what he calls “the Goldilocks office.” The premise challenges the dominant narrative around return-to-office mandates. Everyone worries about overcrowding. Almost no one considers the opposite risk. When HSBC announced a £200 million spend to accommodate everyone back in the office, Ricardo saw it differently. If utilization remains low, that investment creates ghost towns: floors with energy so depleted that collaboration becomes forced, serendipity vanishes, and the cross-pollination of ideas stalls out. The measurements we use don’t capture this. You can’t quantify the absence of energy. But people feel it immediately. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 🎧𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 and show your love by clicking the subscribe button, like, comment & ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of ‘’FIKA Friday At the Office’’. You can connect with us on LinkedIn: * Ricardo Chacon : https://www.linkedin.com/in/richveg/ * Ram Puranam : https://www.linkedin.com/in/puranamram/ Muchas Gracias, Ram Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

    31 min
  7. Bad Offices Won’t Survive. Good Ones Will Evolve

    09/26/2025

    Bad Offices Won’t Survive. Good Ones Will Evolve

    Hola amigos, Corina Ocanto didn’t grow up dreaming about workplace strategy. She trained as an architect and designer, went on to work with some of the world’s most coveted companies, and built a career grounded in creativity, purpose, and people. But somewhere along the way, drawing buildings became less important than understanding the people inside them. In this episode of Fika Friday at the Office, I sat down with Corina to talk about how she moved from the drafting table to the heart of employee experience, and why she believes the future of the workplace is less about assets and more about intention. “Design the employee experience like a product. What are the pain points? What brings joy? Build from that.” Each of Corina’s insights comes from real-world experiments. From her time at tech unicorns to her current work designing agile workplace playbooks, she’s been at the center of what’s changing and what still needs to change. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 🎧𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 and show your love by clicking the subscribe button, like, comment & ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of ‘’FIKA Friday At the Office’’. You can connect with us on LinkedIn: * Corina Ocanto : https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinaocanto/ * Ram Puranam : https://www.linkedin.com/in/puranamram/ Muchas Gracias, 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

    28 min
  8. Workplace as a clear Value Creator

    09/12/2025

    Workplace as a clear Value Creator

    Viva, amigos! In this freshly brewed episode of Fika Friday at the Office, I’m joined by Rodrigo Rolim, a Workplace Strategist with an Architect’s eye and a People-first mindset. Rodrigo trained as an architect in São Paulo, Brazil. However, it didn’t take long for him to realize that what he cared about most wasn’t the space itself; it was the people moving through it. That shift in focus, from structure to experience, would shape the next two decades of his career. From consulting at CBRE to leading workplace transformation projects at WPP, Rodrigo has worked across Latin America and Europe, helping global organizations move from asset-focused thinking to people-centered design. Today, he’s based in the Netherlands, continuing that mission with a calm, grounded clarity. “You can’t take attendance for granted. You need to earn it.” During my fika chat, he shares what it takes to create spaces that earn your attendance, and why coffee, culture, and clarity matter more than ever. In this episode, we explore: ✅ Why workplace strategy needs to move beyond square meters ✅ How hybrid work only succeeds with structure ✅ What real estate teams must unlearn to stay relevant ✅ Why earning attendance is the new north star ✅ And yes, why coffee culture still matters 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 🎧𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 and show your love by clicking the subscribe button, like, comment & ask your friends also to listen to this freshly brewed season of ‘'FIKA Friday At the Office’'. You can connect with us on LinkedIn: * Rodrigo Rolim : https://www.linkedin.com/in/rrolim/ * Ram Puranam : https://www.linkedin.com/in/puranamram/ Obrigado, Ram Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Thanks for reading FIKA Friday At the Office! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

    27 min
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5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to FIKA Friday At the Office. I'm your host, Ram Puranam, and I'm thrilled to host this Season2 for you. Every fortnight, I'll be catching up Workplace Leaders & Thought Leaders on the Future of Work from around the globe and share stories, insights, and perspectives aimed at enhancing our work lives. From fostering collaboration to boosting employee engagement, we'll cover all the intricacies of workplace experience. But here's the twist, we're not just diving into the nitty-gritty of corporate jargon. Instead, we escape the daily grind and appreciate a small break called FIKA. Because, let's face it, the best conversations at office happen over coffee. ramtherocket.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Ram Puranam
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ram Puranam
  • Show Website
    FIKA Friday At the Office