I’m not sure if it’s my Swedish heritage, my penchant for Scandinavian design, or my love of long summer days — but as I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve decided to partner with two fantastic Swedish organizations: Doberman and Hyper Island. I thought I’d introduce them to those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure.

I got to know the Stockholm-based experience design firm Doberman through my research at Forrester. In addition to digging Doberman’s work, I was immediately drawn to its über collaborative work style and open leadership approach. For example, every year during planning season the executive team asks each employee to build his or her ideal budget out of different colors of LEGOs — and then, to the degree possible, incorporates their collective wishes. They handle decisions about which new clients to take on and when and where to expand their offices in a similar fashion.

Last year a few intrepid Doberman employees set up shop in NYC and quickly took on work for Google, Starbucks, the NYC Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications, and the new health insurer Oscar. I’ll be joining forces with them on client projects and helping to grow their US business. (I can also state from personal experience that the Doberman team knows how to break it down on the dance floor.)

My friends at Doberman introduced me to the amazing people at Hyper Island, whose first office was in a former military prison on an island in the south of Sweden. (Really.) Hyper Island runs both tertiary and executive classes globally, and my first gig with them was teaching a session on human-centered design as part of a 10-week digital strategy course in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Amsterdam this past March.

Hyper Island is no ordinary school. It embraces a hands-on, reflective, and sometimes irreverent learning style and aims to help both companies and individuals realize their full potential. Hyper Island’s website says that it “designs learning experiences” — so if you know me at all, you’ll understand why I’m attracted to this group.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with both of these organizations. If you’d like to chat about how either Doberman or Hyper Island can help your company, just shoot me a note.