Helena Åhman

Helena Åhman, PhD, is a Professor of Practice at the University of Turku School of Economics and the only three-time literature prize winner for the best business book in Finland. She has been recognized four times as one of Finland’s best speakers by three different organizations and her accolades include the Speaker of the Year award in 2015. Helena has also published a crime novel and her ability to combine storytelling with scientific facts and everyday hints makes for an entertaining reading experience.

Her focus area at the University of Turku School of Economics is conversational intelligence – demanding discussions, negotiations and conflicts - and understanding the human mind. The topic of her doctoral thesis was How to Lead Your Mind and Succeed in Changing Organizations.

She has taken numerous courses at Harvard University’s Negotiation Programme and has given lectures at New York University and other universities. Helena is widely known as a skilful executive team coach who has previously been responsible for global senior management development at Nokia Networks. She has received the global PR-prize of the Junior Chamber of Commerce (JCI) in a conference held in South Korea for the project she managed.

Outside of work, Helena spends time with her partner (you’ll find his rock lyrics in Helena’s book), takes long walks with her German Shepherd Psyko (Psycho in Finnish), and occasionally takes a trip where she concentrates solely on photography. Currently there are plans for her third solo photo exhibition – around the theme of her new book.