New Ways of Grasping the World since 2005

Keynotes, Books, and Consulting
Futurism and Business Pedagogics

Find me in Copenhagen at Nordic Bildung
// +45 28 96 42 40

Eminently sharp, well presented and with a dash of satire. LRA grasps the very big narratives and elegantly links them to the current context for the presentation and our conference: educational guidance during a paradigm shift. LRA’s introductory keynote gave us a start, which lifted the entire conference right from the beginning.

Pia Vigh
Youth Guidance, Denmark

When several students announce excitedly that they have plenty of notes from the presentation that they need to investigate further, I know that the presentation has been a success.

Merete Østergaard
Scandinavian Design College, Denmark

This was so exciting, I just kept knitting and now the sock is too long…

Wonderful Grandma at a public presentation, Denmark

My book

The Nordic Secret

This book is a must read for anybody who wants peace,
well-being for all, and a meaningful future.

Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations 2012–2016

Surveys show that the Nordic countries have strong democracies, are among the best for business and
startups, score high on human capital, have the most liveable cities, happiest peoples, strong economies, and much more…

How did the Nordics get there? And what is Rosa Parks doing on the cover?

Discover how Denmark, Norway, and Sweden went from dirt poor in 1850 to wealthy by 1920. The heroes of this transformation: a stubborn school teacher and some young farmhands.

Go on an amazing journey together with pastors, poets, common people, some Danish royals, and the so-called schoolmen as they lifted Scandinavia from the bottom.

528 pages, publication date: January 30, 2024
Find the book here: https://www.nordicbildung.org/the-nordic-secret/

Lene Rachel Andersen’s books are crucial; her extensive knowledge and lucid writing open our eyes to new opportunities.

Dr.Phil. Per Stig Møller,
Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2001-2010
Danish Minister of Culture, 2010-2011

The Nordic Secret brilliantly captures the secret to the success of the Nordic nations: the belief in education and learning.

Dr. Lauri Tuomi,
CEO, The Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation

Bildung is most essential for the future of humanity. But Bildung in a special humanist understanding. The Nordic Secret makes that convincingly clear.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Julian Nida-Rümelin,
former German state minister for culture

When Lene Rachel Andersen explains bildung, you see the full picture in a way that allows you to grasp the many facets of bildung, historically as well as regarding the future.

Lene Dammand Lund
Rector, the Royal Danish Academy

The Nordic Secret is a captivating read that gets at a core reason for what made the Nordic countries so successful: educating the whole person to assume individual and collective responsibilities. The Nordics have transformed their societies to realize heightened levels of shared prosperity and The Nordic Secret helps to explain how.

Dr. Robert Strand
Executive Director, Nordic Center
at the University of California, Berkeley

It turns out the Nordic countries were not pre-destined for peace and prosperity after all; they had to earn it, through visioning and learning from multiple crises. The Nordic Secret holds instructions on how we can apply a transformative learning approach to the current interlinked global crises and emerge with a society that has shared prosperity for all.

Dr. Lewis Akenji
Managing Director, Hot or Cool, and
full member of the Club of Rome

The story told in The Nordic Secret is an urgently important one for people in our time to hear. For societies like the US that are struggling with crises of meaning and a breakdown of civic participation, the example of Denmark and the Scandinavian folk high school movement is a beacon of hope. Real positive cultural change is achievable and we know this because it has happened before. The Nordic Secret explains how.

Jacob Hundt
Founder of Thoreau College and
host of the Microcollege podcast

The Nordic Secret narrates history beautifully while pointing towards a better future. Lene Rachel Andersen invites us to use our imagination to design social innovations that promote human growth and transformation in our societies, which are needed now more than ever.

Olli-Pekka Heinonen
Director General,
The International Baccalaureate

My statement about The Nordic Secret and the Inner Development Goals, December 20, 2024

Read the statement here: https://www.nordicsecret.org/

Other Books

The Nordic Secret

A European Story of Beauty and Freedom

1st edition 2017

Ever wondered why the Nordic countries are so succesful?
The Nordic countries invested in their people early on; The Nordic Secret tells you how.

https://www.nordicbildung.org/the-nordic-secret/

Polymodernity

Meaning and Hope in a Complex World

First published 2019 as Metamodernity

How do we move beyond postmodernism and create a sustainable and meaningful future for the planet? Metamodernity presents big history as a collective journey towards a better future for all.

http://nordicbildung.org/books/polymodernity/

Bildung

Keep Growing

Report to the Club of Rome, 2020

Bildung is moral and emotional maturity. Bildung is also to have the education and knowledge necessary to thrive in your society; it is to be embedded in culture and community while having the autonomy to carve your own path in life.

http://nordicbildung.org/books/bildung/

What is Bildung?

And how does it relate to Adult Learning and Education?

2021

The first output of Bildung project is a comprehensive paper explaining the concept of Bildung and how it can be used in adult learning and education sector.

https://eaea.org/project/bildung/?pid=15007

Bildung

The Nordic Secret about Beauty and Freedom

2021

The Ukrainian translation of The Nordic Secret.

https://nashformat.ua/products/bildung.-nordychnyj-sekret-krasy-i-svobody-709430

Libertism

Grasping the 21st Century

2022

How do we harvest the most sustainable prosperity from the natural systems without ruining them, and how do we design the most sustainable cultural systems so that everybody can enjoy a prosperous and meaningful life in freedom and peace?

https://www.nordicbildung.org/libertism/

Main Articles and Papers

When is ‘Racism’ Racism and when is it something else?

Medium.com
August 2023, 2024

https://medium.com/@lenerachelandersen/when-is-racism-racism-and-when-is-it-something-else-5373d63abd7b

Saving Democracy one Republican at a Time

Medium.com
July 31, 2024

https://lenerachelandersen.medium.com/saving-democracy-one-republican-at-a-time-f8f1d72c3966

Polymodern Economics

Medium.com
January 2, 2024

https://lenerachelandersen.medium.com/polymodern-economics-ec4d817b3824

The Danish Secret

Medium.com
November 3, 2020

https://lenerachelandersen.medium.com/the-danish-secret-7e5e38750a01

Prosperity or Growth?

Medium.com
October 12, 2020

https://lenerachelandersen.medium.com/prosperity-instead-of-growth…

Bildung: Cultivating WellBeing via Education and Development

Psychology Today
July 21, 2020

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-knowledge/202007/bildung-cultivating-wellbeing-education-and-development

The Bildung Rose

An Educational Framework for Grasping Complexity

FECUN Futures of Education, Culture & Nature – Learning to Become
(2022–NO1) 186-211

https://tidsskrift.dk/FECUN/article/view/130247/176001

Will Technological Development Lead to Authoritarianism?

From the book: Mensch – Maschine. Ethische Sichtweisen auf ein Spannungsverhältnis (Medienethik, Vol. 17) Petra Grimm & Oliver Zöllner (eds.): Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2018, pp. 143-156.

To read the article, click on it