Randi & Erik Sprunk-Jansen

Image by: Magnus Møller

If you think it’s best to be sorted financially and then do nothing, that’s fine. But we don’t think so. We don’t think that’s healthy, or that it makes us any happier.

Randi: We met when Erik became the new CEO of the Lundbeck (big pharmaceutical company). He asked the management team whether the company was going well, and I was the only one who answered that it didn’t and that I planned to get away while I could. I did, and we got married. Twenty years later we decided to start our own company and that it should be about health. It’s not like we have a masterplan. We make choices all the time. We make mistakes all the time. It’s quite far from theory to practice. And there are problems all the time. To think that they’ll stop is ridiculous. There’ll always be problems. I remember one time I saw this happy chap in Netto (budget food chain). He was talking to everyone and smiling. He turned this boring job into something positive and everyone was talking to him. His queue was twice as long as everyone else’s. That’s not any different from this. It’s got to do with your fundamental attitude to life. If you are have a positive attitude to life, then surprise surprise, you’ll be happier and maybe even live longer. Actually, some people may live for long, but they just spend too many years dying.

Erik: Many people break down when they’re not doing something anymore. You can have all kinds of beautiful thoughts about comparing all of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies and reading all the books you never read. But perhaps it’s more fun to plan these things than to actually do them? I think it’s important to stay busy. It’s a privilege to stay busy. When we started Sprunk-Jansen, I was running around in London to raise money. I was sitting there like a little schoolboy and showed off cash flows and budgets to investors. Yes, it's hard work to start your own company, but the first years at Lundbeck were horrible too. Things don’t just happen. When something’s difficult you can’t go home and cry. In a way, although it's hard to start your own company, it’s even harder not to.