By Kicki Pallin
Motivated by her deep interest in education and human nature, she trained as a teacher and psychotherapist. Finally, Katarina Hanssens Carlsson found her life purpose 20 years ago, as an Entrepreneurial Business Vision Consultant and Leadership Trainer. For the past 15 years, she has worked successfully with over 1,500 entrepreneurs internationally. Katarina Hanssens Carlsson is the CEO of Destiny International11 and as the founder of Global Leadership Schools, she is implementing her life’s work into Schools and Institutes in Sweden and in the future, also globally. Who would have known that the serious difficulties she had early on in life, has prepared her for the most extraordinary success … and all this in one of humanity’s most challenging years ever, 2020.
Many people have experienced 2020 as one of the hardest years of their lives, but you say that for you it’s been one of the best years. How was that possible?
I understand that this has been an extremely challenging year for us all. However challenges have never daunted me. In 2020 I put my health and family first and have continued to develop Global Leadership Schools ‘no matter what’!
In 2020 I received more recognition for my contribution as a Global Entrepreneurial and Leadership trainer than I’ve ever had before. Our Entrepreneurial training for schools was recognized by Stockholm City. Educational authorities and a world-renowned Institute in Stockholm hired me to deliver an entrepreneurial training to scientists. But it hasn’t always been this way.
What was it that made the greatest impact on you during your childhood?
One of the best ways to overcome a dysfunctional childhood, apart from psychotherapy, is to write about it over and over again. This time when I write about my childhood and what impacted me, there’s so much that simply doesn’t need to be included. My story has become shorter and shorter but the impact remains with me in an extraordinary way. I have become stronger and more creative than I ever have in my life, before.
So what do I want to tell you? It was tough and at the age of five, I wanted out! I no longer wanted to be part of my family or any other family for that matter. I wanted to leave this planet and so I did, in the best way I knew how. I created double pneumonia, whooping cough and my doctor said I was going to die. I left my body for a few seconds and met an extraordinary being who became my teacher. He told me to go back and that I would see him later, which I certainly did.
From that moment on, I was quiet. I didn’t say much but I observed every one of my family. I didn’t like much of what I saw but I was stuck with them for a while. I could see that they were fear-based. I certainly felt fear in this family but it was love that motivated me for the rest of my life.
I left school confused and insecure. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what I wanted to create in my future except that I wanted to be happy, and at that point I had no idea how to do that. After school I felt stupid, even though my grades were high, and I also felt ugly.
However, I set out to prove these feelings inaccurate. I decided to apply to the best teacher’s training College in Cambridge, Homerton College and I also applied to one of the top modeling schools in London. I got into both! I decided to become a teacher and a model, at the same time. Even though the pay was low as a teacher, I felt much more fulfilled than in my modeling career. Looking back I made all the right decisions. I just followed my gut feeling and it worked.Today, I am the founder of Global Leadership schools, transforming Education worldwide.
How did you discover your path? Were there any special incidents or people you met that formed you and made you take certain important steps?
If you want to know which path to take, always choose the Path of Joy. Ask yourself what gives you the most joy, not the most money! It will pay off in the end.
Teaching was not enough for me. I wanted to understand myself and others. I wanted to know why people were the way they were and what made them tick. First rule of happiness ‘Know Thyself,’ from the wisdom of the Greeks.
I loved working as a psychotherapist but even that was not enough. I had so many questions about life that I couldn’t answer. Nor could I answer many of my client’s questions, so I set off for Seattle and studied at an ancient School of Wisdom for seven years. It totally changed my life for the better. I found the answers to all of my questions and much, much more. Some of the knowledge I received scared me. There was information I didn’t want to know. Today I’m glad I know because everything makes sense to me now.
Living abroad and attending an ancient School of Wisdom of course cost money, so I had to figure out what I could do that provided more benefit to people than education and psychotherapy. I decided to become an entrepreneur and run my own business: the more I contributed to others the more Joy, Freedom and Fulfillment I experienced.
The ancient School of wisdom gave me and my life way more than I bargained for. I became stronger, more of an individual and more independent than I had ever been before.
I experienced a moment that was beyond inspiring. It changed my life from that moment on, to this day and it continues to inspire me on a daily basis. On Mount Rainier, I had a vision:
I saw Leonardo da Vinci’s perfect man. At his feet was the word TRUTH across his chest was the word GREATNESS and above his head was the word VISION.
That was quite a revelation, how would you describe how these three principles influence our lives?
When we stand in our Truth, express Greatness in Service and stay focused on a Compelling Vision, we cannot fail!
I have lived my life by these three values since that day: Global Leadership Schools are founded on Integrity, Contribution and Vision.
From that moment I had a format for business Vision consultations, I would find my client’s:
- True Entrepreneurial Identity
- Their Unique Gift, Service and Contribution or their ‘WOW idea’
- Their Compelling 5-year Goals and Vision
If you truly live by these three principles: Integrity, Contribution and Vision you cannot fail.These are not just words even values, they are a way of being.
Contemplate this:
Without Integrity we have nothing.
Without Greatness we have nothing to contribute.
Without Vision we have no meaningful future, except a struggle for survival.
Some of our most important world leaders in religion and government have demonstrated little or no integrity. When we have little or no integrity we undermine the very platform we base our lives on. We dis empower ourselves and create our own downfall.
When we ignore or refuse to recognize our Greatness, our lives become empty and meaningless.
When we have no Vision we are doomed (we doom ourselves) to struggle for survival.
So, how do we benefit from these principles, what is the good news?
The Good News!
The good news is that a Life based on Integrity is a Strong, Powerful and Invincible life.
A life knowing your Greatness is a life of Contribution and unending Fulfillment.
A life with focused Vision is a life of Opportunity, Possibility and endless Joy.
So ask yourself; what is it I’m missing in life? Is it Integrity, living my truth, being my word, acting with honesty?
Is it your Greatness? Have you failed to find your Brilliance and contribute it to the world?
By the way this is not your fault. Never blame yourself for not knowing your Greatness. We have an education system that is not designed to help you find your Greatness. (That is exactly why we are creating Global Leadership Schools.)
Or is it your Vision? Do you not know what you want? Have you not dared to dream, to set goals, to design the life you would like to have? Have you lacked the courage? Are you afraid of failure? Have you let others determine your future?
The more you are in Integrity; being honest, being your word, doing what you say you’ll do, keeping promises, the more Confidence you’ll have. CON-FI-DENCE is trusting in yourself.
The more you dare to create and contribute the more courage, fulfillment and joy you will have in your life.
‘ True Joy is Contribution’
Katarina Hanssens Carlsson
So now you know!
You want more confidence, more courage, more excitement and adventure in your life?
- Become more in integrity with YOUR TRUTH
- Find and develop your Brilliance
- Create goals and a 5-year Vision
By the way it’s never too late. If you’re retired from your job, you are not retired from life. Make your life more courageous and exciting. It’s up to you to design it. I promise you, that even if you don’t meet with enormous success, your life will never be dull and boring!
What impacted your ability to consult and train entrepreneurs to find their brilliance, and empower them to contribute on a deeper level?
I attended IBI; Income Builders International, founded by Berny Dohrmann, one of the world’s greatest Entrepreneurial Mentors and the son of Andrew Dohrmann, creator of Right- Brain Left- Brain teaching and former mentor to the Roosevelts and the Kennedys.
Every Mentor at IBI was a millionaire or multimillionaire. Most participants were already entrepreneurs and had what we referred to as a WOW idea. However, many didn’t have a clue what their WOW idea was, so they were stuck. Many of these people became my clients since I could guarantee that within 4 hours we would come up with, not only a WOW idea but their Authentic Entrepreneurial Identity and their Compelling Vision.
One day, I was walking through the swing doors, when I heard a soft, silent voice, within me say ´Start a school´. A school, I thought, well I couldn’t wait to leave school. What did school ever do for me? Did it bring up my brilliance? Quite the contrary. No, no, no! School was not a good idea. I wanted to run an entrepreneurial business but the more I resisted, the more this energy that ran from my heart area up to my head and down, up and down, would not leave me. It would not quit.
I decided to go up to my room, look in the mirror and make a decision. I looked in the mirror and asked myself the question: Are you going to start a school? I answered almost silently, ´Yes´.
Since that moment I have never looked back. Today I’m the founder of Global Leadership Schools and yes we are creating 195 Entrepreneurial and Leadership Schools worldwide. One school in one town in every country in the world.
It sounds like you were mission driven, what was the next step you took?
I began working as an Entrepreneurial Consultant, in the States, with people who were already entrepreneurs or wanted to become entrepreneurs. In a 4 to 6 hour consultation, I found their authentic identity as an entrepreneur, their unique service or product and their five-year goals and vision. I also identified their inner saboteur. Most startup businesses fail in the first 5 years. If you have a great entrepreneurial mindset, you will never give up and you will never fail. For me, giving up on yourself and your own unique Brilliance, is the only failure. For me, it’s like suicide. You give up on Life, when Life has so much more to give you.
You talk a lot about the brilliance within you and the inner saboteur, can you tell us more about what this really means to a human being?
Within you, you have a Brilliant Being.This Brilliant Being is in direct connection with universal wealth, pure power, pure love, pure joy, pure intelligence and pure genius! It’s in everyone, not in just a select few.
It is up to you to acknowledge and bring out these powers that have been long forgotten. It is time they are remembered. Every single one of you, has greatness within you: If this is so, why do we not have 7 billion people on Earth expressing their Greatness?
What undermines your Greatness ?
Your only enemy is within you; your shadow-self: I call it the inner saboteur. It will trip you up every step of the way and lead you to failure. It will make you doubt yourself into self denial. How? It knows you and your weaknesses better than you do. So you need to outsmart it by finding out the identity and weaknesses it uses against you. Once you have conquered it, your Brilliant Self can be free to fully Express and Succeed. It’s a long, tough journey but totally worth it, once you get there, since your Brilliant Being can never again lose its brilliance. About 8% of 7 billion people on Earth know who they are, what their talent is and where they’re going. They are self-created individuals. Many of them live the life of a genius. The rest are confused, vulnerable followers who take a job they’re not fulfilled in and choose relationships that often don’t work.They end up lost, lonely and confused as to what the purpose of their lives is.
Your foundation seems very strong, how is it connected with your values?
By now I’m sure you have understood what my values are: Truth, Greatness and Vision are my personal values and then we have created three values for Global Leadership schools; Integrity, Contribution and Vision.
Children are naturally honest, loving and generous. They are also imaginative dreamers. School systems destroy most of this, so that young people end up lonely, empty and filled with self-doubt. Professor George Land confirms this and we are about to change education world-wide.
When young people give up on their dreams, they give up on themselves. They can become vulnerable to drugs, depression, violence and crime. This is a huge challenge worldwide. The suicide rates for young teens are still dangerously and shockingly high. What are our teens trying to tell us? We need to know and we need to find a solution and act on it.
My take on teen suicide is that we have destroyed their hope, for not only a great future but even for their personal safety and survival. Global Leadership schools is addressing these issues. We have created a training called from ‘Violence to Vision’ for young teens with a criminal record. We are currently working with Stockholm City authorities to implement entrepreneurial training programs for both teachers and students in schools that are at risk.
Can you tell us more about the vision, mission and future for Global Leadership Schools?
Our mission at Global Leadership schools is to establish 195 entrepreneurial schools worldwide. One school, in one town, in every country in the world. Imagine going to school where the purpose of learning is to find your unique Identity, your Brilliant Gift to the world and your Vision. Imagine that you already have your own online business by the time you leave school, so that you have an income for life; a means to support not only yourself and your future education but also, for young people in many countries, the ability to support your whole family, until they also get on their feet.
We will also start Entrepreneurial Training Centers worldwide: not only to train teachers and Global Leadership School teams, but also for every adult who decides to find their Entrepreneurial Brilliance and then receive entrepreneurial coaching to achieve their goals.
So, why has this been one of the best years of your life?
In the summer of 2020 I wrote 8 training programs:
- A Leadership training for adults
- An Entrepreneurial training for researchers at Karolinska Institute
- An Entrepreneurial training program for school teachers
- An Entrepreneurial training program for teens (year 8 in Sweden.)
- An Entrepreneurial training for school teachers to become Entrepreneurial coaches
- A Kickstart Entrepreneurial consultation and training for school dropouts
- A Transformational training for young offenders; ‘ From Violence to Vision’
- A Leadership program for school students
Our budget for a 3-month training program, to be implemented in schools, was approved by a Stockholm Educational authority. Karolinska Institute have hired me to deliver an Entrepreneurial training webinar in January, for researchers at Karolinska; everyone from student researchers to professors.
Finally, I have recognition and doors have opened for both me and GLS; doors of authority and the power to implement our trainings.
You are more active and flourish more than ever before, what are the future plans for you personally?
My future will involve training large groups of teachers and GLS teams worldwide. Most of the training will take place at our ETC, Entrepreneurial Training Center, in Stockholm. We will need 195 teams to set up schools in every country. This will transform education worldwide. You can find out more about our project on gl-schools.org. And if you have a burning desire to contribute and to be part of this global transformation, we would love to hear from you. Let us know at globalleadershipschools@gmail.com or read more at gl-schools.org.
