931. A Beacon of Hope, Inspiration and Trust

“I didn’t want to go back to law or the banking world. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. Then in 2011 we had this awful, awful, awful incident in Norway where a young man, who seemed to be a normal, regular, intelligent person, killed seventy-seven people in one day. I started to study him, and I realized that the reason why I was so fascinated by this case was because I understood the loneliness and the lack of belonging and the isolation that he felt growing up. I really felt an urge to do more research, to understand him and similar mass killers, to figure out if I could somehow find if there were warning signs and if there was something about our societies and our culture that facilitated their evolution into becoming these monsters. I started working with a former FBI agent who has a PhD in lone wolf mass killers–that’s the name of these types of killers–and she helped me a lot. I wrote the book, The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer, about the phenomenon to provide insight into what happens in the evolution of one person and how we as a society are contributing to their evolution, and what we can do to prevent this from happening again.”

1. “The year I spent in Kansas City as a high school exchange student from Norway was amazing. I really loved it. There I was encouraged to be good; I was good at sports and I was also fortunate to be quite good at academics. I found it was okay to stand out. It was okay to be myself, and I felt much freer than I ever had.”

2. “I ‘somewhat’ enjoyed studying law, and I did enjoy when I started law studies in the U.S. and studying for the bar exam. I got to learn a lot about society, how it works and how the justice system works with lawsuits and your rights and obligations as well. I have always been interested in how society functions and works.”

3. “Also a part of law that I really enjoyed studying was international human rights. I think that is why I wanted to study law in the first place, because I’ve always been very concerned with justice and injustice and how we can get more social justice for everyone. When I finished my law studies, I had to get a job and start paying off my student loans. It was more important at that time for me to have a job and have a good income. I sort of forgot about where my passion really was, which is with people.”

4. “When I wrote the book, The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer, it was published in the U. S. All of a sudden I was asked to come speak about the phenomenon at universities, at schools, at private clubs and associations, especially in relation to the school shootings in the U.S. And that brought me into this new job that I have today, which is basically writing and speaking, which is really wonderful because I get to do what I’m passionate about. I get to write about and speak about really difficult things that are hard conversations to have but conversations that we must have in order to be able to create a better world.”

5. “Now what I am deeply concerned about is our world, our societies and leadership in the world. So I wrote my latest book, which is being launched right now (November, 2020) in the U.S. about the Nobel Peace Prize, which of course is given out by Norway. I did a lot of digging and research into the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and what Alfred Nobel wanted with his prize and what the prize has become. The book is not out in Norway yet, so it’s really not on the radar of any news outlets there. What I am thinking is that if people outside Norway start talking about the Nobel Peace Prize and the things that I write about, then hopefully there will be enough pressure so that the Nobel Committee feels that they have to actually do something different.”

6. “Referring back to my childhood, about not feeling that I was valued or worth anything as a girl and as a young woman growing up, in the corporate world I had to almost become like a man, at least in my energy and approach to be credible.. That is what I would love to change. With the lack of leadership globally, I would love to see more women stepping out and up into leadership, but not just to get more women in there, but for women to bring in their feminine aspects, the feminine power that is ours. That can bring a balance and a different leadership style that is not power but empowering, lifting up people and co-creating and collaborating.”

The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer, by Unni Turrettini

Betraying the Nobel: The Secrets and Corruption Behind the Nobel Peace Prize, by Unni Turrettini