Forfatter: MentorGuru

Thor-Erik Gulliksen is a leading authority and internationally recognized expert in mentoring, coaching, and personal development. With 20+ years of experience in leadership, marketing, education, and training, he has designed mentoring programs that have empowered over 800 individuals to unlock their full potential. As the author of Adepthåndboka and Mentorhåndboka, and the host of the podcast The Talk by Mentorguru, Thor-Erik is a trusted voice for those seeking growth and success. He is known for his engaging workshops, thought-provoking keynotes, and a unique blend of humor and practical tools that inspire both individuals and organizations. His expertise has been acknowledged internationally, making him a sought-after mentor and speaker across borders. Thor-Erik Gulliksen has been recognized as a leading international expert in mentoring, with his work influencing professionals and leaders globally. When he’s not on stage or behind the microphone, Thor-Erik is crafting his next book or article – always driven by his mission to help others grow.
Publisert

CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH

 

Don´t you have a hero?

Why not, what’s really wrong with admiring other, to look up to another human being? Things have proved wrong, because here in our small country people have to think long before they could name a hero. 

 

Many don´t think it is necessary to admire others. I wonder why? It is healthy for you to know who you admire, to knowing your personal hero because it inspires you and because it is a mirror of your own qualities.

 

Do you have difficulty seeing up to another human being? 

 

So, your challenge this month is to do it anyway.

 

Publisert

Eva Longoria Parker

Hardly Desperate as Actress, Producer and Restaurateur

The Desperate Housewives star is a businesswoman, philanthropist and positioning herself to become CEO.

Interview by: Mike  Zimmerman February 1, 2010
Sometimes the most successful people hide in plain sight, not necessarily underestimated—they have serious achievements, after all—but definitely thought of as successful only in a certain way. That’s Eva Longoria Parker.
Most folks think of her as Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s Desperate Housewives, one of the funniest and sauciest characters in a show full of them. (A choice quote from Gaby: “It’s an elevator, silly. It has an emergency stop button. And I don’t.”) After that, what else? Yes, people might see her in celeb magazines with her husband, NBA star Tony Parker, or in her L’Oreal commercials.
That’s about, oh, half of her story.

To read the whole, very interesting story, klick here:

www.successmagazine.com/eva-longoria-parker-hardly-desperate/PARAMS/article/984

Publisert

Responding, Not Reacting, to Life by Zig Ziglar

When you respond to life, that’s positive; when you react to life, that’s negative. Example: You get sick and go to the doctor. Chances are good that after an examination, she would give you a prescription with instructions to return in several days.

If, when you walk back in the door, the doctor starts shaking her head and says, “It looks like your body is reacting to the medicine; we’re going to have to change it,” you probably would get a little nervous.

However, if the doctor smiles and says, “You’re looking great! Your body is responding to the medication,” you would feel relieved. Yes, responding to life is good.

A few years ago, there was much turmoil in the U.S. job market. People were losing their jobs through downsizing, mergers, and takeovers. This created some unusual opportunities for many people. For example, the Wall Street Journal reported that in a five-year period, more than 15 million new businesses were created, well over half of them by women. Very few of the women had any marketable skills, and all of them had great financial need.

Most of the new businesses were “trust” businesses, meaning that the women collected the money before they delivered the goods or services. Many, possibly most, of those new businesses would never have been started had not an unfortunate event occurred in the people’s lives. When those events did occur, and needs became obvious, the women chose to respond, and there is little doubt that many of them are better off now than they were before.

The message is clear: If you respond to life instead of react to it, then you’ve got a much better chance of achieving success.
Publisert

Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn

Shortly after Jim Rohn met his mentor he asked him, “Mr. Rohn, how much money have you saved and invested over the last six years?” And he said, “None.” He then asked, “Who sold you on that plan?»

It is better to be a lender than a spender.

To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise; turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence.

Financial independence is the ability to live from the income of your own personal resources.

If you depend on your company to take care of your retirement, your future income will be divided by five. Take care of it yourself, and you can multiply your future income by five.

He remembered saying to his mentor, “If I had more money, I would have a better plan.” He quickly responded, “I would suggest that if you had a better plan, you would have more money.” You see, it’s not the amount that counts; it’s the plan that counts.

If you were to show me your current financial plan, would I get so excited by it that I would go across the country and lecture on it? If the answer is no, then here’s my question: “Why not”? Why wouldn’t you have a superior financial plan that is taking you to the places you want to go?

He used to say, “Things cost too much.” Then his teacher straightened him out on that by saying, “The problem isn’t that things cost too much. The problem is that you can’t afford it.” That’s when I finally understood that the problem wasn’t “it”—the problem was “me.”

The Bible says that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It doesn’t say that it is impossible

Publisert

Finding Your Unique Advantage

Review: INTRO, WHY & HOW, PART 1 and PART 2

We’ve examined your life thus far and have looked into your future and established what direction you want your life to take from this point forward. You now know what you stand for (your values); you know the mission you will crusade for (your actions); and you’ve clarified the vision for your life (the outcomes you want to realize).

Before it’s possible to formulate the strategic life plan, you must first take inventory of your assets and liabilities. What are your distinct advantages? Where do you have unique leverage? What weaknesses do you need to shore up and what hazards do you need to avoid?

This is where I always start when preparing a plan to perform a turnaround on a company. Before you can make a plan of where to take the organization, you first have to figure out where it stands—you must know its current assets and liabilities. What are its current weaknesses and where might its most damaging threats come from? You need to be aware of its unique strengths as well as any unseen or underdeveloped opportunities. This is the same assessment necessary to do a turnaround on, or to accelerate, your life.

Your Personal S.W.O.T Analysis

STRENGTHS: We know we are most likely to succeed when we use our innate talents to their fullest extent. The problem is most people don’t do enough due diligence on their skill sets or introspection on their unique talents to discover their significant advantage so they can thrive—easily, joyfully and prosperously.

WEAKNESSES: Similarly, if you identify your weaknesses and build your strategic plan to work around those traits, by either improving, covering for or circumventing them entirely, it’s possible to avoid painful (and expensive) difficulties and potential setbacks.

OPPORTUNITIES: We are constantly surrounded by opportunities; unfortunately, they go unnoticed by most people. I will challenge you through a series of questions to identify and recognize some of the tremendous advantages and opportunities you have at your feet, but are not maximizing or might have missed altogether.

THREATS: It’s critical to identify where the landmines are before you march into the battlefield of life. In my mentorship of high-growth companies, I have witnessed that it is not lack of opportunity, lack of growth or lack of success that kills most companies, but the unplanned and unprepared for problems that arise which throw the organization into an unrecoverable tailspin. This is true for individuals as well. Our lack of threat assessment leaves us off guard. Problems seem to come out of nowhere and blindside us, resulting in disaster. I’ll help you identify your potential landmines so the course we chart for your strategic plan avoids those lurking dangers.

Using the S.W.O.T. framework you will come to better understand yourself. You’ll see the tremendous advantages you possess and how you can leverage them to begin to separate yourself from your peers. You’ll also discover special talents and abilities that you may need to further develop to achieve your most ambitious goals.

360˚ VIEW


 Now I have a scary challenge for you. How committed are you to your personal growth? This part of this installment will test your mettle. If you want to break out of your rut and take your life to the next level, do this—I dare you.

I want you to ask three friends to answer a few tender questions, essentially asking them how you “show up” in the world. We all think we know ourselves and how we appear to others, but our perceptions might be one of our greatest constraints and limitations to doing better.

One year, a while back, I asked several people in my life how I was “showing up” to them.I was flabbergasted by what they told me. Wow, I had no idea I was “doing that!” I thought I was behaving one way, but I was being perceived completely different than I imagined. At first I was hurt; then I grew defensive. After receiving the same response more than once, I knew I was busted. I then realized why I was having difficulty advancing in certain areas of my life.

This could be happening to you… without you even knowing it. While it might be a scary and possibly painful process, it might also help you break through barriers that could be holding you back from your greater potential. It is well worth it.

Download and complete the S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS Questions and Worksheet. The 360˚ VIEW questions and tips are included on that document. (NOTE: The link to the download is sent via the e-mail feed. If you are just registering now, it will go out again with the next feed. E-mail feeds typically go out the same evening following the published post.)

This process will help you assess your internal and external advantages, as well as hindrances you might encounter so you can more effectively build your plan. Thursday I will guide you through the process of totaling your life’s current balance sheet. Where are you really in all the areas important to becoming a whole-life success? I think you might be surprised by the result.

Publisert

What helps leaders and managers to grow and develop – MENTORING DO!

Growing leadership expertise in a short period of time within an organization is a continual challenge. The speed of projects and the speed for innovation have increased so that we are shoving people into positions of management and leadership in an ever-increasing pace. How are they going to learn? But more important, how are they going to be able to quickly apply what they have learned within their organizational culture and business environment? In the past, an individual would learn skills and knowledge through training, education and experience, and the organization could afford to wait around for him/her to come up to speed. But today, organizations need to have their people learn – and be able to apply that learning – more quickly.

Studies have proven that there are limits as to how fast you can drive education and training and have it be effective. Also, due to economic constraints within organizations, many times the problem is not how fast to drive the education and training, but how to even find available dollars and resources to get it to individuals that are destined to lead the organization now and in the future. What can organizations do to help solve this dilemma and assist in the transition between “education” and “experience”? Mentoring can assist.

By definition a Mentor is an individual with the experience, knowledge, and/or skills in a specific content area who is able, willing, and available to share this information with another individual. There is nothing in this definition that denotes that the Mentor must be older, of a higher job grade level, or have been with the organization for a longer period of time. The most important aspect is that the Mentor has “experience”, “knowledge” and “skills” that he/she wants to share with someone who needs them. In many cases, it may not even be the “knowledge” or the “skills”, but the “experience” – the application of that knowledge – that is important.

We have learned that under the direction of the Mentor, the learner is given immediate access to valuable insights and past experiences. Within mentoring relationships, individuals are learning by doing. Individuals are able to practice what they are learning. Another advantage of mentoring to an organization is that it showcases those individuals that have the necessary skills/competencies to coach and develop others. Many times these are the same types of skills/competencies that an organization wants displayed in its leadership. Even individuals that do not wish to take on a “managerial” or “supervisory” role within the organization can satisfy a need to “lead” through a mentoring relationship as well as allowing the organization to tap into a greater pool of talent/skill.

Many times individuals do not get any experience in specific coaching roles until after they have been given the title of “manager” or “supervisor”. This means they are in a reactive mode of learning these skills/competencies. If individuals have the opportunity to learn and practice these skills/competencies as a Mentor before they obtain the title of “manager” or “supervisor”, it is proactive and much better for them as well as the organization.

Publisert

5 Benefits of Working with a Coach or Mentor

Being a leader can be a really lonely existence.  Expectations are high and it can often be a real struggle to stay on top of your game and continually deliver great results.
Continuing to develop as a leader has never been so vital not least because of the major challenges facing many organisations right now.

For those at a more senior level working with a coach or mentor is often a great way of continuing to develop.  So what are the benefits?

Benefit 1: Thinking time

The pace at which leaders operate in organisations is often relentless and means that there is little or no time to stand back and take stock.  Being able to stand back from issues and challenges allows you to clearly think through the choices, look at challenges in different ways and ultimately to take better decisions.  And if you are taking better decisions it means better results for you personally and the organisation.

Benefit 2: Ongoing support

Training is great and I have been to many great training courses over the years.  Trouble is most training courses are a one shot opportunity.  What I mean by that is that you go along to the course, leave enthusiastic and an few months later find you are back where you started.  If you are a leader looking to be more effective over the long term you know that it is going to take time.  Having that ongoing support can help you make that sustained change in performance.

Benefit 3: Personal attention

In my experience of working with clients there are often some very specific areas of focus that leaders and managers want to work on.  Sometimes it might be about strategies and tactics that they can apply and other times it might be tackling areas of self doubt or misconceptions.  I also notice that they rarely need to work on all aspects of a particular topic but more on one or two areas.   The nature of the relationship means that it is much easier to tailor the programme to meet specific needs.

Benefit 4: Highly time efficient

I know that when I was in leadership and management roles, creating the time to attend a 2 or 3 day course was often a real challenge.  By comparison finding a couple of hours a month to work with a coach was much more time efficient and effective.

Benefit 5: Return on Investment

Ultimately if you are investing time, money and energy into something the return on what you have invested will be important.  Research into the benefits of coaching indicates that the return on investment is in the region of 500-700%.  Now these numbers might well look huge but let’s take a look at an example.  Imagine you are a senior manager who aspires to be a Director.  Ask yourself what’s the difference in salary and benefits?  In a field like accountancy, the differential between a number one and number two can easily be in the £30-50,000 per annum range.  If you are in the number one job for say 10 years, that could mean an extra £300-£500,000 to your earnings.  So look at your investment in terms of the lifetime value.

Bottom Line – Continuing to develop as a leader is no longer an optional extra.  If you are serious about realising your professional and personal potential, working with a coach or mentor might just be the catalyst.

Publisert

Why You Exist — Finding and Defining Your Major Purpose

This is one of the most important installments of the process.

Here, we will delve into some of the great This is one of the most important installments of the process.

Here, we will delve into some of the great questions of our humanity and individual lives: Why are you here? What is your life’s purpose? What difference will you make? How will you be remembered? Who are you? What do you stand for? What values do you represent, protect and fight for? What are you willing to die for and live for?

To read more, klick here:

darrenhardy.success.com/2010/01/db10-purpose-goal-setting/

For the worksheet, klick here:

www.success.com/pdf/DB10_worksheet_set_1.pdf

Publisert

Goals/Goal-Setting

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far-greater value than what you get.

When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did! Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven’t designed or described or defined the future.

Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles. The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them. Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.