The need of personal development during globalisation.

We receive offers for new software all the time. A new version of Microsoft or Apple and a chance to upgrade the old one. The same counts for genetics – we are even able to heal illness by the use of genetic manipulation. Business consultants are busy to work on improvement of organisations to create more efficiency. The purpose continuesly seems to be: How to get more effect for less expense.

As a result of that production from developed countries move to countries with a cheaper workforce. Often companies keep their development and design branch in the home country and take production somewhere else. This creates worldwide companies like Amcor, Coca Cola, Carlsberg, Ecco, Google and Lukoil just to mention a few.

The widespread use of the internet has made this easy. Drawings for a new design can be transferred from the design branch to factories within seconds. The staff can have a team meeting on webcam anytime even they are in different countries.

Even in our social life we go global and create friends all the time on Facebook.

The result is that borders are vanishing away and cultures are merging over time. It seems that the whole world is going to be a village and we become more and more connected to each other. 

And that off course is a new world.          We may like it or not!

The question is: Are we ready for that??    

Actually not much has happened to the human mind for the last 3000 years. Do we need an upgrade? Do we need a global mind?



I would say yes and that is why so many people are interested in personal development now a days.

I would like to identify two challenges which seem to be more and more important:

The Earth is flat   is actually the title of a book written by Thomas L. Friedman - a well known journalist from New York Times. The pyramids of leadership become lower and lower and the staff needs to handle more and more on the floor. This creates a growing demand for self confidence and self management.

Competition from 3rd countries have a bigger and bigger inpact on economy in the developed world.

And it is not only production. Also design goes that way. The Western Universities are flooded with Chinese students. A still more urgent question is: What can Europe and US live from? 
The answer is simple: We need better ideas and for that we need personal development.

So more and more people, organisations and companies realise that personal development is needed to increase:

•    Creativity
•    Self management
•    Self confidence
•    Abstract thinking
•    Congruency in personality


Which tools have we got for that?

A simple answer is that we have common and high school and the university programmes. However there seem to be a need for private initiatives also. Institutes/networks which do research and produce ideas and solutions within special topics. They can develop things that can later be taken over by the established system. I would call it a kind of front runners.

This has happened with coaching for instance. It has become part of the offer to individuals as well as organisations.

And question is why has coaching become so popular? Because coaching meets the above demands.

Coaching can provide the customer with more:

Selfmanagement, Selfconfidence, creativity, abstract thinking and congruency in personality.

Coaching is based on the assumption that people are resourceful and can themselves.   They have all the answers themselves.

It is more or less the same assumption as NLP and most NLP institutes have already taken coaching in and made a merger of some kind with NLP.

Coaching has come to stay and is widespread all over the world to day. It is used in business and for private use and after NLP and coaching has “merged” something called life-coaching has become very popular, because it includes more traditional change work as well.

Coaches has organised themselves in different ways to provide customers with qualified work. 
We have ICF (International Coaching Federation – the biggest organisations and also ICC (International Coaching Community). And I have started ICN (International Coach, Trainer and Therapist Network) with the intention to create a broader network - a social- and research network for professionals.