Podcasts Business Storytelling School How Telling Hard Stories Can Create Unity

How Telling Hard Stories Can Create Unity

Published: May 5, 2021, 7 a.m.

My guest today is a force! Attorney, author, speaker, and consultant Unni Turrettini is on a mission to restore trust in leadership while preventing domestic terrorism and cultivating a culture of peace. She looks at stories through so many different lenses, but I especially love that she tackles the hard stuff.

As the writer of books many consider controversial, she doesn’t back down. But how does Unni pick the stories to tell and bring to life? Why did she feel compelled to research mass murderers like Anders Behring Breivik? And why did she switch from exclusively telling stories on paper to bringing her storytelling abilities in front of the camera?

In this episode, Unni talks about recognizing herself in Breivik’s childhood struggle and examining similar mass killers worldwide for her book. We also dive into the power and necessity of gaining different perspectives than our own, what’s lacking in a lot of today’s global leaders, and more.

What you will learn in this episode:

  • Why there is gold in the act of attentively listening
  • How stories can connect us with ourselves
  • Why it’s necessary to understand the other’s POV

Who is Unni?

Born in Norway, Unni Turrettini is a lawyer turned best-selling author, international speaker, and thought leader. She has lived as a global citizen in her country of birth, France, Switzerland, and the U.S., earning multiple law degrees along the way. She’s also a member of the New York Bar and worked for several years in law and finance in Paris and Geneva.

While working as a lawyer in Europe, Unni realized that people struggle for power and influence when they don’t feel valued and seen. She sees disconnection as the main reason for abuse and corrupt leadership in the world. Her own multicultural life has given her a perspective with deep understanding and compassion for the differences in cultures and people worldwide.

In her book The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer, Unni takes a sociological and psychological perspective to examine Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murder responsible for killing 77 people in 2011. In it, she focuses on what can be learned from the attack to stop killing sprees based on extremist ideology. Her book won the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction in 2016.

That same year, Unni returned to Norway to live in Oslo with her husband and two kids. Now, she frequently travels to hold retreats, workshops, and speaking engagements aimed at helping women empower themselves with the rediscovery of their truth and working with corporations on gender equality issues to create win-win situations for all involved.

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