"Courage is being yourself everyday in a world that tells you to be someone else."

So this is me. A guy with a quirky smile, an awkward beard and a Hello Kitty mug. It's amazing how frightening it is to put this kind of photo on your professional website. What will people think about me? Will they take me seriously? Should I change it to a picture where I have a boring suit and professional look on my face? 

I believe these are questions that we all wrestle with in everyday life. What people think about me? Do they think I'm weird or boring? Some of us live all our lives trying to live up to other people's standards. They might follow the career path their parents instructed them to take. Pick a place to study to impress friends. Date a guy or a girl to increase their status. 

I've went through hell just to overcome some of these struggles. I'm not there yet but I've made pretty good progress on the way. I can say that I'm happy to be who I am today. I still struggle with the thoughts about what people might think about me, but these thoughts don't control me anymore. I know who I am and no one can tell me that's not enough.

My path to become a coach has been a very personal one. Everything I have found on this journey to find out who I am and what I'm called to is a treasure I would like everyone to discover. That's why I have dedicated my life to help others to progress on this path as well. 

MCID-certified coach

I'm not really into credentials, but unfortunately in our modern culture they matter a lot. I believe it is important to have standards and qualifications to proof your value to the customer and for the society. That's pretty much common sense. But as we all know, the letters behind your name doesn't always tell the whole truth. We know there are Ph.D:s who can't deliver and there are college dropouts who are brilliant minds and make a real impact.

I did my coaching studies and certification through Master's Coaches program which is a spin off from Team Academy Global based in Jyväskylä, Finland. The method was mind blowing. When I did my first three day coaching session about learning, my whole world view shifted. I felt like now I finally had a real experience about what I had only read and known in theory. It's difficult for me to call it "studying" because it was so much more than that. It was a deep dive into my character, into my core being. It was a climb to a hill to see what amazing things I have ahead in the horizon. I can easily say it changed my life, helped me to find out who I am and clarified my calling.

Transformative coach

I've been struggling with what I call my self professionally. "Coach" is so vague. We all know a lot of so called "coaches" who do this and that and offer the world. "Life coach" doesn't really mean anything anymore. "Business coach" is too narrow. 

At the moment I'm most comfortable with "Transformative coach". If you google it up, it still gives you everything between heaven and earth, but I take my chances. The reason why I like it is because it comes right out from Transformative learning theory. It's a branch in developmental psychology and one of the most useful theories behind coaching philosophy. 

I believe that the core aim for coaching is transformation, a deep shift in our being. You can divide learning in two categories: informative and transformative learning. Informative learning is all about adding more knowledge, which enhances actions, but doesn't really change the outcome in a fundamental way. In transformative learning there is a deep shift in mental models which leads to a profound change in our behaviour. It's all about becoming aware of our beliefs and values, analyzing them and transforming them to create change. 

This is exactly what I feel like being called to do. Help people to transform themselves and their lives to take the lead and start to create the future THEY want. We aren't destined to live the boring lives we feel trapped into.

Viva academia!

I owe a lot to my academic home, The University of Turku. I applied to UTU right after graduating from college and started my studies after I performed my military service (which is mandatory in Finland) in year 2008. I started majoring in History, but switched eventually to Musicology. I finished my Masters Thesis in October 2014. I studied a very broad cocktail of minors in faculty of Humanities eg. Media Studies, Cultural History, East Asian Studies and Art History. I also did some studies in Turku School of Economics, eg. a course called Innovation and Business Creation.

I credit a lot of my ability to see the big picture to the studies in university. For seven years I was full time learning how to gather information, how to analyze it with scientific accuracy and how to condense it into a written form or into a talk or some other kind of presentation. 

It was a time of discovery. I loved getting immersed in cultural theories from different disciplines. It was eye opening to start to see how world works through different scientific theories. Even though I was so ready to move on and start my professional life after seven years, I still some times long back to the academic environment. That’s why I have started studies in Psychology this fall.

In gloria dei

While I write the title of this section, I feel the pressure to change it. "You can't use latin in TWO different titels!" Well guess what, I just did. My closest friends know I'm a Trivial Pursuit junkie who likes to use fancy words and share trivial knowledge without anyone asking and correcting whenever someone pronounces some foreign word incorrectly. Sorry, not sorry. That's the way I am.

"In glory of God" was the phrase the almost divine master Johan Sebastian Bach signed all his master pieces. If I was about to be tattooed, this would probably be written on my skin in big letters. I have a Christian background but it's so much more. It's a foundation for who I am and what I'm called to do. My faith has been tumbled and rumbled in several personal crisis over years. As I write in the beginning of Theory and Methods section, I take nothing for granted. I question and analyze everything. That skeptical mind has made my faith stronger than ever and which now gives everyday guidance on my path to fulfill my calling.

I didn't plan it, but I ended up working in a church staff for four years after graduating. I had been volunteering for 7 years by the time I started working as a staff member so it wasn't too big leap to a messy world of church life. I can easily say this is the other "higher education degree" I got from the experience. For four years I was full time studying and analyzing and experimenting how individual people and a whole organization of church members grow spiritually and mentally. It was a real privilege. I don't know any other job where I could have had the time to read so many books and be able to lead and coach so many incredible people. My main responsibility was to lead the evening service which means about 15 teams and 80 volunteers. It was an amazing opportunity to practice my coaching skills. I'm forever grateful to my Hope Church family.

You can find more information about my educational and professional background from my LinkedIn page.