Diversity and first mistake.. written during a Vivaldi concert..
The following lines contain my first big mistake as Local Committee President and what I felt and thought of during a Vivaldi concert that has been played in our LC wednesday evening (thank you Elena:).I made a very close person to me cry and feel miserable just because one thing.. she was sincere."How to make your people start the road when everything seems to be obvious but it is still uncertain at every step that you do and you don't know what exactly can you do in order to make the others start.If I am uncertain on what I have to do this year then the people around me are going to be uncertain also..if I don't know what is important for me for sure I cannot help them find out the answers to their questions and uncertainties.We are listening to a Vivaldi concert in the trainign room.. and I realise in this oasis of silence that I've escaped from all the crazyness outside. Is this what I should want and strive for?..I don't really know.. I run after results and fame and glory, but if the people around me do not feel that they are moving forward.. why should I do it?What great things can a man do while playing the violin, filling so many souls that are listening with happiness and peace, only by playing a single instrument. In AIESEC we are using tools more and more complicated, complex and difficult to handle, telling to ourselves that this will make us STRONGER..yes.. they will make us STRONGER, but we do not need this to "play the violin" called AIESEC.. it is not about the physical strenght but the mental one, of understanding what we feel, what we think and in the end of what we do.I ask for forgiveness to the person I have hurt, for asking too much, for asking for STRENGHT and not so much for MASTERY...because I realise day after day that this are the people I want around me, people that use what they have to do better, to create magical things out of insignificant ones.Today I saw a man crying... due to one question, a question that maybe was not supposed to be asked by me. Should I stop asking?I don't know.. but for sure I should stop writing and start listening to the concert..Mugur "
After a short time of listening to the concert, I was struck by some amazing feelings and storm of thoughts.. and here is what came out.
"On the other hand I've changed my mind... AIESEC should not be like a Vivaldi symphony. Because nobody can dictate how things should go, how a Local Committee should be lead. AIESEC is the place where everybody can bring what he/she has best or discovers along the way... and ideally we are and should strive to remain a culture of diversity, in which a man should "play the violin" (with grace, an exclusivist culture and music) while in the other side of the organization somebody is DJ-ing the latest track of Armin van Buuren (hard, fast, modern). A culture of white collars and formality should represent everything but AIESEC. A culture in which everything is run by a band master and everybody follows the notes written on a scale, in which if somebody misses a note everything wrong... is a nightmare for AIESEC.... We are and should remain diverse because diversity is the future and the people that are around us should be and in the same time inspire and encourage diversity.....of feelings..of being..of believing..of creating"Just be..Mugur
Why doesn't managing school cope with managing AIESEC?
I was reading the other days a book that I have borrowed from Co$min (Stephen Covey - "Time Management or How to establish Priorities") and found 2 really interesting concepts that I have thought about before but never put in a coherent manner: principle based personal leadership and the Law of Farming vs Law of "Dealing with School".Principle based personal leadership:AIESEC Bucharest is a high performing LC in the AIESEC network (17th place Globally out of 800 offices). We are running a high number of exchanges, we have a recruitment and selection process recognized at global level, our budget goes over 30.000 Eur minium per year (last year it was over 40,000)... but still we are not using a "Regulament de Ordine Interioara" (Internal rules that say what you should do in different situations).Why so?The explanation I have found:"..the method itself does not contribute in any way to the quality of life...the only way of doing that is if we put value on our PRINCIPLES of life. An essential element is that we have to be humble enough to recognize that there are things in the world "that trully matter" independent from our will. The quality of life depends on how much do we really take this "things that really matter" and have the strenght to put them as our top priority. We must understand and accept that a quality life isn't made entirely by "me" but by "us", since we are living in an interdependent reality enriched with a potential that can be fullfiled only if we interact with the others in an authentic synergy.All the wishes and all the work in the world, if not fundamented on valid principles, won't lead to a life filled with quality. It's not enough to dream. It's not enough to try. It's not enough to set goals and reach objectives. It's not enough to value something. The effort must be based on practical realities that lead to results. Only then can we allow ourselves to dream, set goals and work confidently in order to reach them.IT'S NOT ABOUT METHODS. Confrunted with difficulties, we tend to search security in methods (this internal and strict rules - specific ways, settled) of doing things. We are concentrating on methods and not on results. "Tell me just what to do. Show me the path that must be walked!". We can achieve positive results in some situations, but if we try to apply the same methods in other situations, we realize that they are not functioning anymore. When we encounter cases for which we don't have methods prescribed, we feel lost and don't know what to do."And the most important:"The power of principle based leadership is in the fact that they are universally true, eternal. If we understand and live our lifes based on principles, we will adapt easely; we can apply them anywhere. Teaching our kids with principles not with systems, or showing them the principles that stand behind the methods and systems, we will prepare them to face successfully the new challenges they might encounter. Succes comes from understanding that a method can solve a short term challenge, but a principle can be an efficient solution for the future challenges..no matter how many they might be!"This is why AIESEC Bucharest doesn't have this rules system and never will, because we are striving to develop individuals that can take decision based on principles. Principles that come from each individual and are universally true, and not from a guide of rules that we show to our members when they have done something out of the "Book of rules".One example happened this week, when Iris one of our new members, and a really high potential and one of the most motivated ones in her generation, applyed for an international OC at International Exchange Conference in Poland without announcing the top management team. There is a procedure that you must follow in order to apply for an international position in AIESEC Bucharest (you must express the will to apply in an Executive Board meeting,and get the answer in one week). This procedure is meant to give us as top management the ability to have an overview on human resources, financial incomes and expenses and investments.Using principles we realised that it is firstly our mistake because we didn't expressed clearly the procedure of applying for organizing committee's, we only did it for the delegate role.Our decision?We have decided that Iris can go to Poland and has all our support. We are confident that together with Adina, Mysty and Catalina (delegates at that conference from AIESEC Bucharest) she will represent AIESEC Bucharest in the best way she can. We strongly belive that Internationalism in AIESEC is one if not the only single most important experience and individual has to take.What was her reason for not telling us?She wanted to surprise us.. :) (we appreciate that Iris :D)What would have happened in a strict rule system?She would have probably had to stay in Romania, get a warning and on the long term be under observation for such behaviour.And the second concept:"Law of Farming" vs "Law of Dealing with School""In agriculture, we can easely understand that laws and principles governate the work and are directly influencing the harvest. But in social cultures, organized, we think that in a way, we can ignore the natural processes and cheat the system, winning one more day. And there are a lot of evidences that seem to prove this."Well.. we call this "getting the pork fat in the last day" - or to put it even simplier, laying around one semester and then spend all the night long before the exam trying to fill your mind with all the classes you have missed during the semester.But this doesn't work in farming, does it? How would it be: to forget planting the seeds in spring, sleep all summer, and in autumn suddenly to remember about the crops, and do all the things in one month hoping that you can get back the time that you have lost, and having the crops done over night. "Getting the pork fat" doesn't work in a natural system, like AIESEC. This is the fundamental difference between a social system and a natural one. A social system is based on values, a natural one is based on principles. In School, studying in the last second might give the impression that it is a system that works on the short term, and from the social point of view. You can deal with quick made up tehniques, obtaining what seem to be successes.But on the long term the "Law of Farming" has impact on all the domains of life. We are getting our diplomas but still we are lacking so much from our mishaps in education. We can get this diploma and credit for finishing an university... but what about character? Can you develop one in few weeks, becoming suddenly an integer person, courageus and generous? As in AIESEC.. since we have our leadership terms lasting maximum one year (only the AIESEC International Finance and Information Systems positions of 2 years), we can deal successfully by adopting quick and temporarely solutions. We will impress and charm the ones around us. We can develop manipulation tehniques - whom we have to talk to, what do we have to talk about, what button do we have to press in order to get the wanted reaction? But on the long term we will realise that this doesn't work in our life... and that we cannot fool the "harvest".As a President of AIESEC Bucharest, I am keeping this in mind, because it will be impossible to harvest good results if we are not following the "Law of Farming". We were recognized today for our recruitment and selection process in the DAAL files. In order to keep our level of innovation high, we must keep on working and following our principles... and we will find answers to all our questions.On sunday we are leaving for the EB Team Building with a training company owned by an AIESEC Alumni. Whether we are ready to become a team or not, I will have to see, but I am sure it will be something to remember. Aaaa.. we are making EB Polar's, last week we (Crisa and me) went searching for models, so next time we'll post also a picture with the new cool polars we have.Until then, a quote that I find really inspiring:"Between stimulus and reactions, there is a space.In this space there is the space of choosing the reaction.In our reaction actually lies the maturity and freedom."All the best,MugurLCP 2006-2007AIESEC Bucharest
"
