The Power of AIESEC Experience

After being the alumni coordinator for the past one year, I have been greatly inspired by the passion that our AIESEC alumni have for this organization. Here I want to share with you the amazing story of Lars, ex-President of AIESEC Germany in 2001/2002.

AIESEC Experience:

Various projects / Organizing Committee President 1995-1997

Vice President Marketing in AIESEC in Hannover University 1997/1998

President , AIESEC in Hannover 1998/1999

Regional Chair “Star Region” 1999/2000

President of AIESEC in Germany 2001/2002

Member of the global “Steering Committee”, Global Leadership Award 2001/2002

Chair/Facilitator at conferences in China, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Germany, India, Poland,

When I first joined AIESEC in Hannover, I repeatedly was confronted with the slogan AIESEC is people. – and those experienced members told me that the network they were building was one of the great advantages of being a member. Though I couldn’t really grasp the meaning of this, I found it a compelling idea: having friends and contacts all around the world. But how?

Basically, I joined AIESEC within the first weeks when I started university – and luckily I directly got involved in organizing projects like the national leadership development seminar or an international training seminar – involving not only enthusiastic AIESEC members and trainees, but also inspiring alumni and supportive external partners from some of the most renowned companies.

Frankly speaking, I was quite impressed not only by the caliber of companies supporting AIESEC’s idea, but even more how convinced those partners were of the support they were providing.

In 1997 I finally went on an AIESEC traineeship myself – for two months to Croatia, working at the Ekonomski Institut Zagreb, getting involved in labor market study and analysis. What was really impressive, was the fact that only 1,000 kilometers away from my hometown, I met people in my age, who had only recently witnessed war through their country’s fight for independency just a few years earlier. And while driving past destroyed villages in the middle of Europe, only ten hours drive away from home, I deeply understood that cultural understanding and AIESEC’s vision of peace and fulfillment of humankind’s potential wasn’t just a noble slogan, but had its justification even today.

Inspired by my experiences in Croatia and the great people and friends I met during my stay there, I decided to and become president of AIESEC’s chapter (local committee) and my university – and my horizon just widened tenfold: national and international meetings, benefiting from a trainer education, involvement in strategic workshops together with some of the best firms.

Further leadership positions, mind-blowing events and fascinating personalities accompanied my further path parallel to finishing my studies.

One of the most challenging roles was the one as president of AIESEC in Germany, a full-time position, leading not only the national board and being in charge of other full-time employees, but also taking charge for the strategic planning and coordinating the national board of advisors. It also meant representing AIESEC German chapter with around 1,500 members on the international level. This included arranging bilateral agreements, making decisions in AIESEC’s international assembly and as member of the International Steering Committee I had the chance to actively work on a global organizational change management program.

Throughout my active time in AIESEC, I had the unique opportunity to attend events nearly all around the world: from Armenia to Bosnia, Czech Republic to China, Egypt to El Salvador, Finland to Guatemala, India to Ivory Coast, Malta or Switzerland. Going those place meant to become a delegate, facilitator, trainer, speaker – and most importantly a trusted friend of many great people around the world.

While I was sad to finally leave the organization as an active member, I realized that the vast experience I had gained, were actually just setting the scene for my further professional journey.

When DHL started an internal management trainee program in Asia Pacific coincidentally about the time I had finished active AIESEC time, it took not long and I found myself in Hong Kong, working for DHL’s regional Corporate Affairs office on a nine months contract. I thought this would be a kind of last journey before the ‘normal’ life would start. Luckily I was proven wrong, as in over 6 years with the company in Asia, I moved to Singapore, was involved in exciting projects like brand campaigns, crisis management, sponsorship arrangements, meeting politicians, sports idols, giving trainings in countries like Japan or Thailand or leading a 450 people delegation to DHL/Deutsche Post’s internal world cup in Germany in 2006. Having moved on to a PR consultancy and now Dow Jones, I still feel the power of the AIESEC community. E.g. as I just spent a few days for business in Tokyo, I connected with my Japanese President from 2002… The journey never ends.

But most importantly, I saw my personal network of good friends, colleagues and business acquaintances expanding even further - many of them connected through AIESEC. So a normal weekend for me could include having lunch with my wife's Singapore family, playing football with a bunch of local and international guys, coming from Australia, Morocco or the US - and finally dinner with close friends from Argentina, Hungary or Kenya.

Hello all!

Check where we are on the Global Chart and on Asia Pacific's ranking! Just want to say, this is only the beginning of the amazing work that we've put in for the past couple of months!

The more amazing part? Most of these people are coming back for a Leadership Role :) so that means so much more for us in terms of the work that we have done.

The year may have seemed long, and tough - I guess most of us have "matured" over this period, but I say hard work pays off. Even our members :) There's tons of meaning to what we have done; as I read comments and stories of AIESECers who have gone for the exchange , especially those who went for Exchange after their leadership term, I am very proud of what we are doing every single day. Maybe it gets tiring, maybe it gets frustrating at times, but we are a group of pillars there to support you in the steps that you take in your life. Definitely looking forward to the next couple of weeks, and for our successors to continue this momentum :D

The friendship does not end in 3 weeks, neither will our work stop here. Our lives may go on after AIESEC, but I hope nobody forgets the life sessions you gain from here. It's the mindset that matters the most and stays with you.

I was at JCI event yesterday and we spoke of CSR. The panel beside me spoke of what they did, like creating cornware and cups, and sponsoring scholarships to children of firemen who died in their line of duty. As I listened to the panel, I thought, the most important thing is to start with the self.

So when I was asked to speak, I said I know not of CSR, I have not stepped into the working sector yet. But the most valuable thing is that when you are in AIESEC, you start to see beyond the "I", but the "We". We work in teams, and people around us show our best side and when we are at our worst - they are our mirror. This is where we face who we are, and increase our own self-awareness and how we handle our teams. Along the way, we make that little step to make that change in ourselves. As we embark on internships, we see it as complementing our character development, to see beyond "my university", "my view" and "my country", we take it to the point where we appreciate the world, and see ourselves as a citizen of the world. Not as a Singaporean, or a student, etc - but as a human being. Just like everyone else, we are human beings. Once we come down to that, we become citizens of the world because all of us belong to this planet.

Once we truly care and have this mindset, when we join a company I am sure this habit and behaviour naturally follows us. Then CSR itself becomes not an activity to do, but somewhere in our innate nature. We don't have to transform companies to adopt CSR or to wait for the organization to change itself - but when we join a company we are concerned about the world around us.

So like they said, the going gets tough, but the tough gets going. I'm proud to be with the tough ones who stick it through this journey, and this job isn't paid - so the perks may be less, but I am sure the rewards you reap will be immeasurable.. just like I did. I am very very very appreciative of my experience in AIESEC, and this experience has been a ride (yes - many ups and many downs, but I learnt so many good things from every one).

Keep the awesome work coming, I know you are acquiring some new thought from doing! :D

Thankful to be working alongside each one of you,

Cheryl

-------------------------------

From Asia Pacific Director David:

As you can see Asia Pacific grew by 74% in the month of May due to the sizeable absolute and relative contributions of a variety of countries! Especially congratulations to our Top 5 absolute contributors who were also in the top 10 globally in the same category! The key is to maintain and increase this momentum as the key realization peak for most countries approach.

To evaluate our pipeline I have also included data on Matches for the first time!



As you can see a strong pipeline is being built with over 91% growth in matches! But there is still room to improve this matching with the huge amount of available forms that are available within the region.



Te region has over 6000 forms on available, each of which represents a stakeholder with expectations of AIESEC. It is very important that we push a strong matching message to ensure delivery for a huge majority of these raised forms.

Look within the region and also to regions like CEE (over 5000 available forms) and WENA (nearly 3000 available forms) to ensure delivery!

Don't forget to empower LCs, motivate them and provide them with the tools to ensure they can match these stakeholders during this crucial month!

Good luck with the rest of the months and a huge congratulations to all the countries who appeared on these top rankings including:
Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, The Philippines, Vietnam

David

---

Your Best

Eric Moussambani swam for Equatorial Guinea at the 2000 Olympics. He didn't win.

Eric had never seen a big swimming pool before. At home he trains in a 20 metre hotel pool.

The two other entrants in his heat - from Niger and Tajikistan - were both disqualified for false starts, so Eric had to swim by himself.

Also, Eric had never swum a 100 metre race before - something the crowd soon suspected. He swam with his head out of the water and he barely kicked his legs.

In the first lap he was really struggling.
In the second lap he was nearly drowning.

But Eric gave it everything he had. Thirty metres from the finish, 17,000 spectators began to cheer him home, and with each stroke the roar got louder. Ten metres out, he was bobbing like a cork but the crowd was going bananas.

When Moussambani finally hit the wall, the cheering and stamping all but lifted the roof off the stadium.

His time of 1 minute 52 seconds was about a minute slower than all the other competitors. Who cared? Eric Moussambani had given his all.

In a Nutshell

When people know you have given your very best, they usually support you.

heartfelt thank-you!

i must say a very heartfelt thank you to all of you who ran alongside me in the whole application process. i daresay i grew to know myself much better through these last couple of weeks and i learnt more about myself during that period than the whole year combined.

thank you for saying i was an inspiration to you. the most important thing, and best gift for me (if you have been inspired) is to translate that inspiration into actuality for yourself.

i hope you can identify why you were inspired. then take the courage, step up and demonstrate that you are committed to put yourself forth in what you aspire to achieve.

say "yes" to yourself, give yourself the opportunity to learn, and every single step you take in life is an experience.

from previous experiences, i realized that failures hurt the ego. and that makes everything hurt so much. so when i chose to put myself forth this time, i recognized that ego is a stumbling block.

choose to recognize and acknowledge that Ego blocks every learning possible. once you choose to let Ego go, even when others say "no" to you, the world has not crumbled; it still holds a plethora of never-ending opportunities for you.

i once came across this short story by andrew matthews. Here is an excerpt:

"Once we change our thoughts about "a bad situation",
we can take advantage of it.
You already know this!

Life's great opportunities mostly arrive
disguised as misfortune and disaster.

EXAMPLE:
Imagine two women, Mary and Jane.
Both get divorced.
Mary says, "I've failed. My life is over."
Jane says, "My life has just begun!"
Who will blossom?

IN A NUTSHELL

Every "disaster" in your life is not so much a disaster,
as a situation waiting for you to change your mind about it."

what's next for me?

the destination's not fixed...

but i am going for exchange. i am keeping an eye out for the openings every single day, and the uncertainty of where i'm headed to makes me excited about the future. if you do know of an opportunity for me, do keep me in mind ;)

one thing's for certain, i've definitely mustered strong determination to keep scaling greater heights! i choose my own attitude, and this will accompany me in my journey for life. :)

part 2 from previous chapter..

so continuing on from my story of being in an ASEAN Summit..

On thursday, we spent approximately the whole afternoon and evening discussing the options and brainstorming.

about 3-4 presidents were allocated to one project to focus on, based on the vision that we had on connecting youths (volunteers and non-volunteers alike) and getting them to activate their leadership to make a needed change in society.

so we broke that into 3 projects - facilitation of exchange within SEA, a conference project, and expansion into new universities.

since there are no clear-cut answers to these projects, we were a little stumped by these ideas at first. my group of four worked on the conference idea.

initially all of us had a different idea of what the conference should be, or we didn't have a single clue. we wondered, how grand should this conference be, what is its purpose, who should be involved.. there were so many unanswered questions.

Phuong, the president of the chapter in Vietnam suggested that the conference should center around leadership. Then we delve deeper into the social issues faced in the region, such as the high incidence of HIV/Aids in certain SEA countries, malnutrition and poverty.

Then I commenced to build on this idea - the conference, in my opinion, should have an entirely external focus. we want to know what is happening around the world, what does society think of this? to make this happen, we need to engage stakeholders - both university students within and without the organization, companies, non-profits. we have to pay attention and listen to the world around us, collect that feedback and absorb the ideas. by connecting all these groups, the companies, non-profits can present what projects they are conducting on the ground - i.e. how is food being distributed, how is poverty being tackled through microfinance etc and which regions are most affected by HIV/Aids?

Then youths can give their feedback on the world they would like to see, a world they would like to live in. By facilitating such a dialogue, perhaps there can be more young people who get connected with organizations to act on the issue.

As an organization, AIESEC may well benefit from this. Companies, students, etc give their feedback, we can generate the knowledge and suggestions and tweak our Projects accordingly (innovation and input from the wider society). Developmental traineeships' job descriptions can be better enhanced, based on the kind of expectations non-profits and youths have.

So with these ideas getting kickstarted by 5pm or so, we had time slipping out of our hands since we needed to complete a framework by the time dusk set in. Next, we proceeded to think of a brief timeline, how much investment would be required from each SEA entity to make the conference happen.

That means, we need a coordinator for all 7 countries to handle this project. A full timer will be required. Where should this person be located/living? (The higher the costs of living in a country, the more investment flows out from each country). We ruled out the possibility of Singapore. So taking the salary from Indonesia, we calculated a cost of 200USD per month for the full timer. Collecting that data took some time as well...

And on friday, we spoke to every single group and worked out a more specific timeline for the projects, worked out budget and what kind of milestone should be achieved under each.

By the end of the summit, we made a commitment to follow up with the project in 2 weeks' time. Now i'm on to find 10 companies that are situated / working across at least 3 SEA countries, and would have potential to sponsor the conference which is slated to happen in mar 2011.

a week in the life of an MCP

some people wondered what I am doing as MCP, and what i was up to in the past week for the ASEAN summit..

Just a brief overview of the summit: We have 7 countries in Southeast Asia, and we are considering the idea of grouping countries in order to grow, based on external and internal trends.

Mon - I spent the entire day preparing for the conference, entirely to note about the external trends. Research on ASEAN in the context of Singapore, such as government, education and corporate. Analyze the way Singapore wants to capitalize on ASEAN, free trade agreements..

Tue - finalize my presentation slides. fly in to KL.

Wed - official start of the summit. each country representative presents on the external trends, reality of countries. all the presidents start to piece each country's view to form a bigger picture of SEA.

Thu - how each of the countries are faring internally, such as number of members, exchanges, and identifying the months when we are delivering tip-top performance. once we understood the trends in our external reality, we matched it against how we are performing as an organization.

Fri - finalizing plans and confirming the monetary and hr investment we would make towards SEA.

Overall, we gained a strong overview of the social issues happening in 7 countries. Most of the events happening right now by other organizations are based on getting youths heard, or to write academic papers - people are encouraged to voice out their opinions, but where is the action?

That's where we see we can step into the picture with our Projects. :) Dig deeper on our social issues, and move into the rural areas of countries like the Philippines. Drive a stronger impact through our developmental internships!

We also furthered our ambition for SEA to grow at an exponential rate; and that rides on the waves of ASEAN to engage more youths! We want to give all youths, regardless of their membership with us, the opportunity to connect and exchange their ideas to make a difference to happen.

Stay tuned to part 2 for an elaboration on our plans!

my decision to apply for AIESEC International

I realized I haven't shared much in ages, so here goes.. :)

As you all know, I didn't apply for AIESEC International in the first round. I felt I was very much ready to go out there, expose myself to the real world. Definitely AIESEC has been an integral part of my university life, and I will eternally be grateful for the experiences I've had so far

• travelled to 12 countries; been to Latin America, North Africa, Europe, many places
• I've learnt so much about myself - I keep pushing myself to the limits

Whenever I meet relatives at family gatherings, or old friends during chance encounters or actual catch-ups, they can't help but note the huge change in me. That I'm more confident than I used to, and that I've been exposed to many experiences.

I was happy and content to leave AIESEC in a couple of months time, and see what I can achieve out there.

What changed my mind?

I saw so much possibilities for AIESEC when we did a simulation of 2015 - what could AIESEC be like? Don't limit the possibilities.

Can we abolish visas for AIESEC's exchange? Since AIESEC wants to expose young people to different cultures, and erase the barriers between nations. The newspapers' headlines repeatedly show how much misunderstandings happen in this world, even though the world claims to be globalized. Are we truly global citizens?

Can AIESEC win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Think Big, and we will find a way to get there. It's better to dream, and dream big, because you will find yourself there somehow. By hook or by crook.

But if you never think big, you will never get there and stagnation occurs.

So I began to think big - what is it that in this coming year, will be big and can be done? I say, many things (i wrote everything in my little notebook). On the bus while travelling to the Sahara Desert in the wee hours of the morning, my brain was working away and thinking about possibilities.

And one sight really amazed me. On the left of the bus, I saw the full moon; really round and bright - and on my right, the sun was spreading pink streaks across the horizon, hinting to the viewer that it was about to rise. The breathtaking view made me feel so relaxed and to think so much more positively :)

The entire year taught me a huge lesson - I should not be so highly strung, take some time for myself, to re-energize and my creative juices will flow :)

A HUGE THANK YOU to you, you and you for supporting me in this entire process :)

• awesome MC team + LCPs for the constant faith; all of you make me feel so loved and you speak as though i'm there already- thanks for believing so much in me =)
• friends from AIESEC (NST, members) - you are not forgotten!! you are also part of the huge drive that makes me want to go forward in my AIESEC journey :)
• the lovely people who posted on my facebook wall and emailed me to wish me all the best

Believe me when I say that when I made this decision to run, I am prepared for both outcomes - I will not be sad, and neither should you :) Either way, the world is filled with numerous opportunities, and there will be a path that suits me. I am eager to know what comes, especially after graduation!

The biggest reward from this is that: I learnt so much about myself; from the 360 competency assessment! I know how you all view me, and I will definitely work to improve myself. It put up a mirror for me to see, something I was afraid to look at for some time, but now i'm much more assured and less afraid to see what I might see in front of me.

Thank you for being with me in this process, it gives me much warmth. :) Will let you know what possibilities come my way again!

Campus Support from NTU's office

School support like this gets us credibility! :)

Congrats AIESEC in NTU!

From: Chong-Goh Mei Eng

Sent: Fri 1/15/2010 9:19 AM
To: Undergrad (Full Time) Students
Subject: AIESEC Week 2010 - XXL - eXperience, eXchange, Leadership

Dear Students

Check out AIESEC's activities for opportunities to gain overseas experiences for your personal growth and development. Such experiences will enhance your resume and give you more talking points during interviews for internships and jobs. See below and attached files for more information on the upcoming AIESEC Week 2010.

Regards
Mrs Chong

CHONG-Goh Mei Eng (Mrs) | Deputy Director (Internship & Career Services) | Career & Attachment Office | Nanyang Technological University
Student Services Centre, Level 4, 42 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639815

=====================================

Hey NTU!

We hope everyone had an awesome holiday break. As we start the year 2010, AIESEC invites you to explore what we have in store for proactive individuals like YOU!

If you have not heard of AIESEC before:

AIESEC is the international platform that enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. AIESEC has over 61 years of experience in developing high-potential students into globally minded responsible leaders. AIESEC is presently the world's largest student-run organization, with over 38,000 members in over 1,700 universities across more than 107 countries and territories. Envisioning peace and fulfillment of humankind's potential, AIESEC offers many opportunities to build extensive international personal networks, to get decisive experiences and skills, and to have a positive impact on society and the world.

Do you think AIESEC is for you? Then this is your chance to get to know more about AIESEC! Rest assured, you will not regret it.

AIESEC Week 2010 - XXL - eXperience, eXchange, Leadership

AIESEC Week 2010 extends AIESEC's ultimate leadership experience and global learning environment to all NTU students, enabling YOU to discover the various opportunities for the nurturing and empowerment of future leaders.

AIESEC Week presents to you Global Village 2010: a unique opportunity to have a taste of authentic cultures and traditions of South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Eastern Europe in one venue. You can live the unforgettable experience of 'Wandering the world in an hour' while exploring the vast opportunities and projects of AIESEC, presented in the Exhibitions! Be inspired to go to eye-opening global conferences or raise the awareness of an issue you are passionate about overseas!

If you are into living the dream of not just stepping your foot into different countries, but working there, "AIESEC and me" series are there to present you AIESEC's Xchange opportunities, and ways to plan your exciting, growth-nurturing careers in AIESEC.

There will also be a Youth Forum for you to Xperience a professional, engaging dialogue on developing oneself to appeal to employers in today's globalised world with AIESEC Alumni and corporate executives, who are also Human Resource Professionals from Multi-National Companies.

Last but not the least, there will be Lucky Draws where you will have a chance to win gift vouchers, Sony MP3 Player or iPod Shuffle everyday!

i like this promotion!

great tidings

3 UBS management traineeships!

Cheryl's Little Corner

I am starting my little section-cum-column in this blog - let's call it Cheryl's Little Corner for now. Over these couple of years, after travelling around the world as a fresh volunteer with AIESEC in 2007, I was inspired after meeting and speaking to outstanding youth leaders. Their level of maturity, professionalism, and love for society amazed me; 2007 marked the year where my curiosity pushed me to embark on my own journey to discover myself across different situations.

Why this section? I have been observing the growth of the AIESECers around me. Because I know these individuals, I can see the transformation in them, and wanted to share with you their thoughts and what little steps they took to become who they are today. I hope this will provide some insight into what little steps you can take next on your life journey...

Meet Cathy,

a recent graduate from NUS currently based in Sao Paulo. In 2007, she travelled to India to work with an NGO. She returned to Singapore, and found herself volunteering with AIESEC. She later assumed a leadership position with the national team, overseeing the operations of the organization in the country. After completing her term with AIESEC, she opted for a management traineeship in Brazil with a Social Business Venture called Gastromotiva.

"Me llamo Cathy.

Meu nome e Cathy.

I graduated with a degree in Economics, groomed from a Pure Science background and worked in various industries, various sectors - banking, technology, Project management, risk, non-profit movement and management of an international student organization, nationally.

What’s next?

I didn’t know.

I simply lay my hands on myaiesec.net and applied for an internship, any internship abroad. And Artemisia crosses my sight and hence there I applied and now I am in Brazil doing financial planning for a gastronomy-related social business. Truly. What is all of these crazily random encounters about?

I just came back from an amazing sharing session with Artemisia trainees and coordinators. We shared a lot, all the way from why we are where we are today to our vision and plans for the future. I admit that my times at my workplace is not fantastic and may not have turned out to be as warm as I expected but these all so-called challenges just left a space for me – a space for me to really think and reflect on the same question.

What’s next?

I still do not know.

What I know is this. Wherever you are, whatever you do, you’ve got to enjoy and make the full out of every single moment and opportunities you have at the moment. That includes partying hard, meeting enough people, building enough networks, leaving enough impact and good impressions, paving a secure enough path for whatever that is ahead of you (whatever that is). It’s ok if it is not clear but so long that you fight a good fight, things will slowly emerge onto the surface and then you will know that you fought a worthy fight.

Right now I have tons of opportunity to network and to know so much about (social) entrepreneurship, of meeting amazing people with amazing vision about their lives, their works and the world – just like how Muhammad Yunus managed to shake the entire world with his selflessly noblest vision of making poverty history.

"The only place where poverty should be is in museums."

The personal dilemma for me is this. Two contradictory expectations (or maybe they aren't that much of a contradiction after all). One is the realistic expectation of securing a well-paying job which usually is the norm and another is to really utilize all these experience and opportunities that I, again, randomly grasped and to really go all out against the norm and start my own social business venture.

Unsure, but I have no choice but to continue my journey and fight a good fight to continue to bump around, searching and enjoying every single bit of the little time I have.

p/s: Why is it simply too much to be someone I am not? So I don't look back and regret for not having reacted in the way I would have had reacted or said things which I would have had said and above all, to have not forgone doing something which I know by my very nature would have done. You can only be young once. You can only be yourself once. They're compromisingly parallel.

And here, cheers to a greatly amazing journey ahead."