the world is full of willing people
emotional engagement
today we kickstarted off the first day of the gcc meeting. when we began the agenda, i was thinking, wow.. finally we're all together, meeting.. we had a training by unilever, and there were so many 'aha' moments; especially about living the values. how values are so important in setting the organizational culture, and communicate it out to people; and then people do self-selection there. for instance, greenpeace requires its staff to travel to rome by bus and not planes, so if you want to work for the organization, you have to be prepared to do all this.
an interesting session, which talked about emotional engagement with our members.. which we hardly ever do in the organization. it's important to celebrate people who are living our values.. being first choice for leadership - it's not about being the first in the field, but rather we need to work to earn the respect of people. so what makes you no. 1?
sometimes it can be the way words are phrased, activities carried out.. (remember the personal touch i always talked about?) it's like when we have introductions, instead of the standard "my nam is.. i like... my role is.. i study.. ", the questions could be "what is it that we're here for?", "your unforgettable @ moment?".. or even having a meeting, where the signboard says, "We're in a meeting to change the world" -- really wonderful suggestion by unilever.. :) you have to constantly remind people in simple ways about what meaningful contributions they are doing :)
the world is full of willing people
perhaps you may be thinking.. it's so fluffy, it's never going to happen, we can't change the world.
"The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them." - Robert Frost. which category do you belong to?
Frost said this almost half a century ago. yet this remains a universal truth. i wonder if we were born optimistic or pessimistic; hardworking or lazy; passionate about helping yourself or contributing to the larger community. perhaps our fuzzy lens of the world is a reflection of vicarious reinforcement by others around us?
there's a stark difference hanging words on the wall/mere verbalized words and really acting on it. think NATO. (how many times do we encounter people like that? countless.) why isn't world peace viable? - look at the above lines. most sit within the passive zone. even fewer are those in the active domain. among the vast sea of people, how many truly are altruistic, or even work for the greater good of the world?
it boils down to: why do we exist?
my conclusion is: how much have we changed the world since we came into it? or have we left the world a worse place than we entered it?
to me, it isn't a must to make impact in just through this student organization, but it can be a starting point to get connected to others. :) if you truly wish to make a difference, it does not matter where you begin to do it. it all comes from the heart, and willpower is something very amazing (think those accounts of people who survived tremendous ordeals in wars, tortures, heartwrenching moments, yet they managed to overcome them). when there's a will, there's a way.
when we have even a few people who work genuinely towards world peace, those are the people who touch others' lives and continuously give hope to the world. it's easy to dismiss these efforts, but once you think how much terrorism is springing up across the world (and you wonder how fragile life is, do they see you as a person, a living being?), we then appreciate that there are have people who truly care about lives and us as fellow human beings.
Wouldn't it be awesome to have more of the latter people around? that's what AIESEC is trying to do :) build the supply of young people who have the determination and passion to really keep going for these efforts. are you working towards a larger vision? ;)
today we kickstarted off the first day of the gcc meeting. when we began the agenda, i was thinking, wow.. finally we're all together, meeting.. we had a training by unilever, and there were so many 'aha' moments; especially about living the values. how values are so important in setting the organizational culture, and communicate it out to people; and then people do self-selection there. for instance, greenpeace requires its staff to travel to rome by bus and not planes, so if you want to work for the organization, you have to be prepared to do all this.
an interesting session, which talked about emotional engagement with our members.. which we hardly ever do in the organization. it's important to celebrate people who are living our values.. being first choice for leadership - it's not about being the first in the field, but rather we need to work to earn the respect of people. so what makes you no. 1?
sometimes it can be the way words are phrased, activities carried out.. (remember the personal touch i always talked about?) it's like when we have introductions, instead of the standard "my nam is.. i like... my role is.. i study.. ", the questions could be "what is it that we're here for?", "your unforgettable @ moment?".. or even having a meeting, where the signboard says, "We're in a meeting to change the world" -- really wonderful suggestion by unilever.. :) you have to constantly remind people in simple ways about what meaningful contributions they are doing :)
the world is full of willing people
perhaps you may be thinking.. it's so fluffy, it's never going to happen, we can't change the world.
"The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them." - Robert Frost. which category do you belong to?
Frost said this almost half a century ago. yet this remains a universal truth. i wonder if we were born optimistic or pessimistic; hardworking or lazy; passionate about helping yourself or contributing to the larger community. perhaps our fuzzy lens of the world is a reflection of vicarious reinforcement by others around us?
there's a stark difference hanging words on the wall/mere verbalized words and really acting on it. think NATO. (how many times do we encounter people like that? countless.) why isn't world peace viable? - look at the above lines. most sit within the passive zone. even fewer are those in the active domain. among the vast sea of people, how many truly are altruistic, or even work for the greater good of the world?
it boils down to: why do we exist?
my conclusion is: how much have we changed the world since we came into it? or have we left the world a worse place than we entered it?
to me, it isn't a must to make impact in just through this student organization, but it can be a starting point to get connected to others. :) if you truly wish to make a difference, it does not matter where you begin to do it. it all comes from the heart, and willpower is something very amazing (think those accounts of people who survived tremendous ordeals in wars, tortures, heartwrenching moments, yet they managed to overcome them). when there's a will, there's a way.
when we have even a few people who work genuinely towards world peace, those are the people who touch others' lives and continuously give hope to the world. it's easy to dismiss these efforts, but once you think how much terrorism is springing up across the world (and you wonder how fragile life is, do they see you as a person, a living being?), we then appreciate that there are have people who truly care about lives and us as fellow human beings.
Wouldn't it be awesome to have more of the latter people around? that's what AIESEC is trying to do :) build the supply of young people who have the determination and passion to really keep going for these efforts. are you working towards a larger vision? ;)
