My commitment to Pioneers of Change

Last Sunday, I wrote my commitment statement for Pioneers of Change. With the hope that more get inspired to join, here it is

Be yourself
When I left Greenpeace International in September 2006, I had discovered that I was not being myself at work and I needed to create my personal job description around what I stand for. In the past 4 months, I went through a chaordic coaching process discovering who I am and what I stand for. Based on the chaordic model, I set my own personal principles that I am determined to live by and play with in the upcoming 12 months:

• I ask powerful questions that touch people’s heart
• I challenge myself to constantly learn and develop myself & my professional practice
• I am fully present
• I create & maintain a balance between preparation & openness to what is really emerging
• I am always action-oriented
• I trust the people I work with like I would like them to trust me
• I am not afraid to let go

Do what matters
Before I left Greenpeace International, I revisited my personal vision and values that I had set in November 2004: I strive for “developing & connecting people to drive positive change in society and inspiring people to take responsibility & leadership for change in their local environments…for a more peaceful and sustainable world”. This vision is based on 5 values: passion, peace, responsibility, respect, and change. I measured my work against this values and vision and came to the conclusion that I was not working on a larger extend towards them. Thus, I made the decision to leave a paid job and start doing what really matters to me. Within the next year, I am planning to use my values, vision, and principles to develop my personal business idea of a practicing “Initiator & Facilitator of Change Networks” further.

Start now
During my chaordic coaching process one question emerged: how much planning do I really need? And I concluded for myself that I need a clear direction but no detailed action steps in order to start now. This conclusion applies as well in building the PoC network in Germany and Berlin. The direction is clear: I want to learn, apply and experiment with the chaordic model to cultivate the local network but I am planning the ultimate next action steps after I have started and while I am going along.

Engage with others
Within these principles probably my biggest personal challenge, being an introvert. However, I have learned since I joined PoC meetings in 2005, how important and beneficial this principle is for me. I have connected to a great pioneer here in Berlin already and am also planning to keep connections to other networks such as AIESEC Alumni, www.netweaving.com, or local networks since I strongly believe that the PoC network has to engage with other change networks.

Never stop asking questions
Questions that I would like to explore within the upcoming year:
- What steps do I need to take in order to build a local We Are What We Do community in Berlin that is supporting the growth of the global We Are What We Do community of practice?
- How can I use the chaordic model to build the Pioneers of Change network in Berlin?
- What immediate next steps do I have to take in order to enter the baby phase of being a chaordic practitioner?
- What questions are moving Pioneers in Berlin/Germany?

Engage in Uganda

Seventeen students from Northwestern University are spending the summer in Uganda to implement projects in microfinance and youth leadership. Liz, Nikolai and Ann share their adventures.

Regardless of how much we studied, I don’t know a thing about this country. I should have failed Uganda Class.

I started writing this post six days ago in my journal on a flight to London. Now, I’m recalling what I can at Web City Café in Kampala. Memory is not a strength.

I don’t know anything. I’m finally here — on this flight — on my way to Uganda via London/Vienna/Dubai, keenly aware of how unprepared I am. I’ve got clothes (modest, comfortable); toiletries (ten weeks worth); bug spray (Malaria!!); sunscreen (photosensitivity); a head lamp (unreliable electricity); ointments; sunglasses; passport; copies of passport; international vaccination record card; camera; protein bars… books… toilet paper…

Anyway, I’m so unprepared.

Read on

Stiftung Welt:Klasse got me!

We all remember Matti Spiecker, the 24 year old student from Witten Herdecke who had taken a trip around the world, visiting social entrepreneurs, interviewing them and making this whole experience visible to german school classes via videochat. This trip became famous under the name “expedition WELT”. Out of it developed the idea to give german pupils the possibility to do a project-based stay abroad, including their class mates: the Stiftung Welt:Klasse (www.stiftung-weltklasse.de).

It is going well: pupils of the 11th grade from München and Oberhausen will fly to Thailand and China in October 2007. Funds are raised, the program is set up and our partner organisation, Greenway, is taking care of everything there.

OUR partner? Oh yes! I really liked the idea of providing such experiences to pupils. I did a stay abroad myself, when I was this age, and it changd my worldview. It changed me. So, why not make this possible for others as well? I am now working voluntarily with Matti and am setting up this program in Bielefeld.

I know others liked the idea as well. I can only encourage you to help spreading the program and reach as many schools as possible. It is very easy: contact Matti and just do it! It will not only be good for the students, but also for yourself. I got extremely positive feedback from local businesses, I feel proud to be able to contribute and it showed me that work can be much fun!

Ursel

Report on my admission workshop to the best school for the world – Kaospilots Netherlands!

The best school for the world…what would you need for that? First of all, a very passionate bunch of young and enthusiastic people, thrilled by the idea of putting lots of effort into their work. Second you would need a concept that is able to use all this energy and to lead it through a process that will enhance it and help it to become more mature, instead of trying to transform it into something that it not genuinly is. Third of all, you need lots of love.
When I visited the Kaospilots Netherlands I was curious if something like this was actually possible. Before going there I was not too convinced of this strange school – it seemed a little bit crazy and, who knows, composed for dreamers with no clue of the real world. I had only read about it on the internet and what do written words show you? Nothing! (try it anyways: www.kaospilots.dk or www.kaospilots.nl )
So I decided to apply and got invited to the admission workshop. This first contact was as much a test for me in which I tried to find out if this school would be able to teach me something new as it was a test for them to see if I was a suitable person for the school.
At the workshop they lead us through a two days process in which we had to solve several tasks in small groups, they had us reflect upon our group work, upon our personal performance and upon the task we were solving. We gave each other feedback. We played music together. We laughed, we talked, we danced. And in the end we presented a result, that was as creative as applauded by the audience.
For me it showed me that it really is possible to use all this energy, to transform it into something meaningful with an actual outcome. And still love all of it, provide it with the emotional support that is needed if you want to stand straight in this world.
Now I can say yes, a wholehearted yes to the Kaospilots: if they will want me, I surely want them! Learn more about this issue next week…when I get their email, I will open it with my heart beating up to my ears! Who knows where this will lead me? I have no clue! But it feels right. So: let´s take out the courage!

Ursel

How Are Social Entrepreneurs Changing The World

Frontline/World has a wonderful selection of stories about people who innovate in ways that truly transform our interconnected world.

The Skoll Foundation is hosting its “Uncommon Heroes” series of videos on YouTube, including its most recent film on VillageReach:

Interested in the Kiva story? Watch the video shot by a high-school student who did an internship with the online microfinance venture:

Generation Why

I have been invited by Ode Magazine to write for their Reader’s Blog. One of my co-bloggers wrote this article:

” Indeed, we’re hipsters. Critical consumers. Concerned global citizens. Gadget freaks. Into wellness. Fast learners. Flexible workers. Each of us a little unit of subculture, capable of generating powerful trends with a few taps on the keyboard. And it gets even better, because we’re human beings too!

Why? Today’s twentysomethings are a breed apart. We managed to clear the trap of post-modernism and seem to have moved to the next level of personal development. Bypassing the Achievement so sought after by our parents, we go directly for what is really important (to us): fulfillment. Whether it?s through a diet of Ritalin and videogames or dedicated idealism, fulfillment of our human needs is the focus of Generation Why.

Continue…

AIESEC Alumni who IMAGINEd: Jens Trotzky

Jens writes about the path he’s taken:
“I am from a Finnish-German family and I am a very logical and somewhat practical person. My interest has always been in information retrieval and general science and engineering. However, I always felt the need for something on top of all the technical things and that’s why I always spend time in voluntary organizations like AIESEC, Oxfam or UNICEF. I believe in constant learning and I enjoy gaining new perspectives from talks. I love to listen to other people and telling stories is somewhat second nature to me. I’ve travelled the world during several internships and even though the ride was bumpy at times I enjoyed every moment. I am currently finishing off my four different university degrees and am looking out for the great challenges and opportunities to come. In Pioneers of Change I started to look out for new ideas in the field of technology and I enjoy reading about people and their ideas I didn’t know existed a few years ago. So I provide support when technical questions arise and I am happy to share my thoughts on new technologies as well as their pros and cons. So feel free to contact me to talk about those things. If you like to explore new technologies with me, let me know and I am happy to start something.”

Jens invites your input on the Pioneers’ web presence at jens dot trotzky at gmail dot com.

LinkedIn PoC group

On Facebook
On Xing
And on the fledgling Wiser Earth

Let Coffee Be Us

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn’t change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.”

Don’t let the cups drive you… Enjoy your coffee

16 Meaningful Questions for Your Conversations

What have you been thinking about lately?
What’s been on your mind?
What are you excited about at the moment?
When was the last time you made a difference to somebody?
Who are you really happy for at the moment?
When was the last time you felt inspired?
If you could be in your dream place at the moment what would you be doing?
If somebody was describing your personality what would they say?
What are you most proud of?
What’s been tempting you lately?
What’s been the one most consistent thing in your life?
What are you sure of?
Who have you inspired lately?
What do you love about people? or What do you love about (person’s name)?
What gives you butterflies in your tummy?
When do you find time to reflect? What do you usually reflect about?

I discovered that list in the XING Global Business Woman Forum today

Would love to add your questions to the list…

Personal motivation from the end of the world

 

I wanne share a moment here, which really touched me last week.

In the beginning of the year 2006 I was (boored by my studies) looking for a real challenge.
I found it in an internship in Kabul/Afghanistan, offered by AIESEC. My Task was to build up an IT-company (PAIWASTOON), which was until then just virtually present in Afghanistan, driven by a german entrepreneur. His idea is, to deliver cultural specific IT-solutions to this development country, to give afghans a change to participate in the global exchange of informations and in the end to build up an genuinely afghan company, run by afghans, serving afghan needs.
My job was, to establish an office select a team, and enable this team to work. All this in an enviroment which was embossed by war and situated between hope and desperateness. All this within just four month. Because of the short duration my maingoal was to create a strong vision within the team, that this job isn’t just for money (they get not half of the payment they could get at UNO or a NGO), but it is for personal learning and for the country.
Even if I did this job with all my passion, I was doubting that it would be very sustainebly.
It is difficult to describe: You are in this country, you just know from the news, where it is connected to crudeness and brutality. And suddenly you feel the warmth of the people which are thankfull you are there. Going there in the beginnig with the intension to help with the small resource you think you can contribute, suddenly you become aware of, that your presence really makes a difference.
After all I left Afghanistan with a lot of friends and the hope, that the projekt of PAIWASTOON will grow. Luckilly there was Mike, my sucsessor (also AIESEC Trainee) who took over from me to drive PAIWASTOON foreward.

Back in Germany suddenly everything was “normal” again. It took just some weeks to look back at this experince and feeling unsatisfied. It was that far away and the energy of change I felt there, was gone.
I continued my studies and forgot a lot the things I experienced.

After one year, where I still was was connected to the afghan team, my boss and the project, I decidet to committ myself again to more involvement. Not in Kabul (maybe in summer for some weeks), but as a kind of coach for structure and planning.
The first thing was to ask the team (some new members where employed in the meantime) to explain their motivation to work with PAIWASTOON.

Here we are at the point, that I was touched last week. It was because of the answers to this question. Representative for the others here is the answear of Waheedullah Farooqi Zargar:

“To be honest it is not just my motivation I mean it is the motivation of all our employees that Paiwastoon had really a good impact on the IT field of Afghanistan, because of that we followed to work with Paiwastoon. One other issue is that we are free to take the decision in lots of the cases and we like the management system of Paiwastoon, because it is friendly and when sometimes I explain our management system to lots of my friends they don’t accept, because they haven’t seen this like management any where else. One other issue is that we all are like members of a family and all of the employees have the same ideas about the development of Afghanistan, because it is not normal in Afghanistan to have this like team and it is because the team members have different points of views, but fortunately we have the same ideas for the development of Afghanistan.
When I see Khalid, Juma, Mike……others working for Paiwastoon during nights that time I think I should not leave Paiwastoon, because I won’t find these like team members anywhere else.
If I can’t proudly say I have that much salary, but I can proudly say that our Paiwastoon had done this and that and I can proud of being in Paiwastoon and being a member of this team. I can proudly say that Paiwastoon has a vision of helping Afghanistan. I can see lots of money in other places, but I become shock when I think of other working places. It was not all of my motivation, but I will stop here.”

Guess who grinded like a Cheshire cat?

For those of you, who belive like me, that entrepreneurship can be the key to make the world a better place, here is a book: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Eradicating Poverty Through Profits von C. K. Prahalad

Some experiences I made in Afghanistan you will find in my blog (german!): 

http://afghanxperience.blogspot.com/