Running for President of AIESEC International

My name is Rolf Schmachtenberg and I am running for President of AIESEC International. I am not here to talk only about the future of AIESEC but rather to talk about the future of youth leadership. As much as we love AIESEC, it belongs not only to us, but to this world. AIESEC promises to provide a platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for positive impact in society. AIESEC promises to be the Youth Leadership provider of the world.

I discovered this organization only at the age of 25. My relationship with AIESEC was going to be that of an EP, seeing the value of a work abroad opportunity. At that time I was back in university studying, after having spent the previous 5 years first losing and then finding myself again.

I stepped out at Milan Central Station in Italy on Monday the 30th of August. My ticket to Italy was a one way ticket, and I was moving to a new country. There was no TN form or job description waiting for me, nobody picking me up at the train station, and no accommodation was provided. There had been no EP preparation or expectation setting before I went. But wait a minute. This was not an AIESEC internship. The year is 2004, I am 22 and have just moved to Italy. I would only discover AIESEC 3 years later.

Moving to Italy was a life changing decision. I was running away from the biggest disappointment of my life – failing my university degree. I had failed a promise to my parents, to my friends and to everyone I knew. But more importantly I had failed a promise to myself.

In Italy I went from hopeful to hopeless to homeless.

It is an experience that I wish for nobody, but that was the strongest of my life – to sleep outside on a bench in a sleeping bag in a park in Milan in November as the cold crept in and the rain starting pouring down.
It was also in that moment I truly discovered who I am and what I stand for. I am proud to say that I had the luck and the strength to turn this experience around. I found a job, then a flat, and then I built a life. I left Italy feeling like I could do anything.

My two years in Italy I still consider the proudest achievement of my life. I learnt that determination can bring even the weakest human being, as I felt I was at the time, to great heights of personal accomplishment.
My experience in Italy shaped me deeply.

Even today I am not afraid of dreaming big or of not succeeding. I believe that achievement is a conscious choice. I believe that growth is a conscious choice. I believe that acting according to principles and values is a conscious choice. In my experience, the biggest difference between success and failure is a clear purpose behind every action. In my experience, action translates dreams into reality. I believe it is a conscious choice.

When I found AIESEC at the age of 25, the stereotypes would tell me that it was too late. But actually that was my second year at university, fulfilling the promise made to myself 6 years earlier – of getting a university degree. Getting a university degree, the second time around, was a promise made to myself. Fulfilling that promise made all the difference to me.

I walked straight into a Local Committee without understanding what AIESEC was about. Immediately I was struck with AIESEC’s promise of peace and fulfilment of humankinds’ potential. I mean, what kind of organization makes that kind of promise?

It took my own AIESEC Experience to understand this promise fully.

I mentioned that I am not only here to talk only about the future of AIESEC but about the future of youth leadership.

• Our promise is to make this world a better place. It is a promise of youth leadership for the world.
• Our promise is to develop change agents. It is the promise of the AIESEC Experience.
• Our promise is be the organization that can provide 1 million Experiences. It is the promise of AIESEC 2015.
• Our promise is that each of this experiences will be a high quality AIESEC Experience. It is the promise to our customers.
• Our promise is that every young person taking this experience can develop leadership. I call it the promise of our generation.

I believe that to fulfil this promise, and every promise, we must choose to fulfil all of our promises. To our members, to our customers, to ourselves, to young people and to the world.

Perhaps you are wondering what is new? Isn’t this is what we are already doing? I don’t think we are. 86,000. How many unfulfilled leadership development promises did we make to our members in 2012? 10,500. Promises made to companies in 2012 for taking a GIP intern. 5,300. How of those promises we could not fulfil. 2 out of 3. 2 out of 3 students that raised their GIP internship form and never went on an internship. 1 out of 3. Students that their form for a GCDP internship and never had a life changing exchange experience, never lived an exchange experience. In 2012, did AIESEC fulfil its promise to the world?

These are tough questions and many promises. But that does not mean we should not make them.

Remember all the promises, not only in AIESEC – but in your life - that you ever made and for some reason you couldn’t fulfil. Imagine what kind of person you would be if you could fulfil all those promises. Imagine if AIESEC fulfils all the promises we make, what kind of AIESEC we would be. Imagine if we would match all our EPs, what impact we could have. Imagine if we would deliver to all our partners, how sustainable we would be. Imagine if the promise of leadership was inside every TMP, how beautiful our LCs would look. Imagine if every GCDP was a leadership development experience, how powerful AIESEC could become. Imagine when every number represents a life changed.

For me, this is the idea. The idea of fulfilling all of our promises would change AIESEC fundamentally.
The world is full of promises. It is time for us to fulfil ours - to be the youth leadership provider of the world.

And I know we can because I believe that achievement is a conscious choice. I believe that growth is a conscious choice. I believe that acting according to principles and values is a conscious choice. In my experience, the biggest difference between success and failure is a clear purpose behind every action. In my experience, action translates dreams into reality. I believe it is a conscious choice.

I am Rolf Schmachtenberg and I am running for President of AIESEC International.